Seattle liable for arrests in WTO protests

SEATTLE – A federal jury found the city liable Tuesday for the unlawful arrests of about 175 protesters during World Trade Organization demonstrations in 1999.

But the jury also ruled that the city did not violate the protesters’ free speech rights, and a lawyer for the city argued that the mixed verdict showed that the jurors were confused by their instructions. He said the city will move to dismiss the case on those grounds.

Barring that challenge or any immediate appeal, the class-action lawsuit will move to a damages phase in which a judge or jury will determine how much to pay each plaintiff. Seattle has already paid about $800,000 in more than a dozen WTO lawsuits and claims, and if the damages fall in line with those cases, the total the city pays could be in the millions.

“The key point, the lesson learned, is you cannot arrest peaceful protesters here in Seattle or anywhere else in the country,” said Kenneth Hankin, a Boeing worker and lead plaintiff.

The trial stemmed from the mass arrest of Hankin and the other protesters at a downtown park Dec. 1, 1999, where they were sitting and singing patriotic anthems. That week, 50,000 demonstrators had swarmed Seattle, overwhelming police and closing down parts of the WTO meeting.

The park was in a “no-protest” zone established by the mayor, but officers made no effort to determine whether the protesters had other reasons to be there – Were they shoppers? Were they area residents? – before the arrests.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman ruled the city had made the arrests without probable cause. Arrest reports were not filled out properly, she noted.

The jury’s job was to determine whether the city could be held financially responsible for the false arrests. Lawyers for the protesters had to convince the jurors that the city had a policy targeting the protesters for their anti-WTO views or that city higher-ups approved the illegal arrests.

“This is a victory for the constitutional rights we all enjoy,” said Mike Withey, a lawyer for the protesters. “The city is going to have its hands full trying to prove there was something wrong with this verdict.”