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Miska the Cat Secures $125,000 Settlement from Bellevue, King County

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

After years of litigation, Possinger Law Group and the Law Offices of Jon M. Zimmerman are pleased to share that we have reached a settlement for our client in Danieli v. King County, et al.. In addition to a $125,000 settlement award, King County and the City of Bellevue have agreed to engage in discussions with Anna Danieli regarding her experience and recommendations for policy improvements. Alongside our client, Possinger Law Group and the Law Offices of Jon M. Zimmerman are dedicated to advocating for positive changes that will prevent others from having the same experiences as Danieli.

The Danieli case dates back to 2014, when Bellevue resident Anna Danieli began receiving violation notices against her brown tabby cat, Miska. Among the alleged violations, this house cat had, among other things, been allowed to freely roam through her neighborhood. After dozens of citations and more than $30,000 in fines, Miska’s family sought legal assistance with the Law Offices of Jon M. Zimmerman and Possinger Law Group. Research uncovered numerous issues in King County’s case against Miska, including the fact that one of her neighborhood complainants was also the head of Regional Animal Services of King County (“RASKC”). Danieli’s legal team filed a lawsuit in April 2019 against King County, the City of Bellevue, and various government entities and officials [link article]. The path to a positive outcome in this case has been long and hard-fought, and included a court ruling obtained by Danieli’s lawyers that required Bellevue to change its city code, an appeal effort headed by Marla Zink of Luminata Law, and a detour through the federal court system. Prior to settling, the case was scheduled to be heard in front of the Honorable Timothy Ashcraft in Pierce County Superior Court.

Since joining attorney Zimmerman on the case in 2019, attorney Jeffrey Possinger has been able to achieve a number of positive outcomes for his client. When asked about these achievements, Possinger expressed that he is especially proud of successfully arguing for and obtaining a court order that required changes to Bellevue’s City Code, which were implemented in December 2020, changing the way that civil offenses involving animals are heard in Bellevue. “From the onset of this case, more than anything, we have advocated for real change,” Possinger added. “Not every case has wins that are tangible or simple, so achieving something this big for our client and for the Bellevue community as a whole was very rewarding.” Beyond satisfaction for Danieli and her legal team, this win is also meaningful in improving government transparency. “This victory affirms that citizens ought to be able to rely on the laws as written, and not on backroom agreements by politicians,” Attorney Jon Zimmerman notes.

The case may have been settled, but concerns raised by Danieli and her team will continue to remain important. “This case exposed how government officials can use their influence and positions to take unjust and unreasonable action against neighbors and other people in their personal lives,” Zimmerman warns. While Danieli and her cat, Miska, appeared to specifically targeted in this case, Zimmerman and Possinger’s discoveries uncovered during litigation suggest that Danieli was not the only citizen subject to government enforcement actions that were taken under the outdated Bellevue Code, and there may be recourse for other citizens that were impacted by the same or similar incidents. “The settlement with our client does not fully address the government defendant’s mistakes here,” Possinger asserts. “We look forward to supporting Ms. Danieli and our community in the future, whenever there is a good fight to fight.”

Anna Danieli is represented by Jeffrey Possinger of Possinger Law Group, PLLC and Jon Zimmerman of The Law Offices of Jon M. Zimmerman, PLLC. Media inquiries relating to Danieli’s case should be directed to [email protected]. For all other legal questions or concerns, Possinger and Zimmerman can be reached through their respective websites.

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Judge Rules that City of Bellevue Remains Vicariously Liable in Danieli v. King County, et al.

In another major win for their client, the legal team for Anna Danieli has successfully argued that Bellevue’s agreement with King County left them vicariously liable.

TACOMA, WASHINGTON

Marking another crucial moment in Anna Danieli’s case against King County, the Honorable Timothy Ashcraft of Pierce County Superior Court has ruled that the City of Bellevue can remain liable for allegedly unlawful action taken against Ms. Danieli by King County.

In an attempt to remove itself from the case, representatives for the City of Bellevue argued to the court that King County had been responsible for the government action in question, while the City of Bellevue had only been involved tangentially. This was because, in 2016, the City of Bellevue entered into an Interlocal Agreement with King County for Animal Control Cases, granting King County authority for all animal control services in Bellevue. Despite the fact that this agreement was found to be flawed, voiding many of the citations and fines that were issued to Danieli for her cat, Miska, the City of Bellevue still argued that this agreement cleared them of any liability for Danieli’s allegations.

