Another Big Fine Levied Against WA State AG Office Over Abuse Suit

On top of a $200K fine levied against the Washington State Attorney General's office and DSHS, now comes another $122K fine from a judge.

AG's office was accused of not turning over documents in an abuse case

In 2021, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of a woman who suffered abuse from neglect and improper care at a state-licensed adult family home in Kent, WA. However, the woman's attorneys said it was over a year before the Attorney General's office turned over some 11,000 pages of requested documents.  Because DSHS was sued, (department of Social and health services) the AG's office was acting as the state's attorney.

The documents were DSHS records. and King County Superior Court Judge Michael Ryan levied the fine against the AG's office and DSHS calling their lack of action “The discovery violations, in this case, are egregious, severe, without excuse and the result of willful disregard of discovery obligations by both DSHS and the attorney general’s office."   

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That was from Ryan's ruling on the case. Now, he has also ruled the AG's Office and DSHS must pay $122K in legal and court costs for the plaintiff. A new trial date has been set for December in this case.

The woman's attorneys also told the judge the AG's office tried to prevent her legal team from asking about the records while at the same time working to try to get the lawsuit dismissed.  Judge Ryan has also ordered an additional investigation into whether the state is withholding any further documents or information.