Eggleston v. Pierce County

148 Wash. 2d 760
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 6, 2003
DocketNo. 71296-4
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 148 Wash. 2d 760 (Eggleston v. Pierce County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eggleston v. Pierce County, 148 Wash. 2d 760 (Wash. 2003).

Opinions

Chambers, J.

Linda Eggleston’s home was rendered uninhabitable by the execution of a criminal search warrant and preservation order. She sought relief in state and federal court for alleged civil rights violations, including violation of article I, section 16 of the Washington State Constitution. Her claims in federal court have been stayed, and the Pierce County Superior Court dismissed her article I, section 16 claim at summary judgment. Today, we are asked only to determine whether she has suffered a compensable taking under article I, section 16 of the Washington State Constitution. We conclude she has not, and affirm.

FACTS

Mrs. Eggleston inherited a two-bedroom Tacoma home from her father in 1977. Mrs. Eggleston lived there with her adult son Brian Eggleston. Pierce County sheriffs received a tip that Brian was dealing drugs and placed the home under surveillance. Based on that surveillance, sheriffs obtained a search warrant. For safety reasons, officers decided to serve the warrants early in the morning of October 16, 1995. The team assembled at a nearby fire station and proceeded to the unlocked house.

Sheriff’s deputies entered the house, a fire fight broke out, and one officer lost his life. Brian was arrested and charged with murder, assault, and various drug crimes. A law enforcement team specializing in homicide investigations searched the home and found drugs, cash, weapons, and drug paraphernalia.1 Brian has since been convicted of drug dealing, and awaits retrial on other charges. State v. [764]*764Eggleston, noted at 108 Wn. App. 1011, 2001 WL 1077846, at **1.

That night, an officer took Mrs. Eggleston to her mother’s mobile home. The parties disagree whether Mrs. Eggleston could have moved home after the homicide team completed its search that evening. Brian’s defense counsel suggested she not go home until investigations were complete.

On April 15,1996, the trial court signed a search warrant authorizing the seizure of evidence pertaining to the murder from Mrs. Eggleston’s house. The search warrant specifically authorized the police to collect:

Video tapes of police television shows, blood samples, gunshot residue, bed sheet with bloody hand print, two upholstered chairs with bloodstains, [c]ollection of trace evidence. Any other evidence discovered during the reconstruction of the crime scene and documentation of the process with photographs and video taping, measuring, vacuuming, or other evidence techniques necessary to reconstruct the crime scene.

Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 264. The search warrant commanded the officers to “diligently search for any evidence, and any other, and if. . . evidence material to the investigation or prosecution of said felony ... be found . . . bring the same forthwith before me, to be disposed of according to law.” CP at 264.

Leaving a copy of the warrant on the family piano, officers collected evidence, including two walls. One wall was a load-hearing wall, leaving the house unstable and uninhabitable. Two months later the trial judge issued an order prohibiting “the defense, and any person acting on behalf of the defendant” from “destroying any item of possible evidentiary value” and “preserving] the scene which is the location of the acts ... in its entirety.” CP at [765]*765127.2 Mrs. Eggleston has cooperated with this order and has lived in her mother’s mobile home ever since. She has not asked the trial court to modify this order to make it less burdensome upon her. While the attorneys discussed whether Mrs. Eggleston should be allowed to move back into her home, “it was kind of in limbo.” CP at 282.

Brian has been charged and tried for murder, assault, and drug crimes. The first jury found him guilty of the drug and assault charges but deadlocked on murder; the second jury convicted him of second degree murder. See Eggleston, 2001 WL 1077846, at *2. Both juries were taken to the house. The removed walls have not been used as evidence. The Court of Appeals reversed the assault and murder convictions and remanded for a new trial. Eggleston, 2001 WL 1077846, at **1, 34. The order preserving the scene will remain in effect until either vacated or modified, or until the criminal case is complete.

