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departments, and the Court of Appeals.”2 In fact, after Plaintiffs filed their original complaint, King County passed a supplemental budget allocating an additional $42.5 million to help alleviate “legal system backlogs.”3 Plaintiffs allege that, when state-level funding is considered in isolation, Washington ranks relatively low among the fifty states. FAC ¶ 5.12 & n.13.4 But using the most recent data available, when state and local funding are considered in the aggregate (consistent with the historically established division of funding responsibilities), Washington ranks eleventh nationwide in court-system spending.5 B.
Washington superior courts’ case resolution rates
Washington resolves civil cases on timelines comparable to or better than its sister states. In 2018, the most recent year of statewide data available, superior courts in Washington resolved 92.5% of civil cases in 12 months and
https://www.courts.wa.gov/programs_orgs/pos_jea/?fa=pos_jea.article1 (accessed Aug. 9, 2021). 2
https://kingcounty.gov/council/mainnews/2021/July/7-27-covid-8-budgetpassage.aspx (accessed Aug. 9, 2021). 3
The Bureau of Justice Statistics report cited in footnote 13 of the amended complaint, a set of “preliminary” data from 2012, is attached as Exhibit A to the Declaration of David T. Martin (“Martin”). This Court may consider the report and the other documents “whose contents are alleged in a complaint.” Trujillo v. Nw. Tr. Servs., 183 Wn.2d 820, 827 n.2, 355 P.3d 1110 (2015). Additionally, the report and other government statistical data cited below are judicially noticeable. See Hoppe v. State, 78 Wn.2d 164, 172, 469 P.2d 909 (1970). 4
See Martin Ex. B. If the states are ranked based on the “Local, total” figures in the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ most recent (2016) data, Washington ranks eleventh in judicial and legal expenditures (column I), ahead of the more populous states of Virginia, New Jersey, and North Carolina (column C). 5
MOTION TO DISMISS Case No. 21-2-06462-7 SEA 153411396
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