Roger Leishman V. Kathryn Nadine Reynolds

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedDecember 26, 2023
Docket57122-6
StatusUnpublished

This text of Roger Leishman V. Kathryn Nadine Reynolds (Roger Leishman V. Kathryn Nadine Reynolds) 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
Roger Leishman V. Kathryn Nadine Reynolds, (Wash. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

Filed Washington State Court of Appeals Division Two

December 26, 2023 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

DIVISION II ROGER LEISHMAN, No. 57122-6-II

Appellant,

v.

KATHRYN NADINE REYNOLDS, UNPUBLISHED OPINION Executive Director of the Washington State Executive Ethics Board,

Respondent.

RUMBAUGH, J.P.T.— This case addresses a petition for a writ of mandamus. The use of

writs such as mandamus, habeus corpus, quo warranto, and prohibition has significantly declined

since the 1960s. Today, courts strictly construe the elements of those writs, and the writs will issue

in only rare and extraordinary circumstances. Colvin v. Inslee, 195 Wn.2d 879, 890-93, 467 P.3d

953 (2020).

Roger Leishman worked for the Attorney General’s Office (AGO). The AGO terminated

Leishman after a personnel investigation into complaints made both by and against Leishman.

Leishman then filed bar grievances against the AGO employees who coordinated the investigation.

The AGO provided counsel for the employees in the bar grievance proceedings.1

 Judge Stanley J. Rumbaugh is serving as a judge pro tempore of the court pursuant to RCW

2.06.150. 1 Assistant Attorney General Suzanne LiaBraaten represented the AGO employees. LiaBraaten has provided legal advice on human resources issues to the Court of Appeals. Thus, every Division Two judge is recused from this case. No. 57122-6-II

Leishman then filed complaints with the Executive Ethics Board claiming that the AGO

employees had violated the Ethics in Public Service Act (EPSA), chapter 42.52 RCW, when the

AGO provided them counsel in the bar grievance proceedings. Kathryn Reynolds, the director of

the Board, in the exercise of her discretion, refused to accept the complaints for filing.

Leishman then sued Reynolds, seeking a writ of mandamus to compel her to accept the

complaints for filing. Reynolds moved to dismiss the lawsuit under CR 12(b)(6). The trial court

granted her motion and dismissed the case.

Leishman appeals. He argues that a writ of mandamus was appropriate because Reynolds

had a mandatory, ministerial duty to accept his complaints for filing and investigate them. In the

alternative, he argues that her decision to reject the complaints for filing was arbitrary and

capricious. Thus, he contends that the trial court erred by granting the motion to dismiss his petition

for mandamus.

We affirm.

FACTS

I. INTERNAL COMPLAINTS AND PERSONNEL INVESTIGATION

The AGO hired Leishman in 2015 as a legal advisor for Western Washington University.

Later that year, Leishman was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder.

During the fall and winter of 2015, staff at the AGO had concerns about Leishman’s

conduct. Leishman found his coworkers’ concerns indicative of a homophobic workplace

environment. In February 2016, Leishman submitted an accommodation request, seeking to

change supervisors. The AGO denied the request.

On March 1, 2016, after a meeting between Leishman and his supervisor, the supervisor

complained about Leishman’s conduct during the meeting. The next day, Leishman filed an

2 No. 57122-6-II

internal complaint asserting that he had experienced sexual orientation discrimination from other

AGO employees, including his supervisor. The AGO then appointed an outside investigator firm,

Ogden Murphy Wallace (OMW), to investigate the complaints. AGO employees Kari Hanson and

Shane Esquibel coordinated the investigation. In late March, Leishman hired an attorney to

represent him in the disability accommodation proceedings. That attorney did not represent

Leishman in relation to the complaints that were the subject of the personnel investigation.

The OMW investigators interviewed Leishman twice, once in March 2016 and again in

mid-April. OMW submitted its final report in late April. In early May, the AGO terminated

Leishman. Later that year, Leishman and the AGO entered a negotiated settlement regarding his

termination.

II. OMW LAWSUIT AND BAR GRIEVANCES

In May 2017, Leishman sued OMW. In November 2017, the trial court dismissed the

OMW lawsuit and Leishman appealed the dismissal.

In December 2018, Leishman filed bar grievances against Hanson and Esquibel. He alleged

that Hanson and Esquibel had violated several provisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct

(RPCs) by directing OMW to interview Leishman about areas where he was represented by

counsel. In his grievance, Leishman asserted that “at the AGO’s direction, the investigator insisted

on discussing numerous issues related to my representation . . . including communication problems

with my employers, other conduct related to my disability, and [the] March 1, 2016 meeting.”

Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 41. Thus, Leishman asserted that Hanson and Esquibel had violated RPC

4.2 regarding ex parte contacts with a represented person, and RPC 8.4(g) and (h) regarding

discriminatory conduct.

3 No. 57122-6-II

In January 2019, an AGO attorney responded to the bar grievances on behalf of Esquibel

and Hanson. In addition to defending against the grievances on the merits,2 the attorney explained

the procedural history of the OMW lawsuit, which was pending on appeal to Division One at that

time. She stated that the parties to the OWM lawsuit had “informed counsel for the AGO that AGO

employees,” including Esquibel and Hanson, “would likely become witnesses” in that case if

Division One did not affirm the dismissal. CP at 654. The bar association then deferred

investigating Leishman’s grievances because of the pending litigation.

In October 2019, Division One reversed the dismissal order in the OMW lawsuit. Leishman

v. Ogden Murphy Wallace, PLLC, 10 Wn. App. 2d 826, 836, 451 P.3d 1101 (2019). In early 2021,

the Supreme Court concluded that OMW was a “person” within the ambit of RCW 4.24.510, the

anti-SLAPP3 statute, reversed Division One, and remanded for proceedings at the trial court.

Leishman v. Ogden Murphy Wallace, PLLC, 196 Wn.2d 898, 902, 479 P.3d 688 (2021) (lead

opinion); id. at 912 (Gordon McCloud, J. concurring in part). It is not clear from our record whether

the bar association has proceeded with the investigation of Leishman’s grievances.

III. ETHICS COMPLAINTS

In July 2019, while the OMW lawsuit was pending on appeal, Leishman sought to file

ethics complaints with the Board against Hanson, Esquibel, and three other AGO employees who

assisted with the representation regarding the bar grievances. Leishman’s complaints all asserted

that the AGO’s representation of Esquibel and Hanson constituted the use of public resources for

2 In part, the attorney explained, “[t]he reasonable accommodation process” that Leishman was represented by counsel for “was not part of the personnel investigation” and that “[s]ometime after the issuance of the [OMW] Report, Mr. Leishman asserted that his behavior at the March 1, 2016 meeting with [his supervisor] was related to an alleged disability.” CP at 651, 653. 3 Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation.

4 No. 57122-6-II

private benefit in violation of the EPSA. Specifically, Leishman reasoned that statutes requiring

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