Mrs. Eggleston has not been charged with any crime. Her income consists of $500 a month in social security benefits, $420 of which is dedicated to the rent on her mother’s [766]*766mobile home. In 1998, she filed a claim for damages with Pierce County. Pierce County rejected her claim. She then brought suit in state and federal court for the destruction and loss of use of her property under several theories, including takings under the Washington and United States Constitutions. Respondent Pierce County removed her state claims to federal court. The federal court issued a stay covering her federal claims and returned the state takings claim to the Pierce County Superior Court. Eggleston v. Pierce County, 99 P. Supp. 2d 1280, 1283 (W.D. Wash. 2000).3 This state takings claim is the only issue before us.

Each party moved for summary judgment. The trial court judge granted summary judgment to the county. We accepted direct review.

ANALYSIS4

We are mindful that Mrs. Eggleston has suffered a tragic loss of real property. Her loss may be compensable under a variety of theories not before us, including violation of the fourth, fifth, and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution. She has pleaded facts that might give rise to a substantive due process claim. But her claim is not a cognizable takings.

Article I, section 16 is significantly different from its United States constitutional counterpart, and in some ways provides greater protection. See, e.g., Mfr’d Hous. Cmtys. of Wash. v. State, 142 Wn.2d 347, 356 n.7, 13 P.3d 183 (2000). Generally, we require the parties to present a Gunwall analysis (State v. Gunwall, 106 Wn.2d 54, 720 P.2d [767]*767808 (1986)) before we will consider their state constitutional contentions. See Mfr’d Hous., 142 Wn.2d at 356 n.7. However, in this case, we find that neither party was prejudiced by the lack of an early Gunwall analysis, and reach the substantive claim.5

The power and the obligation of eminent domain plays a critical role in constitutional governance, and courts are obligated to carefully monitor its exercise. The State is vested with the power to take real property for public use, but must compensate the owner appropriately. Const, art. I, § 16. Similarly, “[p]olice power is inherent in the state by virtue of its granted sovereignty.” Mfr’d Hous., 142 Wn.2d at 354. The State is vested with the power to regulate for the health, safety, morals, and general welfare, and the burdens imposed incidental to such regulations are not takings unless the burdens manifest in certain, enumerated ways. See Guimont v. Clarke, 121 Wn.2d 586, 854 P.2d 1 (1993) (articulating analytical framework for evaluating substantive due process, per se and regulatory takings claims); Conger v. Pierce County, 116 Wash. 27, 36, 198 P. 377 (1921); Tahoe-Sierra Pres. Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Reg’l Planning Agency, 535 U.S. 302

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

May v. Pierce County
W.D. Washington, 2020
Young v. Larimer County Sheriff's Office
2014 COA 119 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2014)
Matheson v. City of Hoquiam
287 P.3d 619 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2012)
Kiely v. Graves
271 P.3d 226 (Washington Supreme Court, 2012)
Simmons v. Loose
13 A.3d 366 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 2011)
Fitzpatrick v. Okanogan County
169 Wash. 2d 598 (Washington Supreme Court, 2010)
Brutsche v. City of Kent
164 Wash. 2d 664 (Washington Supreme Court, 2008)
In re the Disciplinary Proceeding Against Trejo
163 Wash. 2d 701 (Washington Supreme Court, 2008)
In Re Disciplinary Proceeding Against Trejo
185 P.3d 1160 (Washington Supreme Court, 2008)
Tapps Brewing Inc. v. City of Sumner
482 F. Supp. 2d 1218 (W.D. Washington, 2007)
City of Des Moines v. Gray Businesses, LLC
124 P.3d 324 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2005)
In Re Parentage of LB
122 P.3d 161 (Washington Supreme Court, 2005)
Carvin v. Britain
155 Wash. 2d 679 (Washington Supreme Court, 2005)
In Re Property Located at 14255 53rd Ave. S., Tukwila
86 P.3d 222 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2004)
Malbrain v. Department of Agriculture
120 Wash. App. 737 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2004)
Mark A. Lee v. City of Chicago
330 F.3d 456 (Seventh Circuit, 2003)
Eggleston v. Pierce County
64 P.3d 618 (Washington Supreme Court, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
148 Wash. 2d 760, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eggleston-v-pierce-county-wash-2003.