Wash. Supreme Court published opinion — 1012055.pdf

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

Related Parts of This Source

Full Text

1,788 chars

government that violate the constitution or federal law. 42 U.S.C. § 1983.16 Under

entirely aside from their merits. Hanson, 121 Wn.2d at 562. The attorney general has not only
the authority but the duty to bring cases on behalf of the State in matters of public concern in which
the State is interested, RCW 43.10.030(1), and giving the federal court’s order preclusive effect
here would work an injustice.
15
Qualified immunity may be available for individual respondents for the § 1983 claims,
but is not applicable to the claims for declaratory or injunctive relief or for any § 1983 claims
against the City. Owen v. City of Independence, 445 U.S. 622, 638, 100 S. Ct. 1398, 63 L. Ed. 2d
673 (1980).
16
See Theodore Eisenberg, Section 1983: Doctrinal Foundations and an Empirical Study,
67 CORNELL L. REV. 482, 484-86 (1982), and Katherine A. Macfarlane, Accelerated Civil Rights
Settlements in the Shadow of Section 1983, 2018 UTAH L. REV. 639, 660-63, for a discussion of
the historical origins and evolution of § 1983, which was enacted as part of the Ku Klux Act of
1871 in response to states’ failure to enforce the law against violent backlash by the Ku Klux Klan
and other powerful government actors who opposed Reconstruction.
28
For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
State v. City of Sunnyside et al.
No. 101205-5

§ 1983, a person may recover damages if, under color of law, they are deprived of a

federal right. Id.; Sintra, Inc. v. City of Seattle, 119 Wn.2d 1, 11, 829 P.2d 765

(1992), abrogated on other grounds by Chong Yim v. City of Seattle, 194 Wn.2d

682, 451 P.3d 694 (2019). But the judicially created doctrine of qualified immunity

protects government officials from liability for civil damages under § 1983 if “their