Wash. Supreme Court published opinion — 1012055.pdf

Citation: Wash. Supreme Court published opinion — 1012055.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
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Original Source: https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/1012055.pdf ↗

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constitutionality of a health care reform act. 172 Wn.2d at 553-54. We held that

health care reform “is unquestionably a matter of public concern in which the State

has an interest” because the act’s provisions directly affect residents by expanding

access to Medicaid and imposing a penalty for persons without minimum insurance

coverage. Id. at 562-63.

The respondents contend these cases stand for the proposition that RCW

43.10.030(1) requires a showing “that the number of people affected by the alleged

unlawful conduct must be significant enough to demonstrate that the interest of the

public and State is more than nominal and that the State has a quasi-sovereign

interest in the matter”—“the equivalent of the standard for parens patriae standing.”

Resp’t City’s Resp. Br. (Resp’ts’ Br.) at 50 (emphasis added). They are incorrect.

That interpretation requires a forced overreading of our caselaw and ignores the roots

of these doctrines, and it should be rejected.

Nowhere in these cases has this court stated there is a numerical requirement

of Washingtonians to be affected before the attorney general may exercise their

authority. To the contrary, Taylor specifically contemplated that the attorney

general would be best suited to bring an action when there is not a significant number

of people directly affected by the unlawful conduct. 58 Wn.2d at 259. There, the

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For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
State v. City of Sunnyside et al.
No. 101205-5

attorney general was authorized to bring the kind of action at issue, in part, because

it was unlikely that any person or group of persons would be sufficiently affected to

bring an action to enforce the trustee duties of a charitable trust. Id. Moreover,