Washington State Supreme Court Declares Recall Petitions Lawsuit Frivolous

The Washington Supreme Court has issued a unanimous decision finding recall petitions and the appeals pursued by Cody Hart, Derrill Fussell, Timothy Garrison, Larry Jensen, Kathy LaFreniere, and Kevin Ewing were frivolous.

The petitioners sought to recall Skagit County Prosecuting Attorney Richard Weyrich, County Commissioners Peter Browning and Ron Wesen and retired Commissioner Lisa Janicki for claimed defects in oaths of three superior court judges, a district court commissioner, and two deputy prosecutors. The petitioners’ same claims had been rejected in multiple prior cases.

The Supreme Court opinion found:

These charges were part of a coordinated effort to harass and do not sufficiently charge that any alleged oath filing defect vacated an office, invalidated official acts, or caused a loss of public funds.

The Supreme Court also upheld the trial court’s orders jointly sanctioning six petitioners $5,348.22. Given the frivolous petitions, the Supreme Court also awarded attorney fees on appeal.

Because these charges as filed were plainly insufficient and part of a coordinated effort to harass the elected officials, and because these appeals present no debatable issue, we award the elected officials attorney fees on appeal. RAP 18.1; RAP 18.9(a).

Skagit County Prosecutor Weyrich and the Commissioners were represented by Senior Deputy Prosecutor Frederick Haist and Chief Civil Deputy Erik Pedersen.

The Washington State Supreme Court opinion can be found on their website located at: https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions.recent