Bellingham, WA withholding Amtrak records after death
From Sunshine Review
June 28, 2009 Washington's city of Bellingham is still withhold most of the 80 relevant documents the lawyer of the family of a 49-year-old woman killed by an Amtrak train while crossing the tracks on her bicycle May 20, 2008.[1]
[edit] Attorney-client privilege
Judge Charles Snyder, of the Whatcom County Superior Court, ordered that seven of the 80 withheld documents should be released to lawyer Steve Chance by Saturday, June 27, but that the rest were exempt from public disclosure because of attorney-client privilege or that they were attorney work product, The Bellingham Herald reported. Bellingham city officials have requested reconsideration of the release of those seven documents, asking also if lawyers could file explanations requests in private.
The records in questions were filed by Chance on behalf of the family of the woman struck by the train. The crossing at which she was struck was part of a 2001 negotiation that resulted in a pedestrian crossing with a train crossing warning sign. The agreement to put the pedestrian crossing at this spot called for bells and flashing lights at the crossing.[1]
[edit] Chance
Chance requested every document related to the crossing, receiving hundreds in return, but denied several that the city said were protected by parts of the state's Public Record Act. The lawyer does not think the withheld documents are exempted from public disclosure, so he filed a motion for review.
All of the documents he ordered released and did not receive were emails. They contained what he believed to be evidence of meetings and confirmation of other documents. City officials say these memos need to remain private because they couldn't make their case "without further divulging privileged, work-product, and exempt material," The Bellingham Herald reported.
Snyder approved, and the next hearing is scheduled for July 17.[1]
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