Washington appeals court pauses state tribunal in Kings’ jury trial fight
Today, a multigenerational ranching family is celebrating a Washington court’s decision to order a pause to a state enforcement proceeding while the family fights for their right to a jury trial. A Washington Court of Appeals commissioner halted the Pollution Control Hearings Board’s case against Wade and Teresa King until the court decides their appeal.
“When the government seeks to penalize someone, it must prove its case to a jury in an independent court, not go after them in a setting where it is both judge and prosecutor,” said Allison Daniel, attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. The King family asserts that they should have the right to plea their case before a jury rather than allowing a governor-appointed board to determine innocence or guilt.
“The Governor appointed those board members,” said Wade King. The Governor was serving as the state Attorney General at the time these fines were levied against us,” said King. He said it is extremely unlikely that the board would rule in the ranchers’ favor.
“Today the commissioner recognized that being forced through an unconstitutional proceeding is itself an injury. The Kings deserve to defend their ranch before a jury of their peers.”
The King family has ranched in Grant and Douglas counties since the 1950s. In 2023, the Department of Ecology ordered them to restore alleged wetlands and pay a $267,540 penalty over stockwater ponds on owned and leased land. Estimated compliance costs now exceed $3.7 million. The Kings’ only option to contest the orders was an appeal to the Board, which cannot provide a jury. A Grant County judge dismissed their jury trial lawsuit in August, and the Kings appealed.
In today’s ruling, Commissioner Hailey L. Landrus found that the Kings face “irreparable” harm in being subjected to “a hearing before a person whom they argue is an unconstitutional factfinder.” Quoting Axon Enterprise, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, she wrote: “A proceeding that has already happened cannot be undone.” The order halts the agency’s proceedings against the Kings while their case continues in court.
If successful, their case would affirm that Washingtonians facing civil penalties from state agencies can defend themselves before a jury in an independent court.
Pacific Legal Foundation represents the Kings free of charge in their fight for a jury trial. The case is Wade King, et al. v. State of Washington, et al.
–Pacific Legal Foundation