By Emily K. Alhadeff, Assistant Editor, JTNews
Supporters of the Olympia Food Co-op’s boycott of Israeli products rejoiced Monday when Thurston County Superior Court dismissed the lawsuit brought against the store’s board for its July 2010 decision.
Judge Thomas McPhee ruled in favor of the defendants’ special motion to strike, honoring their claim that the suit falls under Washington’s Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) legislation. SLAPP suits intend to chill free speech and intimidate and inundate defendants with lengthy and expensive legal processes.
Judge McPhee declared the anti-SLAPP legislation constitutional and agreed that the lawsuit threatened statements made “in a place open to the public or a public forum in connection with an issue of public concern,” according to anti-SLAPP language. Though McPhee had no comparable anti-SLAPP cases in Washington State to go by, he relied upon similar cases in California.
Robert Sulkin, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said he believes free speech was not at issue.
“This was not a SLAPP case at all. It was rather a case of a board acting without authority,” said Sulkin. “We have no problem with people speaking their minds. The question is, “˜Who gets to speak for the co-op?’ In our view the board acted improperly in the way it handled the situation.”
The defendants, 16 current and former board members of the co-op, were represented by Bruce Johnson of Davis Wright Tremaine, who drafted Washington’s anti-SLAPP legislation, and Maria LaHood of the Center for Constitutional Rights. The plaintiffs are responsible for paying $10,000 to each of the defendants, plus legal fees.
“Obviously we disagree with the judge. [But] I appreciate the time he put into the case,” said Sulkin. “We’re looking at an appeal, and we’ll make that decision shortly.”
“It’s disappointing,” said Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg, who has actively opposed the boycott since its inception. Kinberg, who lives in Olympia and has been a co-op member since moving there, held a poster outlining the co-op’s misuse of power outside the courthouse on Feb. 23, when McPhee heard arguments.
“It’s a very difficult issue to achieve justice on since it was such an internal issue,” Kinberg said.
On July 15, 2010, the Olympia Food Co-op board approved a boycott of Israeli goods in accordance with the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. The international BDS network calls for boycott until the Israeli government ends its “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands,” dismantles the separation barrier, agrees to Palestinian right of return, and grants equality to Palestinians in Israel. Members of the Olympia BDS network presented at that meeting and have heavily pushed for the boycott by endorsing pro-boycott board candidates, petitioning, and even creating a documentary film.
According to the suit filed by plaintiffs Jeffrey and Susan Trinin, Kent and Linda Davis, and Susan Mayer on September 2, 2011, the co-op board acted beyond the scope of its authority when it approved the boycott because it did not have staff consensus first, as outlined in the boycott policy. In addition, they argued that the boycott is not nationally recognized, also a stipulation in the policy.
The judge denied the plaintiffs’ cross-motion for discovery at the hearing, and ruled Monday that the issue of consensus is not material to the case.
“The policy is silent about the consequences of the staff failing to reach consensus,” McPhee said. Rather than assume that means the boycott is null and void, McPhee took into account the board’s ultimate deciding power. The policy, he said, “speaks to consensus one way or another.”
Furthermore, he dismissed the notion that the boycott of Israeli goods is not nationally recognized.
“The evidence clearly shows that the Israel boycott and divestment movement is a national movement,” McPhee said. “It’s clearly more than a boycott. It’s a divestment movement as well.”
This statement pleased BDS supporters, who crowded the room to capacity. Dozens of demonstrators held signs in front of the courthouse in favor of the boycott before the Feb. 23 hearing began. At the decision on Monday, they wore stickers proclaiming solidarity with the boycott.
“I really appreciate the emphasis on free speech,” said Cindy Corrie of Olympia after the decision was announced. Corrie’s daughter Rachel, a former student at The Evergreen State College, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 in Gaza.
Her husband, Craig Corrie, added that he hoped the ruling would “start to bring some sort of healing in our community.”
While McPhee made clear that he was not ruling on the merits of the case and has no stake in the matter politically, this victory for Olympia BDS could set a precedent for food co-ops around country that have wanted to boycott, but have feared legal ramifications.
“Just as the situation in South Africa got better,” Craig Corrie said, “the situation in Israel-Palestine can get better.”