Wash. Fed'n of State Emps. v. State

2 Wash.3d 1

534 P.3d 320

WASHINGTON FEDERATION OF STATE EMPLOYEES, Council 28, et al.,

Respondents,

v.STATE of Washington, et al., Respondents,Freedom Foundation, Petitioner.

No. 101093-1

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued May 16, 2023

Filed August 24, 2023

Sydney Paige Phillips, Attorney at Law, P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA, 98507-0552, Kate Marie Buerer, Attorney at Law, 23515 Ne. Novelty Hill Rd., Ste B221, Redmond, WA, 98053-1996, for Petitioner.

Duncan K. Fobes, Charles Philip Edward Leitch, John T. Zilavy, Patterson Buchanan Fobes & Leitch, 1000 2nd Ave., Flr. 30, Seattle, WA, 98104-1093, Joseph Anthony Brogan, Adrian Urquhart Winder, Thomas Fitzgerald Ahearne, 1111 3rd. Ave. Ste. 3000, Seattle, WA, 98101-3296, M. Katie Yount, Chelan County PUD, 327 N. Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee, WA, 98801-2011, Jeffrey Scott Myers, Law Lyman Daniel Kamerrer et al, P.O. Box 11880, 2674 R. W. Johnson Blvd. Sw. Olympia, WA, 98508-1880, Kendra Sue Rosenberg, Hillary J. Evans, Kenyon Disend, 11 Front St. S. Ste. 200, Issaquah, WA, 98027-3848, Greg Alan Rubstello, Attorney at Law, 901 5th Ave. Ste 3500, Seattle, WA, 98164-2059, Paul Reginald ByrneII, Attorney at Law, 1105 Spring St. Apt. 611, Seattle, WA, 98104-3516, Terry Michael Weiner, City of Ellensburg, 501 N. Anderson St., Ellensburg, WA, 98926-3147, Richard L. Hughes, Law Office of Richard L Hughes PLLC, 1824 Sw. Black Lake Blvd., Ste. 101d, Olympia, WA, 98512, Gregory Francis Amann, Jennifer Combs, City of Fife, 5411 23rd St. E., Fife, WA, 98424-2061, Kevin Maitland Raymond, City of Kirkland, 123 5th. Ave., Kirkland, WA, 98033-6189, Alexandra Kenyon, Attorney at Law, 11 Front. St. S., Issaquah, WA, 98027-3820, Rachel Bender Turpin, Madrona Law Group PLLC, 14205 Se. 36th St. Ste. 100, Bellevue, WA, 98006-1553, Bio F. Park, Attorney at Law, 9611 Se. 36th St., Mercer Island, WA, 98040-3732, William E. Bloor, Christopher C Cowgill, City of Port Angeles, 321 E. 5th St., Port Angeles, WA, 98362-3206, Jessica Lynn Zornes Leiser, Seattle City Attorney's Office, 701 5th Ave. Ste. 2050, Seattle, WA, 98104-7095, Bob C. Sterbank, Attorney at Law, 1111 3rd Ave. Ste. 3000, Seattle, WA, 98101-3296, Anna Astrakhan, Attorney at Law, Snoqualmie City Hall, 38624 Se River St., Snoqualmie, WA, 98065, Nathaniel Odle, Office of the Spokane City Attorney, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd., Spokane, WA, 99201-3333, Andrea J. Marquez, City of Sumner, 1104 Maple St. Ste. 242, Sumner, WA, 98390-1407, Christine M. Palmer, Jacquelyn Moore Aufderheide, Susan Landa Rogers, Kitsap County Prosecutor's Office, 614 Division St., Port Orchard, WA, 98366-4614, Ryan S. Neale, Marsh Mundorf Pratt Sullivan & McKenzie, 4220 132nd St. Se Ste. 201, Mill Creek, WA, 98012-8994, Allen Unzelman, Vander Stoep, Remund, Blinks & Jones, P.O. Box 867, 345 Nw. Pacific Ave., Chehalis, WA, 98532-0867, Amanda Dawn Daylong, Amber L. Pearce, Floyd, Pflueger & Ringer, P.S., 3101 Western Ave. Ste. 400, Seattle, WA, 98121-3017, John Armen Safarli, Macdonald Devin Madden Kenefick & Harris, 12770 Coit Rd. Ste. 1100, Dallas, TX, 75251-1329, Jason D. Brown, Stevens Clay, PS, 421 W. Riverside Ave. Ste. 1575, Spokane, WA, 99201-0409, James Shawn Horlacher, Evelyn Fielding Lopez, Darcey Elliott, Washington Attorney General's Office, P. O. Box 40145, Olympia, WA, 98504-0145, Jennifer Diana Loynd, Pierce County Prosecutor's Office, Civil, 930 Tacoma Ave. S. Rm. 946, Tacoma, WA, 98402-2102, Adrian Urquhart Winder, Thomas Fitzgerald Ahearne, Foster Garvey PC, 1111 3rd. Ave. Ste. 3000, Seattle, WA, 98101-3296, Angel D. Rains, Grays Harbor PUD, P.O. Box 480, Aberdeen, WA, 98520-0109, Christopher Allen Eastwood, Attorney at Law, P.O. Box 128, Longview, WA, 98632-7080, Kristina Marie Detwiler, Angelo Camacho Cruz, Robblee Detwiler PLLP, 2101 4th Ave. Ste. 1000, Seattle, WA, 98121-2346, Leigh Ann Collings Tift, Seattle Housing Authority, 190 Queen Anne Ave. N. Ste. 500, Seattle, WA, 98109-4975, Alex Jacob Witenberg, Snohomish County Prosecutor's Office, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett, WA, 98201-4046, Sara J Di Vittorio, Snohomish County PUD, P.O. Box 1107, Everett, WA, 98206-1107, Emily Guildner, Nikki Christine Thompson, Thompson, Guildner & Associates, Inc., P, 110 Cedar Ave. Apt. 102, Snohomish, WA, 98290-2959, James Edward Niemer, Sound Transit, 401 S. Jackson St., Seattle, WA, 98104-2826, Richard Allen Davis III, Chmelik, Sitkin & Davis, 1500 Railroad Ave., Bellingham, WA, 98225-4542, F. Dayle Andersen, Jr., Spokane County Prosecutor's Office, 1100 W. Mallon Ave., Spokane, WA, 99260-0270, Michelle K. Fossum, Sayre, Sayre & Fossum, PS, 201 W. North River Dr. Ste. 460, Spokane, WA, 99201-2262, Megan Christine Clark, Etter McMahon Lamberson Van Wert & Oresk, 618 W. Riverside Ave. Ste. 210, Spokane, WA, 99201-5048, Katie Schiewetz Worthington, Attorney at Law, P. O. Box 40111, Olympia, WA, 98504-0111, Susan Sackett Danpullo, Office of the Attorney General, 7141 Cleanwater Dr. Sw., P.O. Box 40145, Olympia, WA, 98504-0145, David Christopher Moon, Attorney at Law, P.O. Box 40123, Olympia, WA, 98504-0123, Alicia O. Young, WA State Attorney General's Office, P.O. Box 40100, Olympia, WA, 98504-0100, Ryan C. Espegard, Gordon Thomas Honeywell LLP, 520 Pike St. Ste. 2350, Seattle, WA, 98101-4006, Thomas A. Leahy, Reid McCarthy Ballew & Leahy LLP, 100 W Harrison St. Ste. N300, Seattle, WA, 98119-4143, Jay Schulkin, Porter Foster Rorick LLP, 601 Union St. Ste. 800, Seattle, WA, 98101-4027, Harriet Kay Strasberg, Attorney at Law, 3136 Maringo Rd. Se., Olympia, WA, 98501-3428, Edward Earl Younglove III, Younglove & Coker, PLLC, P.O. Box 7846, 1800 Cooper Point Rd. Sw # 16, Olympia, WA, 98507-7846, Kathleen Phair Barnard, Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt LLP, 18 W. Mercer St. Ste. 400, Seattle, WA, 98119-3971, Robert Franklin Noe, Yakima School District - Chief Legal Cou, 104 N. 4th Ave., Yakima, WA, 98902-2636, for Respondents.

