City lawyer expects to defeat WTO suit

By Jim Brunner
Seattle Times staff reporter

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U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman ruled Monday that police lacked probable cause to arrest 157 people at First Avenue and Broad Street on Dec. 1, 1999.

But Pechman left open the question of whether the city should be held liable for damages. That will be decided at a trial scheduled for later this month.

Ted Buck, an attorney who represents the city in the suit, called Pechman's Monday decision "an extremely limited ruling that doesn't make a difference in the grand scheme of things."

The city won't have to pay damages in the case unless the plaintiffs prove their arrests were part of an unconstitutional official policy sanctioned by high-ranking city officials, Buck said.

If the only flaw with the arrests was a paperwork error, the city won't be in trouble, Buck said.

"Cops can make those kinds of mistakes, and the city is not liable," he said.

Pechman cited "atrocious" record keeping by police in her ruling, noting that photocopied arrest warrants were used to round up protesters outside a no-protest zone that had been established under an emergency order by then-Mayor Paul Schell.

The arrest forms were all signed by a police lieutenant who later acknowledged he had not made any of the arrests.

Buck defended the paperwork errors as the product of the chaotic situation. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to drive thousands of demonstrators from downtown.

Attorneys for the protesters disagree, arguing that police violated the constitutional rights of the people they arrested. The lawsuit contends many protesters and bystanders were herded together and arrested without being given a chance to disperse.

"They were just intent on clearing the streets no matter what," said Victoria Ni, an attorney with Trial Lawyers for Public Justice. Charges against the bulk of protesters arrested during the WTO meetings were later dropped for lack of evidence.

But Buck said the city will show video footage at the upcoming trial in hopes of proving that the demonstrators were breaking the law and had plenty of warning to disperse.

The class-action lawsuit was originally filed in October 2000 on behalf of about 600 protesters arrested during the demonstrations. But the case was severely eroded in the fall of 2001, when U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein upheld the city's 25-block "no protest zone," validating the arrests made inside the zone.

Rothstein's ruling was appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is expected to hear arguments next month.

Meanwhile, the trial this month will focus on the 157 protesters arrested outside the no-protest zone.

Both sides agree the case will hinge on whether city policy-makers approved of the arrests, including Schell and former Chief Norm Stamper, who resigned shortly after the riots.

Buck said he hopes the case will finally vindicate Seattle police officers who did the best they could under difficult circumstances.

"In Seattle, the police bend over backwards for protesters' activities," Buck said. "But the city has to look out for the rights of all people — not just protesters."

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com

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