Green v. City of Wenatchee

148 Wash. App. 351
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJanuary 20, 2009
DocketNo. 26335-5-III
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 148 Wash. App. 351 (Green v. City of Wenatchee) 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
Green v. City of Wenatchee, 148 Wash. App. 351 (Wash. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

Brown, J.

¶1 Intervenor Westport Insurance Corporation appeals from a Kittitas County Superior Court order finding reasonable a $1 million consent judgment for Doris Marie Green against attorney Jeffrey Barker and his law firm Barker & Howard (collectively Mr. Barker), who was Westport’s insured under a legal malpractice policy. Westport contends the court erred when it ruled (1) that Westport was bound, for purposes of the reasonableness proceeding, by agreed findings of fact and conclusions of law entered as part of a settlement agreement in which Mr. Barker stipulated to liability stemming from his representation of Ms. Green in a child sex abuse prosecution and (2) that the amount of the consent judgment was reasonable. We agree with Westport that the trial court was not bound by the agreed findings of fact and conclusions of law. Accordingly, we vacate the reasonableness order and remand the matter to the trial court for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

¶2 In 1994, Ms. Green was charged with three counts of first degree child rape and one count of first degree child [355]*355molestation after she purportedly confessed to Wenatchee Police Detective Robert Perez'that she sexually abused two children (the H. children). Mr. Barker’s law firm (Barker & Howard) was Chelan County’s contract public defender and Mr. Barker personally took on Ms. Green’s representation. Mr. Barker withdrew, however, after approximately 26 days due to a conflict because a member of his firm had previously represented S.H. (the father of the children Ms. Green was charged with sexually abusing) in a sex offense prosecution. Mr. H. had pleaded guilty to sex abuse charges before Ms. Green was arrested. Mr. Barker arranged for private attorney David Bohr to represent Ms. Green, who remained in jail pending trial.

¶3 Ms. Green maintained her innocence and Mr. Bohr prepared her case for trial. The court held a CrR 3.5 hearing and ruled her confession voluntary and admissible. The case proceeded to trial in January 1995. The H. children testified in detail that Ms. Green sexually abused them. Ms. Green testified and denied the allegations. She said her statements to Detective Perez were involuntary and that he fabricated the confession. Ms. Green was convicted, as charged, and received a 280-month prison sentence. This court affirmed the convictions. See State v. Green, noted at 86 Wn. App. 1019 (1997).

¶4 Contemporaneously with Ms. Green’s criminal prosecution, the State filed dependency petitions concerning her four children. Attorney Rebecca Shaw, an associate in Mr. Barker’s office, represented Ms. Green in those proceedings. Mr. Barker did not perceive a conflict from Ms. Shaw’s representation in light of Mr. H.’s earlier guilty plea. Moreover, Ms. Green requested that Ms. Shaw represent her in the dependencies. The trial court ultimately terminated Ms. Green’s parental rights, largely due to her criminal conviction. This court reversed the parental rights terminations in 1999 because the State failed to provide Ms. Green with services capable of correcting her parental deficiencies. See In re J.A., noted at 98 Wn. App. 1051 (1999).

[356]*356¶5 Meanwhile, in October 1998, Ms. Green filed, a personal restraint petition and received a reference hearing to determine the voluntariness of her statements to Detective Perez. The State first agreed that Ms. Green should receive a new trial but ultimately elected to dismiss the charges with prejudice on December 28, 1999. Her criminal conviction was vacated.

MS. GREEN’S CIVIL LAWSUIT

¶6 On February 28, 2001, Ms. Green sued numerous defendants in Chelan County, including the city of Wenatchee, Detective Perez, Chief of Police Kenneth Badgley (Wenatchee defendants), Chelan County, Deputy Prosecutor Roy Fore (Chelan County defendants), Mr. Barker and his law firm, and Mr. Bohr. Ms. Green alleged federal civil rights violations and various state law claims, including legal malpractice against Messrs. Barker and Bohr; breach of contract against Mr. Barker as a claimed third-party beneficiary of the Chelan County indigent defense contract; and violation of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), chapter 19.86 RCW, by Mr. Barker.

¶7 Westport defended Mr. Barker under a $500,000 aggregate legal malpractice insurance policy that declined as defense costs were paid. Mr. Barker had contemporaneously been sued for malpractice by three other criminal defendants — Henry Cunningham, Manuel Rodriguez, and Ralph Gausvik. All four cases were subject to the aggregate $500,000 policy limit. Westport retained attorney Joel Wright to represent Mr. Barker in each matter. In March 2001, Ms. Green’s case was removed to federal district court. Each defendant (including Mr. Barker in November 2002) filed a motion for summary judgment dismissal of Ms. Green’s federal and state claims.

¶8 Meanwhile, settlement discussions ensued in all four lawsuits. In October 2002, the four plaintiffs offered to globally settle for $400,000.00. Mr. Wright responded on November 13, 2002, “On behalf of Barker & Howard, we [357]*357offer the balance of the Westport insurance policy limits, currently estimated to be in excess of $150,000 but definitely less than $190,000.” Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 920. On November 14, the plaintiffs counter-offered to settle for $325,000.00. Mr. Barker instructed Mr. Wright to decline the offer. With regard to Ms. Green, Mr. Barker stated, “I do not feel a real risk in this case and certainly not so great a risk as to exhaust my coverage, which this type of settlement would surely do.” CP at 901. Mr. Barker further stated, “A counter offer of $10,000 to $15,000 for each Green and Cunningham may be appropriate.” Id. Mr. Barker also stated that he perceived the most risk from the Gausvik case, which Mr. Wright was later able to settle for $35,000.00. Ms. Green also settled for $46,561.25 with Mr. Bohr, who was insured under a $1 million liability policy.

¶9 In February and March 2003, the Federal district court entered summary judgment orders dismissing the federal claims against all defendants except Detective Perez and remanding Ms. Green’s state claims to Chelan County Superior Court. In July 2003, Ms. Green settled with the Chelan County defendants for $35,962.50. Venue was transferred to Kittitas County in April 2004. In July 2004, the court summarily dismissed, as barred by the statutes of limitations, Ms. Green’s state law false arrest/ imprisonment claims against the Wenatchee defendants. The court determined that these tort claims accrued when Ms. Green was sentenced on March 6, 1995 and were time barred when Ms. Green filed her lawsuit on February 28, 2001.

¶10 By March 2005, Westport had fulfilled its contractual obligation to pay $500,000.00 on behalf of Mr. Barker. Mr. Wright then withdrew as counsel. Mr. Barker thereafter represented himself in the lawsuits. In September 2005, Ms. Green settled her remaining claims with the Wenatchee defendants for $30,000.00. Ms. Green thus settled with all defendants except Mr. Barker for an aggregate $112,523.75.

[358]*358¶11 In late 2005, Mr. Barker entered into a joint settlement agreement to resolve the Green, Cunningham, and Rodriguez cases. Mr. Barker agreed to pay Ms. Green $5,000, from which she agreed to pay $1,000 each to Messrs. Cunningham and Rodriguez. Mr. Barker also agreed to grant Ms. Green a $45,000 lien against his real estate interests. Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
148 Wash. App. 351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/green-v-city-of-wenatchee-washctapp-2009.