City of Seattle To Pay $35,000 To Settle Police Records Lawsuit

The city of Seattle and I have agreed to settle a lawsuit I filed in May that alleged violations of the Washington State Public Records Act (PRA).

As part of a settlement agreement inked on July 21, the city will pay $35,000, inclusive of penalties and legal fees. I will release any legal claims related to eight PRA requests I made to the Seattle Police Department (SPD) that were delayed under SPD's "grouping" policy which was found to be illegal by a King County Superior Court Judge earlier this year.

My PRA requests sought information from the 2020 protests and SPD's Seattle Shield intelligence program.

This is the third lawsuit I have settled related to SPD records since September 2024. Through the entire litigation process, I was ably represented by Katherine George.