Seattle settles lawsuit over Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ/CHOP)

[CivilDiscourse]

3.6 Million 3 million on the lawsuit, 600k penalty for willfully deleting evidence.

Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/seattle-settles-chop-lawsuit-after-judge-levied-sanctions-over-deleted-texts/

The city of Seattle has settled a lawsuit that took aim at officials’ handling of the three-week Capitol Hill Organized Protests and further ensnared the former mayor and police chief, among others, in a scandal over thousands of deleted text messages.

The Seattle City Attorney’s Office filed notice of a settlement Wednesday in U.S. District Court, just three weeks after a federal judge levied severe legal sanctions against the city for deleting texts between high-ranking officials during the protests and zone that sprung up around them, known as CHOP. The notice, which didn’t contain details, gives the parties until March 10 to finalize the settlement.

...

U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly concluded last month that officials ignored the notifications, sending the so-called Hunters Capital lawsuit to trial on two of five claims and dismissing three others. In doing so, Zilly issued a blistering order that leveled crippling sanctions against the city for the deletion of tens of thousands of text messages from city phones sent between former Mayor Jenny Durkan, former police Chief Carmen Best, fire Chief Harold Scoggins and four other ranking city officials during the protests.

The judge found significant evidence that the destruction of CHOP evidence was intentional and that officials tried for months to hide the text deletions from opposing attorneys.

He also ordered the city to pay the attorneys fees for those who showed city leaders destroyed significant evidence about their decision-making during CHOP, including their move to abandon the Police Department’s East Precinct.

“The Court finds substantial circumstantial evidence that the city acted with the requisite intent necessary to impose a severe sanction and that the city’s conduct exceeds gross negligence,” Zillywrote.

© Copyright Original Source

[Sparko]

They should get jail time.

The mayor sounded like Hillary Clinton with her excuses about the deleted texts:

The former mayor has offered a number of explanations for the missing messages, including that she dropped her phone in water, that she inadvertently changed the phone’s deletion settings and that “someone” set a new phone to delete messages older than 30 days, resulting in a rolling deletion of previous messages.

Zilly, in his order, found the former mayor’s “various reasons for deleting her text messages strain credibility.”
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...s-go-to-trial/

[rogue06]

3.6 Million 3 million on the lawsuit, 600k penalty for willfully deleting evidence.

Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/seattle-settles-chop-lawsuit-after-judge-levied-sanctions-over-deleted-texts/

The city of Seattle has settled a lawsuit that took aim at officials’ handling of the three-week Capitol Hill Organized Protests and further ensnared the former mayor and police chief, among others, in a scandal over thousands of deleted text messages.

The Seattle City Attorney’s Office filed notice of a settlement Wednesday in U.S. District Court, just three weeks after a federal judge levied severe legal sanctions against the city for deleting texts between high-ranking officials during the protests and zone that sprung up around them, known as CHOP. The notice, which didn’t contain details, gives the parties until March 10 to finalize the settlement.

...

U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly concluded last month that officials ignored the notifications, sending the so-called Hunters Capital lawsuit to trial on two of five claims and dismissing three others. In doing so, Zilly issued a blistering order that leveled crippling sanctions against the city for the deletion of tens of thousands of text messages from city phones sent between former Mayor Jenny Durkan, former police Chief Carmen Best, fire Chief Harold Scoggins and four other ranking city officials during the protests.

The judge found significant evidence that the destruction of CHOP evidence was intentional and that officials tried for months to hide the text deletions from opposing attorneys.

He also ordered the city to pay the attorneys fees for those who showed city leaders destroyed significant evidence about their decision-making during CHOP, including their move to abandon the Police Department’s East Precinct.

“The Court finds substantial circumstantial evidence that the city acted with the requisite intent necessary to impose a severe sanction and that the city’s conduct exceeds gross negligence,” Zillywrote.

© Copyright Original Source

So those who did this shrug their shoulders and say "oopsie" while the taxpayers get stuck with the bill?

[Ronson]

It would be nice if someone, somewhere had copies of some of those. I'm curious what they are trying to hide.

[CivilDiscourse]

So those who did this shrug their shoulders and say "oopsie" while the taxpayers get stuck with the bill?

Is anyone calling for the arrest or resignation of those who obstructed? What about the perjury?

[rogue06]

It would be nice if someone, somewhere had copies of some of those. I'm curious what they are trying to hide.

Possibly messages stating the urgency and severity of the problem (remember that two people were shot and killed for the sin of approaching the CHAZ/CHOP area by some of those within it) and leadership telling them to stand down.

Remember how the mayor went out and helped these actual insurrectionists^[1[ "plant" things in their faux garden^[2[? They were very supportive for awhile.



1. how else would you describe folks who seized public property, blocked it off and declared it was no longer a part of the city, state or country and used lethal force to implement their claims?

2. it was nothing more than a sheet of plastic laid across a part of the street with about an inch of dirt piled on top of it on which a few plants were balanced in/on the dirt.

[alaskazimm]

Possibly messages stating the urgency and severity of the problem (remember that two people were shot and killed for the sin of approaching the CHAZ/CHOP area by some of those within it) and leadership telling them to stand down.

Remember how the mayor went out and helped these actual insurrectionists^[1[ "plant" things in their faux garden^[2[? They were very supportive for awhile.



1. how else would you describe folks who seized public property, blocked it off and declared it was no longer a part of the city, state or country and used lethal force to implement their claims?

2. it was nothing more than a sheet of plastic laid across a part of the street with about an inch of dirt piled on top of it on which a few plants were balanced in/on the dirt.

Indeed. It seemed like the country was more at risk over these "autonomous zones" than whatever was happening in the capitol building on J6. They seemed to be a lot more organized (maybe through liberal dog whistles?) than J6 as well.

[rogue06]

Indeed. It seemed like the country was more at risk over these "autonomous zones" than whatever was happening in the capitol building on J6. They seemed to be a lot more organized (maybe through liberal dog whistles?) than J6 as well.

When those creating them started killing people like in Seattle and here in Atlanta, the glamor and "revolutionary chic" faded rather quickly