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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concern,” and the legislature has declared “that such discrimination threatens not

only the rights and proper privileges of its inhabitants but menaces the institutions

and foundation of a free democratic state.” RCW 49.60.010. If the State can prove

what it has alleged, the city is operating its crime-free rental housing program in a

discriminatory manner and that is absolutely something the attorney general has

the power to challenge in court.

2
For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
State v. City of Sunnyside, No. 101205-5 (González, C.J., concurring in part and dissenting in
part)

I agree with the lead opinion that the federal district court’s summary

judgment dismissal order does not have preclusive effect in state courts. That

summary judgment order was based on the attorney general’s standing in federal

court. Federal courts, unlike state courts, are courts of limited jurisdiction.

Compare U.S. CONST. art. III, § 2, with WASH. CONST. art. IV, §§ 4, 6. The fact the

attorney general may not have had standing in federal court—a court he did not file

this case in—is irrelevant to whether the case may be maintained in our general

jurisdiction state courts.

I agree that genuine issues of material fact preclude summary judgment on

the qualified immunity of the individual respondents. The State has offered

evidence that Sunnyside police officers forced people to leave their homes through

extrajudicial evictions. A well-trained police officer in Washington would know

that tenants’ and landlords’ rights are spelled out in exacting detail in the

Residential Landlord-Tenant Act and, at the very least, that an eviction requires

notice and a judgment of a court. See RCW 59.18.055, .365-.410. A large body of