Judge plans to dismiss portions of lawsuit

By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter

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"I'm going to knock out some of your claims, for sure," U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly told the lawyer for Janet Capps. Formerly an assistant attorney general in the Torts Division, Capps claims Gregoire and other supervisors wrongly blamed and vilified her for missing a deadline that cost the state a chance to fight a record $17.8 million verdict.

After hearing five hours of argument, Zilly said he will specify Friday which claims he will dismiss. He ordered lawyers for Capps, Gregoire and the others to meet again and try to settle the case. Previous settlement talks have failed.

The lawsuit is set for trial a week from today.

Based on Zilly's remarks yesterday, some parts of Capps' lawsuit may survive, if the case does not settle first.

Capps sued Gregoire and others last year, saying she was made a scapegoat for a blunder in 2000 when the office missed a deadline to appeal the case of three developmentally disabled men who were raped and abused in a state-licensed adult family home. A Pierce County jury awarded them $17.8 million. Gregoire's office investigated the botched appeal and placed most of the blame on Capps, who was told to resign or she would be fired. After she resigned, according to the Attorney General's Office, key documents relating to the missed appeal were found in Capps' office, where it appears they had been for several weeks.

Capps' lawsuit accuses Gregoire and her office of defamation, discrimination and wrongful termination under state and federal statutes. Capps also alleges that managers in the Attorney General's Office conspired against her. In arguments and briefs during the past week, Suzanne Thomas, a lawyer for Capps, has demonstrated Gregoire may have relied on a misleading sworn statement by a paralegal when she approved Capps' dismissal.

In the statement, paralegal Amee Tilger said she had placed the appeal documents in Capps' in-box.

But Mike Tardif, a senior lawyer in the office, has said Tilger told him she had no specific recollection of putting the documents in Capps' in-box.

Gregoire's lawyer, Michael Bolasina, questioned whether Capps could raise a claim of wrongful termination when she had voluntarily signed a letter of resignation.

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

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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