In another big win for their client, the legal team for Anna Danieli has successfully argued that Bellevue’s agreement with King County left the City of Bellevue in the position of having to be vicariously liable for King County’s actions.

This order is particularly significant during this current stage of the case, because it prevents the City of Bellevue from exiting the case before crucial [trial preparation/mediation efforts]. Danieli and her team are confident that this decision will help achieve a positive outcome in this case. “This decision communicates to the City of Bellevue and King County that this case isn’t just going away,” Attorney Jeffrey Possinger asserts. “Ms. Danieli suffered under the actions of her government defendants, and we are confident that this decision from the court will encourage them to take this case and our client seriously.”

Danieli’s case is approaching several crucial deadlines, including a potential trial. Further developments can be found at @possinger_law_group on Instagram, and MiskaTheCat.com.

We invite you to stay up-to-date with future case developments by following our firm’s related social media channels (@possinger_law_group on Instagram, and possingerlaw.com).

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Federal Judge Remands Danieli Case to State Superior Court

Ruling brings some clarity to Miska the Cat’s ongoing case, but the impact of King County’s incorrect action remains.

TACOMA, WASHINGTON

After its removal and brief presence in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, Danieli v. King County, et al. has been remanded to Pierce County Superior Court by federal court Judge Ricardo Martinez, the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.

While this ruling brings some clarity to Danieli’s ongoing case, as well as its potential path forward, the Federal Court’s decision does not take away from the plaintiff’s stance that King County’s initial removal to Federal Court was frivolous at best. “At its core, this case is about a regular citizen who found herself the unwarranted target of powerful government officials,” Attorney Jeffrey Possinger explains. “This premature removal to Federal Court was yet another instance within the County’s larger pattern of creating excessive pressure and unnecessary expenses for our client.”

Now that the case has been moved back to State Court, Danieli’s team and the government defendants can resume their previous efforts.

We invite you to stay up-to-date with future case developments by following our firm’s related social media channels (@possinger_law_group on Instagram, and possingerlaw.com).

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Danieli Seeks Court Sanctions Against Government Defendants

Attorneys for Danieli Claim that the King County Defendant’s Notice of Removal was Legally Baseless, and that the Federal Court should impose Court Sanctions.

TACOMA, WASHINGTON

Almost two months after initially taking Miska, the brown tabby cat’s case to federal court, the King County Defendants have reversed course and now filed a Motion to Remand, in an attempt to return the case back to State Court.  Plaintiff Anna Danieli, who is the owner of Miska, who is at at the center of this litigation, is asking the federal court to impose sanctions, in addition to paying her attorney’s fees and costs. “This case should have never been removed to federal court in the first place,” says Jon Zimmerman, one of the attorneys representing the Danieli.  Danieli’s attorneys have filed a Response to the King County Defendants’ Motion for Remand as well as a separate Motion for Sanctions.  Both court filings allege that the King County Defendants’ original Notice of Removal to federal court was lacking in any valid legal basis for removal to federal court, while also containing material misrepresentations within the court filings. “As officers of the court, attorneys have obligations around the court documents they file,” stated Zimmerman. “Filing court documents without proper legal authority and full of misrepresentations is sanctionable conduct.”

The Case, Before King County Removed It to Federal Court

Before King County filed its Notice of Removal on March 5th, 2021, the case had been in Pierce County Superior Court since April 2019. Since this time, Danieli has dealt with a number of procedural motions to remove certain individual defendants, as well as a significant court victory in October 2020, when she successfully obtained a Declaratory Judgment and Injunction against the City of Bellevue. This decision found relevant portions of the Bellevue City Code invalid, and forbade the King County Hearing Examiner from hearing any further appeals of animal enforcement cases from Bellevue until the City of Bellevue corrected and updated its local law.  In response to the Court’s Order, the City of Bellevue amended the Bellevue City Code in December 2020.  Since the time of this court win, the case has continued with its remaining tort claims, as well as the prospect of civil rights claims against the various Government Defendants resulting from evidence uncovered during litigation.  “This has been a very long process, and a very complicated case” says Zimmerman, who has been prosecuting this case alongside attorney Jeffrey Possinger.

