There’s nothing wrong, in theory, with Federal Way having its own municipal court. Other cities have their own courts, and the wheels of justice grind along just fine.
But the Federal Way City Council is now exploring the possibility of handing its misdemeanor cases back to King County. That’s understandable. Federal Way launched its municipal court in 2000, and things haven’t gone well. The court looks downright snakebit.
The idea of creating the municipal court in the first place was to control costs. King County District Court had handled Federal Way’s misdemeanors through the 1990s – since the city’s inception – but it had been sending ever-larger bills for its services. Although the new municipal court would cost more than county justice at the outset, city officials figured they’d stay in control of the expenses by not sending the cases to another government.
That should have worked. It hasn’t.
Constitutionally, judges are independent. That means the city council and city manager have limited options when a city judge runs amok.
In the municipal court’s short history, two of its judges have done just that. Colleen Hartl was censured by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct in 2007 after she admitted having a sexual encounter with a public defender who argued cases before her.
More recently, Judge Michael Morgan was reprimanded – a lesser scolding – by the CJC for swearing at the police chief, making threatening comments to court employees and discussing sexual matters with them.
By some accounts, the staff has had plenty of issues of its own. One disgruntled ex-employee is suing the city for wrongful termination. Even if the lawsuit fails, it is forcing Federal Way to incur defense costs.
The city has reportedly also incurred nearly $100,000 in attorney’s fees defending itself from Morgan himself. Early last year, the city hired a consultant to investigate working conditions in the court. When this newspaper requested the consultant’s report, Morgan sued both the city and The News Tribune to prevent its release. The report itself cost $11,000, another expense created by the court’s internal problems.
The hard fact is that the city can do nothing to manage or discipline a judge – yet it still bears liability for the judge’s behavior. That hasn’t been a problem in most other cities; it seems to be a big problem in Federal Way.
A switch back to the county court is worth at least a look. The costs may be a bit higher, but any staff problems – and resulting litigation – would become the county’s responsibility. Under the circumstances, that sounds appealing.
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