EVERETT — Snohomish County agreed Monday to pay a quarter-million dollars to settle a public-records lawsuit brought by the family of a woman who died at the jail.
It’s the third legal payout in less than two years related to mishandling of public records requests at the county lockup.
Marilyn Mowan’s death in September 2014 stemmed from drinking a lethal amount of water. Authorities ruled it a suicide.
Her sister, Julie A. Hanson, soon after requested video footage from within the jail during Mowan’s entire incarceration. Instead, a public disclosure employee at the jail provided video for the period immediately surrounding Mowan’s death. That was only a fraction of her time in jail, county officials said.
Attorneys for Hanson filed a public-records lawsuit in King County Superior Court in January. Separately, Mowan’s family is seeking $5 million in damages in relation to her death. They have filed a damage claim against the county, which is a precursor to a lawsuit.
Mowan suffered from psychogenic polydipsia, meaning she had a psychiatric disorder that caused her to drink too much water, according to the claim. That and heart disease were contributing factors in her death from water intoxication and sodium imbalances, the county Medical Examiner’s Office ruled.
The wrongful death claim alleges that jail staff knew about Mowan’s risk for hurting herself and failed to protect her.
The family’s attorney, Cheryl Snow, of Seattle, says the suit aims to reform the way the sheriff’s office investigates employee conduct after inmate deaths.
Snow also represented the family of Michael Saffioti, who died in the jail in 2012 at age 22. He suffered from asthma and severe allergies.
The county last year settled a lawsuit over Saffioti’s death for $2.4 million.
In 2014, the county reached a separate $95,000 settlement with Saffioti’s mother over jail staff failing to disclose video footage from the morning her son collapsed and died. The family’s attorneys were initially told the video didn’t exist.
Another jail records settlement came about in 2015, when the county paid corrections deputy Charles Carrell,$600,000 to settle a lawsuit over mishandling his public records request. The deputy alleged that the sheriff’s office did not supply him any records for four years after he asked for them. Upon reaching the settlement with Carrell, the sheriff’s office admitted that “the request was never properly processed or fulfilled.”
The Snohomish County Council on Monday authorized the settlement in the Mowan records case. The sheriff’s office released another statement.
“Since 2014, the Sheriff’s Office has taken significant steps in overhauling the public records request fulfillment process, as well as making staffing changes in the jail’s public records request unit,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said.
The sheriff’s office processes more than half of all public disclosure requests received by the county.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
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