The recent court filings by Danieli’s attorneys describe the detailed timeline of this legally complicated case.  “The facts of this case are complicated, but the story is pretty simple” says Possinger. “This is a case involving a private citizen taking on the government – in this case two governments and their teams of attorneys, and it illustrates just how hard it is to hold the government responsible for its actions.”  Just prior to King County’s filing of its Notice of Removal, the Superior Court had required the attorneys for Danieli to address some procedural matters before it would move forward with approving Danieli’s request to amend her complaint to include claims for civil rights violations. Then, without notice to Danieli’s attorneys or to the Superior Court, King County filed its Notice of Removal, only hours after one such hearing.

“Whether or not Danieli’s proposed civil rights claims would eventually belong in federal court is an arguable question, but there is no question that [King] County’s taking this case to federal court at this time was procedurally premature” says Possinger.  The timing of King County’s actions “essentially jammed a legal and jurisdictional crowbar between the gears of two separate but interrelated court systems” says Danieli’s Motion for Sanctions, actions that have been an unnecessary and costly derailing of Danieli’s case in state court.  It’s this kind of expensive and legally baseless game-playing that Danieli’s Motion for Sanctions seeks to address.

Sanctionable Conduct Part of a Pattern

Danieli’s attorneys say that this kind of conduct by King County and its attorneys is part of a pattern. Danieli’s attorneys point out in the Motion for Sanctions that, in earlier motions ( that ultimately resulted in the City of Bellevue being required to change its law), the Government Defendants had attempted to prevent Danieli from having her day in court at all by “voiding” the underlying civil infractions that had been issued against her before the trial court could hold a hearing on her legal claims.  At the time, all of the Government Defendants had relied on this strategy, as a way to prevent Danieli from having her claims rightfully heard by the court. Not only had the Government Defendants failed to disclose to Danieli’s attorneys for months that they had voided the underlying infractions against their client Danieli (only revealing this information in their Motions to Dismiss), but as Danieli’s attorneys pointed out to the trial court in their responses to the various government motions, the actions taken by King County employees to effectuate this strategy were both illegal and for those taking the actions, official misconduct, according to the relevant law governing civil infractions. Although the trial court did not sanction the Government Defendants at that time, the trial court ignored the Government Defendants’ stratagem, and granted Danieli’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. As is detailed in her Motion for Sanctions, even though she ultimately prevailed and the Government Defendants’ ill-conceived strategy failed, Danieli’s fight against these tactics has come at a high cost to her as a private citizen taking on two of the largest governments in Washington State.

Holding the Government Accountable

Danieli’s attorneys say this motion is required to hold the government and its attorneys accountable. “This lawsuit is about holding the government accountable for its actions, and this particular motion is about holding the government and its attorneys accountable for their conduct within this case,” says attorney Jeffrey Possinger.  He and co-counsel Jon Zimmerman are hopeful that sanctions will prevent, or at least minimize, additional frivolous legal tactics going forward as the case proceeds to trial.

A hearing has been set for Friday, April 30th, 2021 on Danieli’s Motion for Sanctions, and a separate motion requesting consolidation of this motion with the County’s Motion for Remand has not yet been decided.  Chief Judge Ricardo S. Martinez will decide the issues that have been presented by the attorneys for Danieli and the various King County Defendants.

Response to Motion to Remand

Motion for Sanctions (FRCP 11)

Declaration in Support of Motion for Sanctions (FRCP 11)

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Danieli Legal Team Welcomes Marla Zink as Appellate Counsel

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Since obtaining a declaratory judgment with injunctive relief and prevailing in Pierce County Superior Court against their government defendants, Anna Danieli and her cat, Miska, have begun the process of filing an appeal. This appeal opposes the court’s recent decision to deny Ms. Danieli attorney fees, despite her success in proving that the City of Bellevue had acted unlawfully by way of not updating their code to reflect a contract agreement with King County.

To support Danieli’s efforts in this appeal, attorney Marla Zink has joined the litigation team. Zink, a co-founder and managing member of Luminata Law, brings a wealth of appellate experience to the case. She is enthusiastic about the opportunity to represent Danieli against the government defendants. “A lay citizen who proved that her government was acting without authority should not have to bear the entire cost of litigation,” Zink asserts. “I am pleased to be able to use my appellate court experience to build on Mr. Possinger and Mr. Zimmerman’s trial court arguments.”

