The city of Bainbridge Island has obtained complete dismissal of all claims filed against it relating to the selection of the former Harrison Medical Center property for the city’s new police-court facility.
The lawsuit was filed by Plaintiffs Bainbridge Taxpayers Unite (BTU), Councilmember Michael Pollock, and property owners Lee Rosenbaum and Janice Pyke. BTU and the other plaintiffs filed their suit against the city, former Mayor Kol Medina, former city manager Morgan Smith, and former city attorney Joseph Levan. The suit sought to void the city’s agreement to purchase the Harrison property by alleging that the city’s former public servants violated federal law, specifically the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and a state ethics law.
“Throughout this case, we have been clear that plaintiffs’ actual purpose in filing this lawsuit was to air their political disagreement with the City Council’s decision to purchase the Harrison property,” Councilmember Joe Deets said. “While plaintiffs certainly are entitled to disagree with the City Council’s decision, they had no basis for the legal claims they filed in this lawsuit.”
Councilmember Kirsten Hytopoulos added: “While the city ultimately obtained a resounding victory in this case, it is unfortunate that it was filed in the first place,” Councilmember Kirsten Hytopoulos said. “We understand that not every constituent is going to agree with our decisions, but forcing the city to defend against a baseless lawsuit simply wastes city resources and detracts from the important work we do.”
Councilmember Leslie Schneider said, “I really sympathize with the former city employees and officials who were dragged into this lawsuit. These are individuals who were trying to serve this community, and they in no way deserved the terrible accusations that were made against them.”
Pollock voted against selection of the Harrison property. Plaintiffs Rosenbaum and Pyke own property that the city considered but did not select. BTU was formed to oppose purchasing the Harrison property.
Plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in June 2022 in Kitsap County Superior Court, but the case was removed to federal court based on the RICO claims. In November 2022, the federal judge dismissed Pollock on the basis that he did not have an injury. The court also dismissed the RICO claims as lacking sufficient support, noting that plaintiffs “made a conclusory allegation that paraphrases a statue but did not supply adequate factual content to back up the allegation” and “failed to sufficiently allege any predicate acts giving rise to a RICO claim.” The court provided plaintiffs with one opportunity to amend their RICO claims and deferred ruling on the state law ethics issue until the federal law issues were resolved.
Plaintiffs then refiled their RICO claims at the end of December 2022. At that time, the city provided plaintiffs with formal notice that it intended to seek sanctions against plaintiffs for pursuing baseless claims, and plaintiffs then agreed to dismiss their RICO claims.
Although plaintiffs cited lack of funds as the reason for the dismissal, they continued to pursue their state law ethics claim in Superior Court. The court dismissed the entirety of the remaining lawsuit, including the ethics claim, on June 14, and plaintiffs have not appealed.
The city proceeded to construct the police-court facility while the lawsuit was pending, and the facility is schedule to open later this fall. The City Council recently decided to name the facility the Ted Spearman Justice Center, after a BI attorney, who was appointed as Kitsap’s first African-American judge.
