While we have all been enjoying the holidays, lawyers were busy.

As a reminder, I keep track of the major cases the city is litigating, along with relevant documents, on this page.

“First in time” rental housing lawsuit: The plaintiff landlords filed a motion for summary judgment on December 20th. The city is due to file its reply brief, and its own motion for summary judgment, by January 17th. A hearing is scheduled for September 23rd.

Democracy vouchers: after the judge found in favor of the city (upholding the democracy vouchers program), the plaintiffs filed a motion for the judge to reconsider. The judge promptly denied it. The plaintiffs have filed their notice of appeal.

Income tax: the City of Seattle has filed their appeal directly to the state Supreme Court.

Opioid lawsuit: A lot happened here. To recap up to today: the defendant companies had the case transferred from state court to federal court, and then petitioned for the case to be consolidated into a “multi-district litigation” case with all the other lawsuits against the opioid companies. At first, the city opposed the transfer, but they have since dropped their opposition and the case has now been officially consolidated; it will be heard in the Northern District of Ohio. Unfortunately, this means that it will be years before there is any resolution to the case. I have an inquiry into the City Attorney’s Office as to why they dropped their opposition to transferring and consolidating the case.

Charleena Lyles wrongful death case: I’m just starting to track this case, filed over the summer after Lyles was shot in her apartment by two Seattle Police Department officers. Originally the case was filed against the City of Seattle and the two officers. But after the SPD Force Investigation report came out earlier this month with evidence that Solid Ground, Lyles’ landlord and the organization responsible for her case management, had apparently failed to report incidents and dropped the ball in other aspects of its duties to her, the lawsuit was amended to add Solid Ground as an additional defendant. The two police officers have filed a motion to have the case against them dismissed; there is a hearing on that issue scheduled for February 23rd.

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