Danieli’s existing attorneys are also confident that the appeal is in good hands. “Ms. Zink is a capable and caring appellate lawyer with a history of successful outcomes,” attorney Jeffrey Possinger affirms. “She is a zealous advocate, who brings a fresh perspective and attentiveness to this very complex case. We are excited to see where Miska’s story will go, with Marla on the team.”

Ms. Zink’s first project will be ensuring that Ms. Danieli’s appeal is heard as a direct appeal, rather than being reviewed as a motion for discretionary review. Further updates will be shared soon, as the case continues to develop.

Marla Zink can be reached through her website, luminatalaw.com.

We invite you to stay up-to-date with future case developments by following our firm’s related social media channels (@possinger_law_group on Instagram, and possingerlaw.com).

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King County Takes Miska the Tabby Cat to Federal Court

King County files Notice of Removal in Federal Court, which Danieli’s Attorneys Claim is Premature and Frivolous.

TACOMA, WASHINGTON

On Friday, March 5th, 2021, the King County Defendants filed a Notice of Removal to the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. With this one filing, King County has essentially made a federal case of the lawsuit involving Miska, the brown tabby cat from Bellevue. King County’s Notice of Removal comes while a number of motions were still pending in Pierce County Superior Court before Judge Timothy Ashcraft, as well as an appeal in the Court of Appeals, Div. 2. 

Attorneys for Anna Danieli, Miska’s owner, have put both King County and the Superior Court on notice that this recent filing was both untimely and legally baseless filing in the Federal Court. “This was clearly a legally frivolous action taken by the King County Defendants,” stated attorney Jon Zimmerman, one of Danieli’s attorneys.  “The Superior Court has not even been given the opportunity to make a decision about [Danieli’s] requested amendment to her complaint, and the King County Defendants are making filings in federal court with zero legal basis.”  Based on filings with the Federal Court, the other defendants, City of Bellevue, and the King County Hearing Examiner have consented to the Notice of Removal.

Danieli’s attorneys are expected to respond to King County’s Notice of Removal in the U.S. District Court, where the case has been assigned to Chief Judge Ricardo S. Martinez.

Notice of Removal (Federal Court) (02-05-2021)

Letter to Superior Court (03-15-2021)

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Danieli asks Court to Add Civil Rights Violations

Based on information uncovered in litigation, Plaintiff is now seeking approval of the Court to add claims to her original complaint that King County Animal Control’s targeting of her and her brown tabby cat, Miska, were a violation of her Civil Rights.

TACOMA, WASHINGTON

Based on information uncovered over the last several months of litigation, Anna Danieli, the owner of a brown tabby cat from Bellevue, is requesting that the Court allow her to amend her complaint to include claims for violations of her civil rights.  On February 5th, 2021, Danieli filed a motion in Pierce County Superior Court seeking permission from the Court to amend her existing complaint against King County and the other Government Defendants.  Danieli’s case has recently been reassigned to Pierce County Superior Court Judge Timothy Ashcraft.

A copy of the proposed amended complaint was attached to Danieli’s Motion, which set out the basis of her claims that King County and other government actors, including Defendant Gene Mueller, violated her civil rights when she and her cat, Miska, were targeted with excessive enforcement, in part because Mueller is both a neighbor of Danieli and the head of Regional Animal Services of King County (“RASKC”). “We believe that this is a case where the use of government police powers and other government resources in a neighborhood dispute were influenced by the fact that the head of King County Animal Control was interested in the outcome as a neighbor of the our client,“ asserts attorney Jon Zimmerman, one of the attorneys representing Anna Danieli.  The case garnered earlier attention due to the substantial amount of government resources spent prosecuting a neighborhood cat. (See: Article).  At one point, two separate King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys were simultaneously assigned to prosecute Miska and her owner, Anna Danieli.  “We have found no cat in King County that has been prosecuted or cited like Miska,” said Zimmerman, referring to the approximate 30 citations issued by RASKC officers to Miska over several years, of the approximate 50 overall citations issued to cats in King County during the same time period. (See: Article).

