WashCOG again sues San Juan County for public records violations
Press release
Jan. 24, 2022
Contacts:
George Erb, WCOG secretary, geoerb@seanet.com
Juli Bunting, WCOG executive director, info@washingtoncog.org
The Washington Coalition for Open Government (WashCOG) on Jan. 20 again sued San Juan County for violating the state Public Records Act by excessively redacting attorney invoices and providing insufficient explanations for withholding information.
The lawsuit asks the court to order the county to provide properly redacted records, along with written explanations for any withheld portions. WashCOG is also seeking penalties against the county, as well as reimbursement for reasonable attorney fees and court costs.
WashCOG filed the suit in Skagit County Superior Court in Mount Vernon, Washington, because the county is closer to us and allows electronic filing.
San Juan County has a terrible transparency record, and WashCOG is going to court to force the county to change its ways. The coalition is not seeking a settlement just to make us go away; rather, we are taking legal action against the county to change its behavior and policies.
In a letter Nov. 16, we warned San Juan County Council members and their attorneys that the county was needlessly exposing itself to costly penalties and court judgments by excessively redacting public records, contrary to state law.
In the case at hand, WashCOG submitted a public records request for documents related to the county’s use of an outside counsel in litigation against the county. The county gave WashCOG more than 100 pages of attorney invoices, paid with county tax dollars, from which all of the information about the work performed by the outside attorney was redacted.
The public has a legitimate interest in knowing what work the county’s outside lawyers do at taxpayer expense, as the state Legislature found in 2007, when it enacted a law clarifying that attorney invoices are public records that must be disclosed with only very limited redactions to protect privileged information.
In a separate but related action, WashCOG on Jan. 21 notified San Juan County that we moved for a partial summary judgment in the county’s lawsuit against WashCOG in 2020. That lawsuit also addresses the county’s excessive redactions of attorney invoices with insufficient explanation. WashCOG took that step only after the county repeatedly ignored WashCOG’s demands that the county produce the invoices without further litigation.
In that case, San Juan County sued WashCOG’s attorney in Whatcom County Superior Court after we submitted the public records request for documents related to the county’s use of outside counsel. The lawsuit is indicative of the county’s aggressive responses to records requesters.
Our motion asks the court to find the county in violation of the Public Records Act and to order the agency to provide properly redacted records.
WashCOG is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2002. We are an independent, broad-based advocate for public records, open meetings and informed citizens.
