Yousoufian v. Office of King County Executive

114 Wash. App. 836
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJanuary 6, 2003
DocketNo. 49701-4-I
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 114 Wash. App. 836 (Yousoufian v. Office of King County Executive) 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
Yousoufian v. Office of King County Executive, 114 Wash. App. 836 (Wash. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Coleman, J.

Armen Yousoufian successfully sued King County for violating the public disclosure act (PDA), but claims the trial court awarded him an insufficient amount of statutory penalties and attorney fees. We affirm the attorney fee award, but we reverse the trial court’s award of the minimum statutory penalty. The trial court’s unchallenged findings of egregious mishandling of Yousoufian’s record request and a lack of good faith by the county do not support a minimum penalty. Further, the trial court improperly relied on the amount of the attorney fee award in determining the appropriate statutory penalty.

FACTS

On May 30, 1997, Armen Yousoufian faxed and mailed a public records request to the Office of the Executive of King County. Yousoufian had heard King County Executive Ron Sims speaking on a radio broadcast about the upcoming referendum election in which voters would decide whether to build and finance a new football stadium in Seattle. During the broadcast, Sims referred to several studies that had been conducted regarding the impact of sports stadiums on the local economy, one of which was referred to as the “Conway study.” Yousoufian’s written request asked for two numbered categories of information. First, he asked to [841]*841review certain studies concerning the effects of a fast food tax on consumers. Second, he asked for

All file materials relating to, and including, the widely quoted “Conway Study” that many politicians have referred to in connection with the economic impacts of sports stadiums and any other such studies.
What I wish to see not only includes the study itself, including any and all addenda, attachments, updates, etc. but all related records including, but not limited to, how and why and by whom the study was ordered, its cost, and any previous or subsequent studies on sports stadiums.

The letter went on to state that Yousoufian had been in Sims’ office the day before and had viewed the Conway study, but that several attachments were missing that he wished to see.

Yousoufian’s letter was routed to office manager Pam Cole for a response. On June 4, 1997, Cole sent a letter to Yousoufian indicating that his request had been received, that the Conway study was available for him to review, and that archives were being searched for other documents responsive to his request. The letter estimated that it would take three weeks to conduct this search. On June 10, Yousoufian was able to view the Conway study with its attachments, along with one other study that the county found to be responsive to his records request.

On June 20, 1997, the executive’s office received another letter from Yousoufian in which Yousoufian protested the three-week delay for the remaining documents. Yousoufian’s letter pointed out that the restaurant study in particular could not be in the archives because the tax it analyzed was passed very recently. On the same day, Cole sent an electronic mail message to Sims asking about the restaurant reports. Sims replied, stating “I don’t have the reports. He should ask the Restaurant association.” Cole sent a letter to Yousoufian that same day in which she directed him to request the study from the Washington State Restaurant Association. The trial court found that “[t]here is no evidence as to why this correspondence could [842]*842not have occurred within five days of May 30th, other than through negligence.” Cole’s letter also indicated she would contact Yousoufian the following week regarding the rest of his request.

On June 12, Linda Meachum, who had assumed Cole’s duties with regard to Yousoufian’s request, contacted the King County Department of Stadium Administration and asked that department to search for any documents responsive to Yousoufian’s request. Steve Woo, an administrative assistant at stadium administration, was assigned the task of responding to the request. There is no evidence that Meachum told the staff at stadium administration that the task was time sensitive, and Woo apparently had no knowledge of the PDA or training in responding to PDA requests. The record indicates there was no further communication from the county until July 15 when Woo talked with Yousoufian on the phone. During that conversation, Woo told Yousoufian that there was another Conway study related to football, conducted in 1996. Yousoufian had previously viewed the study related to baseball. On July 25, Woo sent Yousoufian the second Conway study, along with a letter indicating the cost of the Conway study and another study commissioned by the county. Woo did not include the cost documentation Yousoufian had asked for, and the cost information that was provided was later determined to be incorrect. Woo concluded the letter by stating that he hoped Yousoufian’s questions had all been answered and asking him to call if he needed any more information.

On August 21, 1997, Yousoufian wrote Sims to express frustration with the fact that his request had not been completely answered. He also expressed his anger over the fact that the second Conway study had not been disclosed immediately. He again requested cost documentation for the studies. In response, Woo allowed Yousoufian to view four more studies. Woo e-mailed Linda Meachum on August 26 to explain his interactions with Yousoufian. Woo expressed frustration with the situation and stated that he was unsure how to respond to Yousoufian’s request. The [843]*843trial court found that Woo tried to cooperate with Yousoufian but was not adequately trained or knowledgeable to handle the request.

On August 27, 1997, Sims sent a letter in response to Yousoufian’s angry letter of August 21. The letter stated that Sims’ office had interpreted Yousoufian’s original letter as a request for information relating only to the baseball stadium. The letter also stated that the Office of the Executive interpreted all information requests as requests for records housed within that office and implied that the executive office’s coordination with stadium administration was a gratuitous extra step. The letter stated that Linda Meachum was conducting a search of that office’s archives and asked Yousoufian to contact stadium administration if he wanted them to search their archives as well. With regard to this letter, the trial court found that it was “not reasonable to ask Mr. Yousoufian where to search for the documents responsive to his request.”

On October 2, 1997, Yousoufian sent another letter complaining that his request had still not been answered. He again asked for cost documentation. Meachum responded with a letter dated October 9, in which she stated that her office had already provided all the documents in its possession pertaining to the May 30 request. Meachum advised Yousoufian to be very specific in future requests. On the same day, Yousoufian received a letter from Desiree Leigh notifying him that the archival search had been performed and that documents responsive to his request were being forwarded to the county’s attorneys for review. The letter estimated that the documents would be available within two weeks. Also on that same day, Woo faxed a letter to Yousoufian explaining that two more studies could be found on the King County web site. Woo sent both studies to Yousoufian on October 10. He also provided information, but no documentation, on the cost of one of the reports.

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Bluebook (online)
114 Wash. App. 836, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yousoufian-v-office-of-king-county-executive-washctapp-2003.