Troubling New Evidence Discovered

What was unknown at the time that Danieli initially filed her lawsuit in 2019 was the role that Mueller and others had played in the extensive targeting of Danieli and her cat Miska.  In the course of ongoing litigation, evidence has been produced indicating that Mueller, as one of Danieli’s neighbors, was one of the neighbors filing complaints, which were then being prosecuted by his own agency. His involvement as a simultaneous complainant and as head of RASKC was not revealed to Danieli until much later.  Additional evidence has also revealed that Danieli’s neighbors were being solicited and encouraged by RASKC employees to file complaints against Danieli and Miska. However, one of the most disturbing revelations was that Mueller had allegedly shown RASKC employees, including an Animal Control Officer, a photograph on his phone of Mueller’s wife holding a rifle and then indicating to employees “that this was a ‘solution’ to the Danieli ‘cat problem.’”  This Animal Control Officer was later assigned to the RASKC complaint that had been personally filed by Mueller.  Based on this and other evidence that has surfaced, Danieli believes that this excessive and disproportionate enforcement, which singled her out like no other cat owner in King County, is the basis of a civil rights claim against King County, Mueller, and other Government Defendants.

Danieli Lawsuit Has Already Succeeded in Requiring the City of Bellevue to Update and Correct City Code.

Prior to bringing this most current Motion, Danieli had previously succeeded in obtaining a Declaratory Judgement and Injunction that found the City of Bellevue’s Code to be invalid, and which enjoined the King County Hearing Examiner from hearing any further Animal Control Appeals coming out of Bellevue until the city updated and corrected the Bellevue City Code.  Because of this successful Motion for Partial Summary Judgement and the resulting Court Order, the City of Bellevue updated its City Code in early December 2020.  Since the time of that successful motion, the case has continued as Danieli has pursued her tort claims against the Government Defendants, and if approved by the Superior Court at an upcoming hearing, she will pursue her civil rights claims against the Government Defendants as well. “We have been very happy with the results that we have been able to obtain for our client to-date, including the much-needed changes to Bellevue’s law, but we have been particularly troubled about the discoveries we have made over the last few months concerning the events were happening behind the scenes while our client was the subject of such intense prosecution by Animal Control,” said Jeffrey Possinger, another attorney whose firm represents Danieli.  “Despite the earlier wins, there is still a lot of work yet to do in order to get a full measure of justice for our client and her family.”

A hearing is scheduled for February 19th, 2021 at 9:00 AM in Pierce County Superior Court to hear Daniel’s Motion to Amend her Pleadings.

Motion for Leave to Amend (02-05-2021)

Proposed Second Amended Complaint

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City of Bellevue Updates Law in Response to Judge’s Order

In response to the court’s order in Danieli v. King County, the City of Bellevue updates and corrects the Bellevue City Code.

BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON

Following the entry of the Court’s Order on November 13, 2020, deeming the City of Bellevue’s City Code invalid, the City of Bellevue has taken action to update its laws.  On December 7, 2020, the Bellevue City Council passed Ordinance No. 6546, which updated Bellevue’s City Code sections 8.04.180, 08.04.340(6)(a) and 8.04.350, effectively fixing the problems in the law that were pointed out in Danieli v. King County, et. al., and ordered to be rectified by the Court.

The City of Bellevue’s change to the law is one of the significant wins for Danieli in her case against the City of Bellevue, and other government agencies. “We are happy for both our client as well as the citizens of the City of Bellevue,” stated Jeffrey Possinger, one of Danieli’s attorneys. “It is unfortunate that it took a lawsuit and a court order to get the government actors to do what should have been done all along, but we are very pleased with this result.”  The new updates to the law will go into effect five days after passage and publication.

This update corrects a significant flaw in the previous Bellevue City Code, which failed to grant legal authority for the King County Hearing Examiner to hear animal control cases arising out of the City of Bellevue.  In 2016, the City of Bellevue entered into an Interlocal Agreement with King County for Animal Control Cases, which required the city to update its code for certain changes in the processes used by King County for appeals of decisions made by Regional Animal Control of King County (“RASKC”). However, after entering into this agreement with King County, the City of Bellevue failed to update its code, which the Court ruled caused earlier decisions made by the King County Hearing Examiner, which included Danieli’s case, to be void. RASKC is the King County agency in charge of enforcing animal control laws in King County, and on behalf of a number of cities, like the City of Bellevue, which King County has entered contracts for services.

Despite this significant win by Danieli in Pierce County Superior Court in October 2020, the case continues against the various Government Defendants, as various tort claims remain unresolved with a trial expected in the Spring of 2021.

