FILED 18 JUL 30 PM 3:06 The Honorable Timothy A. Bradshaw 1 KING COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT CLERK E-FILED CASE NUMBER: 18-2-14942-8 SEA 2 3 4 5 6 7 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF WASHINGTON COUNTY OF KING 8 9 JAMES EGAN, individually, Plaintiff, 10 11 12 No. 18-2-14942-8SEA CONSOLIDATED v. CITY OF SEATTLE, a Washington municipal corporation, CITY’S ANSWER TO PLAINTIFF WEST’S FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT 13 Defendant. 14 15 ARTHUR WEST, No. 17 18 19 20 18-2-15000-1SEA Plaintiff, 16 v. SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL, CITY OF SEATTLE, LISA HERBOLD, BRUCE HARRELL, KSHAMA SAWANT, ROB JOHNSON, DEBORA JUAREZ, MIKE O’BRIEN, SALLY BAGSHAW, TERESA MOSQUEDA, LORENA GONZALES, 21 Defendants. 22 23 CITY’S ANSWER TO PLAINTIFF WEST’S FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT - 1 Peter S. Holmes Seattle City Attorney 701 5th Avenue, Suite 2050 Seattle, WA 98104-7097 (206) 684-8200 1 The City of Seattle (“the City”), the Seattle City Council, Councilmember Lisa Herbold, 2 Councilmember Bruce Harrell, Councilmember Kshama Sawant, Councilmember Rob Johnson, 3 Councilmember Debora Juarez, Councilmember Mike O’Brien, Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, 4 Councilmember 5 “Councilmembers”), by and through their attorneys of record, Peter S. Holmes, Seattle City Attorney, 6 Gary Smith, Assistant City Attorney, and Mike Ryan, Assistant City Attorney, hereby answer the 7 Complaint filed by Plaintiff Arthur West on July 3, 2018, alleging violations of the Open Public 8 Meetings Act and seeking Declaratory and Injunctive Relief and assert their Affirmative Defenses as 9 follows. Teresa Mosqueda, I. 10 11 1.1 and Councilmember Lorena Gonzalez (collectively, INTRODUCTION The City and Councilmembers admit that, on its face, the Complaint seeks 12 declaratory and injunctive relief. The City and Councilmembers deny the remaining allegations in 13 paragraph 1.1. 14 1.2 The City and Councilmembers deny the allegations in paragraph 1.2. II. 15 PARTIES AND JURISDICTION 16 2.1 The City and Councilmembers admit the allegations in paragraph 2.1. 17 2.2 The City and Councilmembers admit that the Seattle City Council is a governing 18 body as defined in RCW 42.30.020. The City and Councilmembers deny the remaining allegations 19 in paragraph 2.2. 20 2.3 21 22 23 The City and Councilmembers admit that the Councilmembers are members of a public agency. The City and Councilmembers deny the remaining allegations in paragraph 2.3. 2.4 The City and Councilmembers admit that the City of Seattle is a municipal entity. The City and Councilmembers further admit that the Seattle City Council is a governing body CITY’S ANSWER TO PLAINTIFF WEST’S FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT - 2 Peter S. Holmes Seattle City Attorney 701 5th Avenue, Suite 2050 Seattle, WA 98104-7097 (206) 684-8200 1 subject to RCW Chapter 42.30, the Open Public Meetings Act (“OPMA”). The City and 2 Councilmembers deny the remaining allegations in paragraph 2.4. 2.5 3 4 The City and Councilmembers admit that the King County Superior Court has jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter at issue in this lawsuit. III. 5 3.1 6 ALLEGATIONS The City and Councilmembers admit that on or about May 14, 2018, the Seattle City 7 Council passed a tax measure that applied to large companies and was intended to address 8 homelessness issues. The City and Councilmembers deny the remaining allegations in paragraph 9 3.1. 10 3.2 The City and Councilmembers deny the allegations in paragraph 3.2. 11 3.3 The City and Councilmembers deny the allegations in paragraph 3.3. 12 3.4 The City and Councilmembers deny the allegations in paragraph 3.4. 13 3.5 The City and Councilmembers deny the allegations in paragraph 3.5. 