Benton County
On December 5, 2025, after a four-week trial in Walla Walla Superior Court, Andy Cooley of the Law Office of Andy Cooley and Megan Coluccio of Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice’s Seattle Office, obtained a significant defense win on behalf of Benton County.  In Caughey et al. v. Benton County, Cause No. 22-2-00214-36, six individual Plaintiffs were all employed by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office. In October 2019, the then-Sheriff, was accused of assaulting his wife and tampering with her as a witness. The Plaintiffs claimed the Sheriff became an unhinged tyrant who threatened, abused, bullied, and psychologically tortured them.  They claimed the Sheriff threatened their jobs, leading one Plaintiff to self-demote and two others to resign. The Sheriff refused to resign and was ultimately recalled via election, the only Sheriff in the State of Washington to ever be recalled.

Multiple claims, including federal claims bearing a fee exposure, were all dismissed on summary judgment. The only two claims remaining for trial were outrage claims asserted by all six-Plaintiffs, and wrongful termination, asserted by two. The case presented several issues of first impression, leaving the parties and Court in a challenging place to address key questions: (1) What are the obligations of a municipal entity such as a County to address workplace conduct of an elected official that the County did not hire?  (2) Do intentional torts such as outrage fall outside the scope of an elected Sheriff’s official duties? In the weeks leading up to the trial, as the Court grappled with these questions, ultimately effectively eliminating all the County’s defenses on the Friday before trial.

The Plaintiffs case lasted over three weeks, while Andy and Megan put on a compelling and cohesive defense case in two days.  At closing, Plaintiffs asked for an award of $36 million in non-economic damages, and another $3 million in lost wages. The jury deliberated for four hours, returning one complete defense verdict, and a total award for the other five Plaintiffs of $1,397,427.

Plaintiffs requested $34 million in earlier negotiations and later requested $19 million. The County made several attempts to resolve the case, including offering $1.5 million just before trial, and another prior offer of $2.4 million to four of the six Plaintiffs. Those offers were met with silence. 
The Plaintiffs were represented by FAVROS.
 
BIVENS
On January 16, 2026, after a four-day jury trial in Pierce County Superior Court, Bob Christie and Megan Coluccio of Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice’s Seattle Office, obtained a significant defense win on behalf of an individual client. In Bivens v. Frieben, Cause No. 24-2-08154-8, an admitted liability case involving a multi-car rear end accident, the Plaintiff alleged a significant traumatic brain and lumbar injuries, in addition to mental anguish, and a loss of consortium claim asserted by his spouse.
At trial, Plaintiffs claimed permanent injury. Bob and Megan introduced Plaintiff’s history of pre-existing injuries, stressors, and mental health conditions. At closing, counsel asked for $3 million on behalf of Plaintiff and $500,000 on behalf of the spouse for loss of consortium. The jury deliberated for under 3 hours and returned a defense verdict on the loss of consortium claim and an award of $30,000 in non-economic damages for the Plaintiff. This award is below the policy limits, which was offered pre-trial.

The Plaintiffs were represented by Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala.
 
Carlson v. City of Redmond
On December 5, 2025, the City of Redmond, represented by Bob Christie and John Barry at Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice, won summary judgment on Title VII claims by eight former firefighter/EMTs who were terminated in 2022 for refusing to become vaccinated against Covid-19 as a condition of providing direct patient care during the pandemic.

Shortly after covid vaccines became available in 2021, Governor Inslee issued a proclamation requiring healthcare workers get vaccinated, with certain exemptions. King County also recommended that only healthcare workers who were vaccinated against Covid-19 be allowed to provide direct patient care in King County. In response to both directives, the mayor of Redmond issued an executive order requiring that all its firefighters—who are also EMTs and paramedics—must be vaccinated in order to treat patients. The Order permitted exemptions and accommodations for medical as well as religious reasons, provided the employees applied for non-patient-facing positions in the department. Several firefighters asserted religious objections to vaccination, including all eight plaintiffs here. They generally asserted that because Redmond had previously allowed them to mask and take Covid tests, it was required to allow them to continue doing so instead of following the vaccination requirement. Further, although Plaintiffs claimed not to “question” the efficacy of vaccinations, they introduced expert testimony arguing that masking and testing was superior protection against Covid-19 infection than FDA-approved vaccines.

After extensive discovery involving more than a dozen depositions, hundreds of discovery requests, and extended briefing in the form of overlength cross motions for summary judgment, Judge Jamal N. Whitehead granted summary judgment in favor of Redmond on all claims. In doing so, he specifically found that Redmond had demonstrated that allowing unvaccinated healthcare providers to treat patients would impose an undue hardship under the standard announced in Groff v. DeJoy, 600 U.S. 447 (2023), because it would impose “substantial increased costs” on Redmond’s ability to provide emergency medical services safely in a pandemic.
Plaintiffs have appealed to the 9th Circuit.

Plaintiffs were represented by the Pacific Justice Institute and the Church State Council.