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Court Enters Order Against Government Defendants

Court Rules Bellevue City Code Invalid. King County Hearing Examiner enjoined from hearing any further Animal Control Cases until City of Bellevue updates Bellevue City Code.

TACOMA, WASHINGTON

Attorneys for Miska, the brown tabby cat from Bellevue, and her owner, Anna Danieli, were in court again on Friday, November 13th, 2020, for entry of an Order on Danieli’s earlier success in court on October 23rd, 2020, where Judge Bryan Chushcoff ruled in favor of Danieli’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment seeking Declaratory Relief and Injunctive Relief against the various Government Defendants.

Danieli and the Government Defendants disagreed on the the final order that the Court should enter. Argument around this final written order concerned itself with a number of issues, a critical one relating to the scope and effect of the court’s earlier ruling on the legal authority of the King County Hearing Examiner to hear animal control cases arising out of the City of Bellevue. After legal counsel for Danieli and the various Government Defendants concluded their legal arguments, the court determined to take the issues presented under advisement. Judge Chushcoff entered his final order later the same day.

The order entered by the court is significant. In addition to directly affecting Anna Danieli’s case (in which matters are expected to be dismissed by the King County Hearing Examiner shortly as a result) there may be a broader impact on other cases that have been before the King County Hearing Examiner since 2016.  The court’s order indicates that the City of Bellevue’s law never properly gave legal authority to the King County Hearing Examiner to hear cases coming from the City of Bellevue.  “The Court’s order that was entered today clearly calls into question the validity of any other similar decisions made by the King County Hearing Examiner since 2016 [on cases from Bellevue]”, stated attorney Jeffrey Possinger commenting on the Court’s final decision. “The same legal issues would exist for any decisions that were made [by the King County Hearing Examiner] from cities that failed to update their municipal codes after King County made its shift from the Board of Appeals to the [King County] Hearing Examiner to hear animal control cases. Legally speaking, this is a ticking time bomb for a number of jurisdictions”

The Defendants have 30 days to appeal the Court’s Order.

Order Granting Injunctive and Declaratory Relief (11-13-2020)

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Big Win in Court Case for Miska the Tabby Cat

Judge finds City of Bellevue had failed to properly update the Bellevue City Code in 2016.

TACOMA, WASHINGTON

Miska and her owner, Anna Danieli, had a very good day in Court last Friday (October 23rd, 2021).  With local news media present in the courtroom, Danieli’s lawyers successfully argued their motion to Judge Bryan Chushcoff, that the City of Bellevue had failed to properly update the Bellevue City Code in 2016, and as a result, a significant section of the Code that governed the adjudication of Animal Control Cases in Bellevue was invalid. “I am convinced that the City of Bellevue’s Interlocal Agreement is not sufficient to change the Bellevue ordinances with respect to [the Hearing Examiners’ authority]” stated Judge Chushcoff in his ruling from the bench.

Danieli’s lawyers had brought a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment seeking a determination from the Pierce County Superior Court that Bellevue’s law was invalid, and to also put a stop to the City of Bellevue, Regional Animal Services for King County (“RASKC”), and the King County Hearing Examiner from taking any further action against Danieli and her tabby cat Miska.  Seeking to have Danieli’s case dismissed, the various government Defendants had brought their own separate Motions for Summary Judgment, but after having ruled in Danieli’s favor on Bellevue’s invalid law and ordering injunctive relief, Judge Chushcoff opted not to currently decide any of the issues brought by the Defendants.

The court’s decision has affirmed the position that Danieli’s counsel have taken since the onset of this case, that “the government lacked the legal authority to hear animal enforcement cases arising out of Bellevue because of Bellevue’s failure to update its laws” (as stated by attorney Jon Zimmerman, one of the attorneys representing Danieli).

This decision could have an impact not only on other animal owners within Bellevue, but also on those residing in certain other cities in King County. “The effect of the court’s decision today will likely have a broader impact than for just our client, because the court has ruled that the King County Hearing Examiner had never had jurisdiction to hear cases in Bellevue since 2016”, said attorney Jeffrey Possinger, who argued the legal issues related to the Interlocal Agreement between King County and the City of Bellevue, as well as the legal effect of Bellevue failing to update its City Code.

The court has directed the parties to present a final order for entry by the trial court in two weeks.

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