Andrew Gillespie Et Ano, V. Paul Drinkwine

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedAugust 1, 2022
Docket82452-0
StatusUnpublished

This text of Andrew Gillespie Et Ano, V. Paul Drinkwine (Andrew Gillespie Et Ano, V. Paul Drinkwine) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Andrew Gillespie Et Ano, V. Paul Drinkwine, (Wash. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

ANDREW GILLESPIE AND KATHERINE ) No. 82452-0-I WARD, ) ) Respondents, ) DIVISION ONE ) v. ) UNPUBLISHED OPINION ) PAUL DRINKWINE, ) ) Appellant. )

ANDRUS, C.J. – Paul Drinkwine appeals an anti-harassment protection order

prohibiting him from having any contact with neighbors Andrew Gillespie and

Katherine Ward for five years after Drinkwine repeatedly flipped them off, called

them names, and surveilled them for over a year, in violation of a settlement

agreement between the parties. Drinkwine challenges several of the trial court’s

findings of fact, contends his behavior was constitutionally protected speech, and

argues the order is an overly broad prior restraint on his speech. Drinkwine’s

arguments lack merit; we therefore affirm.

FACTS

Andrew Gillespie and Katherine Ward obtained a five-year anti-harassment

protection order against their neighbor, Paul Drinkwine, after he yelled at them;

called them, their child, and their relatives “trash,” “bitch,” and “property thieves;” No. 82452-0-I/2

took videos of them; and flipped them off while walking or driving by their home

and, on at least one occasion, while peering through a window of a family

member’s home.

Gillespie and Ward live in a Seattle townhome community with their two-

year-old son. Drinkwine lives in the same complex. Drinkwine’s townhome is

located behind that of Gillespie and Ward and away from the main road. He is

only able to access his property by a driveway easement running along and

burdening the Gillespie/Ward property. There are approximately six townhomes

behind Gillespie and Ward, and the residents of those homes use the same

easement to enter and exit their properties. Drinkwine also owns a parking space

in the complex located between his townhome and the main road.

Ward’s sister and brother-in-law, Emily and Patrick Ascolese, own the other

half of Gillespie and Ward’s duplex. Their unit is adjacent to the easement and

has windows looking out onto Drinkwine’s parking space.

Drinkwine’s animosity toward Gillespie and Ward arises out of a lawsuit he

initiated against them and the Ascoleses in 2016 relating to the use of the shared

easement. After prevailing on summary judgment against Drinkwine, Gillespie and

Ward negotiated a settlement agreement with him in 2018. The agreement

contained a mutually agreed-upon provision that the parties would “not

communicate directly with each other except via certified mail or through willing

parties (e.g., neighbors or attorneys).” Despite this agreement, Drinkwine began

a “sustained and deliberate campaign” to harass Gillespie and Ward, their child,

and their relatives.

2 No. 82452-0-I/3

Gillespie and Ward documented a number of incidents between May 2020

and January 2021 in which Drinkwine flipped them off while walking or driving by

their property, yelled at their son and his babysitter, called members of the family

“trash,” video recorded them, made vulgar gestures at them through the Ascoleses’

window, and flipped off their social guests.

According to Gillespie and Ward, Drinkwine “unilaterally declared the

settlement to be dead” a few months after executing it and escalated his

aggressive behavior toward them. His conduct led Gillespie and Ward to file a

motion in King County Superior Court to enforce the 2018 settlement agreement.

The court granted the motion in December 2020, confirming the agreement was

legally binding on Drinkwine.

After losing in court, Drinkwine continued his pattern of insulting his

neighbors when they were within earshot, looking into the windows of the Ascolese

home while they and Gillespie and Ward were sitting as a family at their dining

table and flipping them off, calling them “property thieves,” and surveilling them.

His conduct made Gillespie and Ward feel like they were trapped inside their own

home.