14 3.6 The City and Councilmembers deny the allegations in paragraph 3.6. 15 3.7 The City and Councilmembers deny the allegations in paragraph 3.7. 16 3.8 The City and Councilmembers are without knowledge or information sufficient to 17 18 form a belief as to the truth of the allegations in paragraph 3.8 and therefore deny them. 3.9 The City and Councilmembers deny the allegations in paragraph 3.9. IV. 19 CAUSES OF ACTION 20 4.1 The City and Councilmembers deny the allegations in paragraph 4.1. 21 4.2 The City and Councilmembers deny the allegations in paragraph 4.2. 22 4.3 The City and Councilmembers deny the allegations in paragraph 4.3. 23 CITY’S ANSWER TO PLAINTIFF WEST’S FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT - 3 Peter S. Holmes Seattle City Attorney 701 5th Avenue, Suite 2050 Seattle, WA 98104-7097 (206) 684-8200 V. 1 REQUEST FOR RELIEF 2 These paragraphs set forth the statement of relief that Plaintiff requests and require no 3 response. To the extent a response is required to any of the allegations contained in the Request for 4 Relief, the City and Councilmembers deny them. The City and Councilmembers deny that Plaintiff 5 is entitled to any of the requested relief. VI. 6 First Affirmative Defense—Failure to State a Claim 7 Plaintiff has failed to allege a plausible claim for which relief can be granted under 8 9 Washington Superior Court Civil Rule 12(b)(6). VII. 10 that judgment be entered as follows: a. Dismissing Plaintiff’s claims for mandamus and declaratory and injunctive 13 relief in their entirety; 14 b. Denying Plaintiff’s claim for fees, costs, and disbursements incurred in this 15 action; 16 c. Awarding Defendants fees, costs, and disbursements incurred in this action 17 as the Court deems just and equitable; and 18 d. Awarding any further relief the Court finds appropriate. 19 20 REQUEST FOR RELIEF WHEREFORE, having stated their Answer and Affirmative Defenses, Defendants request 11 12 AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSES /// 21 /// 22 /// 23 CITY’S ANSWER TO PLAINTIFF WEST’S FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT - 4 Peter S. Holmes Seattle City Attorney 701 5th Avenue, Suite 2050 Seattle, WA 98104-7097 (206) 684-8200 1 DATED this 30th day of July, 2018. PETER S. HOLMES Seattle City Attorney 2 3 4 5 By: /s/ Gary Smith Gary Smith, WSBA #29718 Peter S. Holmes, WSBA #15787 Michael K. Ryan, WSBA #32091 6 7 8 9 10 Assistant City Attorneys E-Mail: gary.smith@seattle.gov E-Mail: peter.holmes@seattle.gov E-Mail: Michael.Ryan@seattle.gov Seattle City Attorney’s Office 701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2050 Seattle, WA 98104-7097 Phone: (206) 684-8200 11 Attorneys for Defendants 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 CITY’S ANSWER TO PLAINTIFF WEST’S FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT - 5 Peter S. Holmes Seattle City Attorney 701 5th Avenue, Suite 2050 Seattle, WA 98104-7097 (206) 684-8200 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 1 2 3 I certify that on the 30th day of July, 2018, I caused a true and correct copy of this document to be served on the following in the manner indicated below: 4 5 6 7 8 Lincoln Beauregard Julie A. Kays Connelly Law Offices, PLLC 2301 North 30th Street Tacoma, WA 98403 Attorney for Plaintiff Email: lincolnb@connelly-law.com Email: jkays@connelly-law.com (X) King County Electronic Service 9 10 And via: 11 Arthur West 120 State Ave. N.E., #1497 Olympia, WA 98501 awestaa@gail.com 12 (X) U.S. Mail ( ) ABC Legal Messengers (X) Via Email 13 Pro Se Plaintiff 14 15 16 /s/ Marisa Johnson Marisa Johnson, Legal Assistant 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 CITY’S ANSWER TO PLAINTIFF WEST’S FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT - 6 Peter S. Holmes Seattle City Attorney 701 5th Avenue, Suite 2050 Seattle, WA 98104-7097 (206) 684-8200