News Tribune
PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — A state Court of Appeals panel has decided that a black Pierce County corrections officer passed over for promotion should be able to present his discrimination claims to a jury.
The three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals, Division II, released its opinion Wednesday.
The majority’s author, Justice Robin Hunt, wrote that Jason Haley has presented enough evidence that his disqualification for promotion was based on race that he should get a trial.
Superior Court Judge Katherine Stolz threw out Haley’s claims without a trial in March 2011, accepting arguments from Pierce County, the defendant, that Haley had not presented enough evidence of wrong-doing for the case to proceed.
Hunt, Justice Lisa Worswick, who signed the majority opinion, and Justice Christine Quinn-Brintnall, who authored a concurrence, disagreed with Stolz’s decision, saying there are “genuine issues of material fact” and that a trial is necessary.
Full story: Pierce County corrections officer’s racial suit to continue