On Friday, the Rental Housing Association and a number of landlords filed suit in King County Superior Court to challenge the City of Seattle’s two eviction-ban ordinances and its ordinance requiring that tenants be offered an installment plan and up to a year to repay back-rent.
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Landlords file legal challenge to eviction moratorium
Yesterday a group of landlords filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to challenge the temporary bans on evictions enacted by Governor Inslee and Mayor Durkan, the extension of Durkan’s ban passed by the City Council, and the Council’s ordinance requiring landlords to allow tenants to repay back rent in installments.
Continue readingJudge narrows Che Taylor wrongful death suit, sends it on to trial
This afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly issued an order in the wrongful death lawsuit filed over the killing of Che Taylor by Seattle Police Department officers. His order dismisses some of the claims — as well as some of the plaintiffs and defendants — and clears the path for what remains to proceeds to a jury trial.
Continue readingCatching up on the court cases: August 20, 2020
So many court cases, so little time to read all the filings. Here are updates on four high-profile cases involving the City of Seattle that all saw action this week.
Continue readingJudge denies “protest tax” plaintiffs a temporary restraining order
This afternoon, Judge Richard Jones weighed in for the first time on the “protest tax” lawsuit filed against the City of Seattle, denying the plaintiffs a temporary restraining order.
Continue readingBLM lawsuit over crowd-control devices shelved for now after parties agree on updated injunction
This morning, the City of Seattle and plaintiffs Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and the ACLU jointly asked Judge Jones to approve an update to his earlier order on SPD’s use of crowd-control devices. Judge quickly approved it. His order also dismisses the plaintiffs’ contempt allegation, and stays the case until Judge Robart rules next month on the validity of the City Council’s ordinance banning crowd-control weapons.
Continue readingJudge Robart warns the City Council to watch its step in defunding SPD (updated)
For the first two and a half pages, today’s order issued by Judge Robart looks routine, granting a six-week extension to his recent temporary restraining order. But then, in the last paragraph, he had something else to say… (update at the end)
Continue readingCatching up on the legal machinations around SPD’s use of crowd control weapons (updated)
There has been a flurry of activity this week, as the wheels of justice creak forward in trying to resolve the various legal challenges to SPD’s policies for use of crowd-control weapons. Let’s get caught up. (updates below)
Continue readingNew lawsuit filed against City of Seattle over SPD response to protests
Yesterday five Seattle protesters filed a lawsuit against the city over alleged SPD’s use of crowd-control weapons at protests, in particular the protest-turned riot on July 25th. Their allegations, as well as their requests for the court to take action, are similar to the case filed by Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and the ACLU — so similar, in fact, that it’s questionable whether it will be able to continue as a separate case.
Continue readingJudge modifies approval of SPD subpoena for news media footage of protests, stays ruling for three weeks
In a hearing that began Thursday morning, recessed multiple times, and ultimately finished up midday today, Judge Nelson Lee made modifications to his earlier approval of SPD’s subpoena for the footage that several local news media companies took of criminal activity at the May 30 protest and riot. He then (mostly) stayed that order for 21 days to allow the news companies to appeal his ruling.
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