Snohomish County more willing to review sealed cases than King County

Judges and court commissioners in Snohomish County have sealed 385 domestic-violence cases in recent years, typically using a check-box sealing form that violates court rules meant to restrict secrecy and protect open judicial records, The Seattle Times found.

But unlike their counterparts in King County, judicial officials in Snohomish County are conducting their own review of sealed cases and opening those that were closed improperly.

People file domestic-violence petitions to request a protection order prohibiting the accused from contacting them. The petitions are treated as civil cases and are presumed open.

Courts may be tempted to grant secrecy to protect the privacy of an alleged victim. But doing so can conceal alarming conduct by people in positions of public trust, or hide continuing dangers posed by certain individuals.

In King County Superior Court, which has more cases than in Snohomish, 26 domestic-violence petitions were sealed during the same stretch, from 1999 through July 2006.

The people accused of domestic violence in the sealed Snohomish County cases include police officers, prison workers, nursing assistants, registered sex offenders, county and municipal employees, and people who work in elementary schools, according to background checks run by The Times.

Two sealed cases involving John Padilla, then a sheriff's sergeant, reflect the pattern.

The Washington Supreme Court says files may be sealed only if a judicial official finds compelling circumstances — a stringent standard — and explains, in detail, why secrecy is needed. But when two women obtained protection orders against Padilla in 2004, a court commissioner sealed the files using a form that leaves room for neither. All she did was mark an X to indicate the whole file should be sealed. Then she used other X's to indicate who can still see the file — for example, the parties.

When The Times found hundreds of improperly sealed civil suits in King County Superior Court — matters that include but go beyond domestic-violence petitions — that court's judges voted to require formal motions to unseal, an expensive and time-consuming undertaking.

But the newspaper got the Padilla files unsealed merely by pointing out the court's error. The paper notified William Downing, a King County judge who helps mediate access disputes statewide. He wrote Tracy Waggoner, the Snohomish County commissioner who sealed the Padilla files. Waggoner, in turn, provided the parties with an opportunity to object, then opened the files on her own, saying each sealing order was "void on its face."

The judges in Snohomish County Superior Court also have elected to look for sealed cases on their own, prompted by recent state Supreme Court rules that make it harder to seal court files.

Presiding Judge Thomas Wynne asked the clerk's office to see how many entirely sealed cases it could find. He was taken aback when the office produced a list with more than 1,000 cases of all types, including civil, divorce and probate matters.

"I wasn't aware that was happening," Wynne said. "The sealing was definitely overly broad."

The court is now reviewing all those cases. Judges are notifying parties and opening files — in whole or part — if they determine a case was improperly sealed. Wynne said they have opened about 40 so far and are handling 20 cases every two weeks. "It's going to take some time," he said.

The court also tightened its own rules on secrecy and took the power to seal away from substitute judges and substitute court commissioners.