Lawsuit against Seattle's famous crow-feeding family settled Attorneys: Portage Bay neighbors sued because 'bird feeding is an insufficiently sophisticated or classy hobby for their tony neighborhood'

Lisa and Gary Mann, whose East Shelby Street home is pictured on the left, were sued by two neighbors who say that birds fed by the Mann family are destroying their homes in Seattle's Portage Bay neighborhood. Pictured Aug. 11, 2015. less Lisa and Gary Mann, whose East Shelby Street home is pictured on the left, were sued by two neighbors who say that birds fed by the Mann family are destroying their homes in Seattle's Portage Bay neighborhood. ... more Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Lawsuit against Seattle's famous crow-feeding family settled 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A year-long legal fight over a Seattle family’s unusual relationship with the neighborhood’s birds has ended in an out-of-court settlement.

At age 8, Gabi Mann became known the world over for forging a friendship with the crows in Seattle’s well-heeled Portage Bay neighborhood. The crows she fed brought Gabi “gifts” – bits of trash mostly – in thanks for the food she and her mother Lisa Mann gave them.

A report by Seattle journalist Katy Sewall sent the internet swooning. Then, in August 2015, Gabi’s neighbors sued.

In their lawsuit, two neighbors – Matt Ashbach and Christine Yokan – claimed the Manns’ bird feeders were drawing rats and flocks of birds to the East Shelby Street home. They demanded $200,000 in compensation for damage they claimed had been done by the birds, and a court order preventing the Manns from setting out more than a quarter-pound of animal food each day.

Attorney Anna Johnsen said Tuesday that the Manns agreed to pay her clients "a sum of money" and to restrict their bird feeding for eight years. Johnsen said the agreement was in line with an earlier temporary injunction restricting the amount of seed the Manns could distribute.

"In consideration for the monetary payment and the strict feeding restrictions, my clients agreed to voluntarily dismiss the case," Johnsen said. "My clients are very happy to have peace restored to the neighborhood."

The Manns' attorneys did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The lawsuit, which was filed in King County Superior Court, was dismissed with prejudice at the request of all the parties. The move came as attorneys for the Manns were prepared to argue that the lawsuit be thrown out for a host of reasons, most related to assertions that the neighbors’ claims were exaggerated.

Writing the court, attorneys Justo Gonzalez and Elizabeth Findley said the Manns’ neighbors had not shown that they had been harmed in any way by the bird feeding, which involved bird seed placed in elevated troughs placed in the Manns’ backyard. Instead, the Manns’ attorneys said, Ashbach and Yokan were asking the court to find that “their desires should override the Manns’ enjoyment of the natural bounty offered by the Puget Sound region.”

“The real nuisance issue in this lawsuit is that (Yokan and Ashbach) seek a $200,000 windfall from this court because they believe bird feeding is an insufficiently sophisticated or classy hobby for their tony neighborhood,” the Manns’ attorneys continued.

“There have always been birds in Portage Bay,” they added. “It follows that there have always been bird droppings, cawing, singing, perching and roosting. The Mann family has not engaged in any unreasonable activity, and there is no evidence to support (the neighbors’) claims.”

Johnsen contended her clients' case "had nothing to do with 'classiness' or 'sophistication,' but rather a nuisance behavior that was promptly restricted by a King County Superior Court Judge."

PREVIOUSLY: Crow-feeding Seattle family fights neighbors’ claims of ‘The Birds’ come to life

Lisa Mann said her daughter started feeding the crows sporadically in 2011 after a crow gobbled up a piece of food dropped by the little girl.

“She absolutely loved seeing the crow eat,” Lisa Mann said in a statement to the court. “She gave the crows nicknames and could identify them just by looking at them. … As (she) fed the birds, crows began leaving ‘gifts’ in our front courtyard, including worn pieces of glass and lost earrings.”

The family set up a robust feeding operation in 2013 after she realized her daughter had formed a bond with the birds. The Manns put up large trough feeders stocked with nuts and seeds.

Prior to filing the lawsuit, neighbors circulated a petition and went to animal control agencies at every level of government but the feeding was not stopped.

“No one wants to be trapped living inside an Alfred Hitchcock horror movie,” Johnsen said shortly after she filed the lawsuit on Yokan and Ashbach’s behalf. “This is a residential neighborhood that was not designed to host a large-scale wildlife feeding operation.”

On visits to the Mann home, a Public Health – Seattle & King County investigator found bird food that could attract rodents but never saw any rats. Health officials sent letters to the family asking them to reduce scattered food at their home.

Yokan and Ashbach also complained that the crows feeding in the Manns’ yard were incessantly noisy. The Manns’ attorneys offered a possible motivation for the cawing.

In a statement to the court, Mann claimed Ashbach yelled at her children when they were feeding the birds. She also claimed Ashbach hung a dead crow from his deck; a photo purporting to show the dead bird was included in the court record.

“They still talk about it as one of the scariest things they have seen, and they do not feel safe outside when Matt is outside as well,” Mann said in court papers.

The lawsuit was dismissed Sept. 12. Details of a settlement, if one was reached, were not included in court papers.

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Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 orlevipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.