The legal challenge against Tim Eyman’s incredibly destructive Initiative 976 appears poised to turn into quite the complex courtroom drama.
Today, King County Superior Court Judge Marshall Ferguson ruled on a bevy of motions to intervene in the case. Pierce County will be permitted to join the defense of Initiative 976, as will Clint Didier and Tim Eyman, but not four other individuals who had sought to intervene alongside Didier.
Earlier this week, Judge Ferguson allowed Washington ADAPT to intervene in the case in support of the plaintiffs; now the judge has allowed the aforementioned parties to join the case in the defense of the initiative.
Meanwhile, Tim Eyman’s effort to forcibly remove the Attorney General’s office from the case failed. Judge Ferguson denied Eyman’s motion to appoint outside counsel, which means state attorneys will continue to defend Initiative 976.
In his order, Ferguson scolded Tim Eyman and his attorneys for not properly following court rules when they brought their Motion to Appoint.
“On a procedural note, the Court observes that Proposed Intervenors filed their Motion To Appoint on December 4th, 2019, nine days before the Court entered today’s separate order granting them intervenor status,” Judge Ferguson wrote.
“The Proposed Intervenors noted the Motion To Appoint to be heard without oral argument on December 13, 2019, the same hearing date as their intervention motion. This was improper. Prospective intervenors are not parties and do not possess standing to seek any relief other than leave to intervene.”
Emphasis in the quote above is mine.
As a result of Ferguson’s rulings, the parties in the case are now as follows:
GARFIELD COUNTY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY; KING COUNTY; CITY OF SEATTLE; WASHINGTON STATE TRANSIT ASSOCIATION; ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON CITIES; PORT OF SEATTLE; INTERCITY TRANSIT; AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF WASHINGTON; and MICHAEL ROGERS,
Plaintiffs,
and
WASHINGTON ADAPT,
Intervenor-Plaintiff,
v.
STATE OF WASHINGTON,
Defendant,
and
CLINT DIDIER; PERMANENT OFFENSE, TIMOTHY D. EYMAN, MICHAEL FAGAN; JACK FAGAN; and PIERCE COUNTY,
Intervenor-Defendants.
So, as of today, we’ve got plaintiffs, an intervenor-plaintiff, a defendant, and intervenor-defendants. The attorneys’ tables at the future hearings in this case are going to be mighty crowded, it seems.
Incidentally, Tim Eyman has been falsely alleging for several days now that Attorney General Ferguson’s office had conspired with the plaintiffs in the I‑976 legal challenge to prevent Pierce County from intervening in the case.
But neither Ferguson’s office nor the plaintiffs opposed Pierce County’s motion, and it was granted unopposed today. Don’t expect Eyman to apologize for being wrong and for pedding falsehoods, though. Lying is like breathing to Eyman.
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