Cheney, Airway Heights sued

CHENEY – The cities of Cheney and Airway Heights are the recipients of two separate lawsuits totaling $20 million that claim a court commissioner used by both municipalities is not capable of rendering a verdict against a defendant because she lacks a law degree.

Spokane attorney Kevin Roberts filed the tort claim — $5 million against Airway Heights and $15 million against Cheney — after Airway Heights Court Commissioner Terri Cooper sentenced his client, Shonto Pete, to 90 days in jail in a court case last week.

In the complaint filed in Spokane Superior Court on Oct. 10, the plaintiffs list seven causes of action, including violation of due process, violation of equal protection and violation of a fair right to trial. Besides the damage amounts — which were not listed on the copy obtained from the court via the Spokane County Clerk’s Office but were included on copies to each city — the plaintiffs are asking the court to issue a writ removing Cooper as a judicial officer and “vacate all sentences, fines and monetary penalties she has imposed.”

The plaintiffs are also alleging that because the revenue from fines issued by Cooper are used to fund the municipal court in Cheney, she has “interest in maximizing the fines issued to support her function as the Court Administrator.”

Roberts and his firm, Roberts/Freebourn, PLLC, are contesting Cooper’s eligibility to serve as a judicial commissioner because she is not a lawyer allowed to practice law in Washington. State law does make an exception for lay officials such as Cooper to serve as a judicial officers if they have taken and passed a qualifying examination by Jan. 1, 2003, but only if that lay candidate serves a district with a population of 5,000 or less.

Cooper passed the exam in 2002 while serving on the Medical Lake Municipal Court, coming to Cheney in 2004. The complaint against Cheney and Airway Heights notes each city is well above the 5,000 person threshold.

“This is new territory for us,” City Administrator Mark Schuller said. “We’re just trying to feel our way through this thing at this point.”

Schuller said city attorney Stanley Schwartz and his firm Witherspoon/Kelly did a legal review of the issue prior to the lawsuit and feel Cheney and Airway Heights are on firm legal grounds to employ Cooper in a judicial role. He pointed to a section in the Revised Code of Washington Chapter 35, “Municipal Courts – Alternate Provision” that allows non-lawyer candidates passing the state test to serve as a judicial officer with no mention of the district’s population size.

Cooper has over 21 years of service in the local municipal court system, beginning as court administrator in Medical Lake in 1998. She joined Cheney Municipal Court in 2004 as administrator/commissioner, and under the supervision of former District Court Judge Gregory Tripp, her judicial authority increased to full authority in 2006.

Cooper took on the court commissioner duties in Airway Heights after the city signed an agreement with Cheney in December 2018 to obtain those services.

Schuller said Cheney officials do not feel the claim was filed correctly with the city, adding that Finance Director Cindy Niemeier has sent Roberts/Freebourn an email asking them to refile the claim using a city form. Once that form is returned, the claim goes before the Finance Committee for review and recommendation to the City Council, who could deny the claim, in which case it would be forwarded to the city’s insurance risk pool manager, Washington Cities Insurance Association.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.