Taryn Marie Darling, La Rond Baker, American Civil Liberties Union of Washin, P.O. Box 2728, Seattle, WA, 98111-2728, for Amicus Curiae on behalf of American Civil Liberties Union of Washington Foundation.

Ethan Drew Esq Frenchman, Attorney at Law, 315 5th Ave. S. Ste. 850, Seattle, WA, 98104-2691, Katherine M. Forster, Ariel Teshuva, Adeel Mohammadi, Leigh Kramer, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, 350 South Grand Avenue, 50th Floor, Los Angeles, CA, 90071, for Amicus Curiae on behalf of Disability Rights Washington.

MADSEN, J.

¶1 The Freedom Foundation (Foundation) requested the identities and workplace contact information for public employees. To prevent disclosure of this information, affected employees sought declaratory and injunctive relief through the Washington State Federation of State Employees and other labor unions (Unions). The Unions alleged their members, who are victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse, stalking, and harassment, possess a constitutional liberty interest in personal security that the government would violate by releasing the requested information. The courts below agreed. On appeal, the Foundation argues no such fundamental right exists, the Unions lack standing, and the Unions failed to bring justiciable claims. During the course of this case, the Washington State Legislature enacted a law exempting the requested information from disclosure under the Public Records Act (PRA), ch. 42.56 RCW.

¶2 We hold that the Unions have standing and brought justiciable claims on behalf of their members. However, the Unions did not demonstrate particularized harm to affected public employees; therefore, they do not satisfy the PRA injunction standard. RCW 42.56.540. We affirm the Court of Appeals on these grounds. We reverse the Court of Appeals’ ruling on declaratory relief because this matter can be resolved on nonconstitutional grounds. Accordingly, we remand this case to the superior court to apply the new statutory exemption.

BACKGROUND

¶3 The Foundation is a nonprofit organization that seeks "to promote individual liberty, free enterprise, and limited accountable government." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 218. As part of its mission to alert public employees of their right to opt out of union membership, the Foundation filed public records requests for employee contact information. The Foundation then began filing requests with state and local agencies seeking such information. Specifically, the Foundation sought public employees’

• first, middle, and last name

• job title

• full birthdate

• work e-mail address

• employer agency/department

• name/title of exclusive bargaining representative/union

• FTE status/percentage

• current annual salary

• duty station location/address

CP at 13.

¶4 The Unions filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the agencies contacted by the Foundation. The Unions argued that the release of the requested information for abuse survivors would violate their fundamental privacy and personal safety rights under substantive due process. See WASH. CONST. art. I, §§ 3, 7 ; U.S. CONST. amend. XIV. The trial court granted an ex parte order precluding the agencies named in the complaint from disclosing the information until a later show cause hearing.

¶5 The Unions then moved for leave to file redacted declarations and for the original declarations to be filed under seal. The motion stated that survivors would file sealed declarations in support of the application for preliminary injunction, which would name the declarants and describe information that could lead their abusers to locating them. At later hearings, the Unions explained that they "were able to get some declarations from survivors ... willing to provide those to the court if we can provide them under seal, and we haven't had time to have the court review that motion." 1 Rep. of Proc. (RP) (Dec. 27, 2019) at 13. Instead, the Unions submitted declarations from representatives who had communicated with survivors, sharing incidents of victimization, efforts to avoid abusers, and fears for the survivors’ personal safety. E.g. , CP at 51-55 (Decl....