Earlier this month, the Washington Supreme Court dealt a blow to transparent government when it ruled that a San Juan County committee, which included three of the county's six-member council members, could meet behind doors to make important decisions regarding its critical areas ordinance update without violating the Open Public Meetings Act. We ...
caption id="attachment_38880" align="alignright" width="300" Maybe the tragedy of Macbeth would have had a happier ending if the witches had opened their meetings to the public/caption The tragic figure Macbeth said, "Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires." Enlightened decisions don't flourish in shadow. Likewise, g ...
caption id="attachment_38590" align="alignright" width="188" Mr. Burns agonizing over the chaos of modern employment law/caption The Supreme Court of Washington is on a crusade to protect workers from evil bosses even when it's unnecessary and hurts everyone. Washington, like most states, has an at-will employment rule. Employers and employees ar ...
In the U.S.A. of old, your boss could fire you if he didn't like the color of your socks, the smell of your lunch, or the pitch of your sneeze. And you could get up and walk whenever it suited you. While the latter remains true, the traditional rule that an employer can discharge staff at will has undergone some erosion over the last five decades. ...
James Madison once wrote, "a popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a Farce, or a Tragedy, or, perhaps, both." Despite being bad at agreeing on about anything nowadays, most everyone likes the idea of transparent government. Except for the government. Last Friday, PLF attorneys filed an ...
Charlie Brown always fell for Lucy's trick of whipping the football away just as he approached for a kick. One Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown hesitated, but Lucy insisted that football was a Thanksgiving tradition. As Charlie Brown lay on his back after being duped again, Lucy smiled down and said, "Isn't it peculiar, Charlie Brown, how some tradition ...
Earlier this week, PLF attorneys filed an amicus brief urging the Washington Supreme Court to review the takings case, 10 North Washington Ave., LLC v. City of Richland. In 2008, 10 North Washington Ave., LLC (NWA) purchased vacant land from the city to operate as a rail yard. NWA invested over $5 million to develop the property, and entered contra ...
While we wait for the Supreme Court of Washington to decide whether it will review Birnbaum v. Pierce County, I thought it might be nice to give some attention to two amicus briefs that were filed in support of our petition for review. As a refresher, here's the issue in the case as I described it in a previous post: About a month ago, we brought ...
A few days ago, I wrote about Lemire v. Washington Department of Ecology and the exciting possibility that the Supreme Court of Washington might accept the Court of Appeals' invitation to hear the case. Well, it didn't take long for the Supreme Court to act. The Court accepted certification today, meaning it will decide the case on the merits. W ...