In February 2021, Gillespie and Ward sought an anti-harassment protection

order against Drinkwine. The trial court conducted a hearing and, after reviewing

the parties’ declarations and other submissions, found that Drinkwine had engaged

in a course of conduct designed to alarm, annoy, and harass Gillespie and Ward’s

family. The court entered an anti-harassment protection order for a period of five

years. The court also ordered Drinkwine to pay over $5,000 in attorney fees.

Drinkwine appeals. 3 No. 82452-0-I/4

ANALYSIS

Sufficiency of Evidence of Unlawful Harassment

Drinkwine first challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the trial

court’s determination that he engaged in a pattern of unlawful harassment under

former RCW 10.14.020 and 10.14.080. 1 We reject his argument.

We review a court’s decision to issue a protection order for abuse of

discretion. RCW 10.14.080(6); State v. Noah, 103 Wn. App. 29, 43, 9 P.3d 858

(2000). When a court weighs contradictory evidence before the entry of a

protection order, we review the court’s findings for substantial evidence. In re

Marriage of Rideout, 150 Wn.2d 337, 351, 77 P.3d 1174 (2003). Substantial

evidence exists when, viewing it in the light most favorable to the prevailing party

below, it is sufficient to persuade a rational person of the truth of the declared

premise. Boisen v. Burgess, 87 Wn. App. 912, 918, 943 P.2d 682 (1997). We will

not second guess a trial court’s credibility determinations. Wilson v. Wilson, 165

Wn. App. 333, 340, 267 P.3d 485 (2011).

We review a trial court’s conclusions of law de novo. City of Seattle v.

Megrey, 93 Wn. App. 391, 393, 968 P.2d 900 (1998). Where a trial court’s findings

of fact provide a proper basis for entry of an anti-harassment order and substantial

evidence supports the findings, this court will uphold the order on appeal. Noah,

103 Wn. App. at 39.

RCW 10.14.080(3) authorizes a court to enter an anti-harassment

protection order upon finding by a preponderance of the evidence that unlawful

1 This chapter was repealed, effective July 1, 2022, by LAWS OF 2021, ch. 215, § 170.

4 No. 82452-0-I/5

harassment exists. To establish “unlawful harassment,” a petitioner must prove

(1) a knowing and willful (2) course of conduct (3) directed at a specific person (4)

which seriously alarms, annoys, harasses, or is detrimental to such person, and

(5) which serves no legitimate or lawful purpose. RCW 10.14.020(2).

Drinkwine does not dispute that he engaged in a pattern of conduct over a

long period of time that took the form of certain modes of communication directed

toward Gillespie and Ward.

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Related

In Re the Marriage of Boisen
943 P.2d 682 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1997)
State v. Dyson
872 P.2d 1115 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1994)
City of Seattle v. Huff
767 P.2d 572 (Washington Supreme Court, 1989)
State v. Alexander
888 P.2d 175 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1995)
City of Seattle v. Megrey
968 P.2d 900 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1998)
Wilson v. Wilson
267 P.3d 485 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2011)
Gander v. Yeager
274 P.3d 393 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2012)
Trummel v. Mitchell
131 P.3d 305 (Washington Supreme Court, 2006)
In Re Marriage of Rideout
77 P.3d 1174 (Washington Supreme Court, 2003)
State v. Noah
9 P.3d 858 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2000)
State Of Washington v. Brian K. Brush
425 P.3d 545 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2018)
In re the Marriage of Rideout
77 P.3d 1174 (Washington Supreme Court, 2003)
In re the Marriage of Suggs
93 P.3d 161 (Washington Supreme Court, 2004)
Trummel v. Mitchell
156 Wash. 2d 653 (Washington Supreme Court, 2006)
State v. Immelt
267 P.3d 305 (Washington Supreme Court, 2011)
Niccum v. Enquist
286 P.3d 966 (Washington Supreme Court, 2012)
State v. Noah
103 Wash. App. 29 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2000)
In re the Marriage of Wilson
165 Wash. App. 333 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2011)
State v. Bradford
308 P.3d 736 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2013)

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