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scheduled for jury trials in early 2022 or, in the 55-plaintiff case, early 2023. Martin Exs. C-F. Those trials may not occur in the timeframe Plaintiffs desire, but they are all the Constitution requires. Nothing in article I, section 21 imposes a timing requirement, and reading one in would render superfluous the speedy trial right specifically and exclusively conferred upon criminal defendants in the Constitution’s very next section. Nor is there any precedent for Plaintiffs’ novel reading; little surprise, given the practical impossibilities that would flow from a civil speedy trial right. Plaintiffs have no viable claim for relief under article I, section 21 because the provision: (1) does not contain a civil speedy trial right, (2) does not guarantee Plaintiffs the additional resources they seek; and (3) does not authorize court-ordered funding. Article 1, section 21 does not guarantee a speedy civil trial. It says only that “[t]he right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate.” Courts construing the Constitution may not supply absent words, particularly where context shows the omission was deliberate. See City of Bothell, 172 Wn.2d at 229 (courts may not “engraft” provisions onto the Constitution). Yet that is exactly what Plaintiffs seek. The neighboring provision does contain a speedy trial right, but it expressly limits that right to “criminal prosecutions.” Const. art. I, § 22. This court should not construe section 21 (or section 10) to contain a hidden speedy trial right in civil cases, as doing so would render superfluous section 22’s speedy trial right for criminal defendants. See Farris v. Munro, 99 Wn.2d 326, 333, 662 P.2d 821 (1983) (“[T]he constitution, like statutes, should be construed so that no portion is rendered superfluous.”). Plus, maintaining the Framers’ distinction between civil and criminal trials makes sense: whereas civil proceedings must balance the
MOTION TO DISMISS Case No. 21-2-06462-7 SEA 153411396
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