Settlement efforts fail in suit against Gregoire

By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Mediation has failed to produce a settlement in a lawsuit against Attorney General Christine Gregoire by a former staff attorney who was blamed for botching an appeal of a record verdict against the state.

The federal lawsuit filed by former assistant attorney general Janet Capps, alleging civil-rights violations, wrongful termination and defamation, will proceed to trial this July, according to attorneys representing Capps and Gregoire.

Capps was one of four attorneys who represented the state in a lawsuit filed in 1997 against the Department of Social and Health Services. The suit was filed by three developmentally disabled men who were sexually and physically abused while being cared for in a state-licensed adult family home.

In April 2000, a jury in Pierce County awarded the men $17.8 million. The state vowed to appeal but then missed the deadline. Capps was blamed and was forced to resign from her job. She claims in her lawsuit that she was made a scapegoat.

Documents recently turned over as part of the Capps lawsuit indicate the Attorney General's Office attempted to influence an investigation into the missed-deadline incident. The investigation was commissioned by Gregoire and was described as independent.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com

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