Yakima鈥檚 insurance company authorized an appeal of a former business owner鈥檚 lawsuit alleging the city targeted him for opposing a downtown plaza.
In a news release issued Friday afternoon, the city announced that Cities Insurance Association of Washington, the city鈥檚 underwriter, directed that an appeal be filed with the Division III Court of Appeals in Spokane of the $480,000 judgment in March against the city, former Deputy Fire Chief Mark Soptich and former City Manager Tony O鈥橰ourke, who died in 2023.
Mark Peterson, the former owner of H&H Furniture, sued the city, Soptich, O鈥橰ourke and former fire inspector Tony Doan for malicious prosecution. Peterson alleged that he was cited for a fire code violation at his West Yakima Avenue store鈥檚 basement showroom in 2013 after he and other business owners criticized the city鈥檚 plan to turn the parking lot at Millennium Plaza into a downtown plaza.
A Yakima County Superior Court jury acquitted Doan but found the city, Soptich and O鈥橰ourke were liable for malicious prosecution and ordered the payment. Judge James Elliott affirmed the payment in May, and subsequently denied the city鈥檚 attempts to overturn the verdict.
In the release, city spokesperson Randy Beehler said the decision to appeal was made only by CIAW, and the City Council and city staff were not involved in the decision. Because the city has already met its $100,000 insurance deductible in the case, CIAW is bearing the costs of the case and could decide whether to appeal.
Peterson, contacted Tuesday, said the decision to appeal is another step in the city dragging out what he described as a 13-year legal battle.
He said the city rejected his offer to settle the suit and instead filed motions to put aside the verdict and not award him attorney鈥檚 fees, which were both denied by the court.
鈥淭his clearly signaled, loud and clear, to the city鈥檚 insurance provider that the city will fight this any way possible,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淭hey refused to accept their guilt, the city鈥檚 lawyers will get rich dragging out this case.鈥�
Peterson, who owned H&H Furniture, first filed his suit in superior court in 2017 and was transferred to U.S. District Court, where a jury dismissed the case in 2022, finding that Peterson failed to provide clear and convincing evidence that the officials conspired to maliciously prosecute him for speaking out on the plaza, and rejected Peterson鈥檚 free-speech claims.
In 2023, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the jury verdict, finding that District Court Judge Thomas O. Rice incorrectly told jurors that, under Washington state law, a malicious prosecution began when a complaint was filed.
Under state law, the act of maliciously prosecuting someone can happen before a complaint is filed.
鈥淭he effect of the court鈥檚 responses was to eliminate the possibility of judgment against the defendants who took actions that might have led to the filing of the complaint, but who did not themselves file the complaint,鈥� the court ruled, ordering the case sent back for further proceedings on the malicious prosecution question.
Peterson鈥檚 case was sent back to the federal district, which in turn found no federal issues in the case and remanded it to superior court.
Peterson closed the store in 2023 for reasons unrelated to the case.
This story has been updated to include Mark Peterson's response.