Civil rights case against Kent schools dismissed, lawyers late

Attorney Alfoster Garrett, Jr., president of the Seattle/King County NAACP, says that the lawsuit against the Kent School District — that was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge John C. Coughenour last Tuesday – will be re-filed by this Friday. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 16 African American families last year, claims that security guards within the District used excessive force — including handcuffing, applying pressure points, and the pulling of hair – in order to restrain the students involved in the lawsuit.”Anytime you’re going to handcuff a child for disobeying a command, and when that can lead to applying pressure points and/or handcuffing the child that’s absurd,” said Garrett. “The only way that the claims won’t be filed by Friday is if Kent decides to settle,” he added.Judge Coughenour dismissed the case without prejudice, which means that the case can be re-filed, after Garrett was late for a pre-trial hearing. According to Garrett, he was five minutes late and the judge dismissed the case before he got there.”As an attorney, you’re time is valuable. You go from one hearing to the next,” said Garrett. “I was late because I was going from one appointment to the next.” “I have to live with the truth,” he added. “I was late and I’m going to do whatever I feel is necessary and correct it.”There was speculation that the case was dismissed because the case lacked merit. Something Garrett disputes.”The case doesn’t lack merit at all,” he said. As to the allegations that this is the third time that Garrett did not show up to court, Garrett’s disputes the accuracy of those claims as well.According to Garrett, He did miss a hearing of Feb. 17 because of a scheduling error. He called the court clerk and re-scheduled the hearing for March. Garrett was not able to be present at the March hearing because he was in court on another case, but did notify the opposing council and the court that the other attorney of record on the case, James Egan, would be present. Egan was there, but the judge would not allow him to stand in place of Garrett and fined the law firm – name of firm — $250.00Garrett has been in contact with most of the families involved in the lawsuit, since the case was dismissed and educating them on the process and what it entails.”Most of them were concerned initially,” said Garrett. “But then I explained t them legally what’s going to happen and what it means, and they understood.”Unfortunately for the families involved, the dismissal of the case means that the entire process will have to start over again. That process starts with the filing of claims against the District, scheduled for this Friday. The Kent School District then has 60 days to settle the claims before a lawsuit can be filed.”It’s setback in terms of time,” said Garrett. “But I’m confident that the truth will come out and this case will have it’s day in court.”As for the impact that the dismissal of the case has on the local NAACP, Garrett believes that the NAACP is being unfairly scrutinized because of his role with the NAACP and the case itself.”Me as an attorney is totally different from me as president of the NAACP,” he said. “The two are not one in the same.””Being five minutes late is not an indication that I’m not able to run that Branch,” he continued. “Some people are concerned that we’re not as visible as we were before. People need to understand that there is a lot of transition that’s taking place.””The only thing I can say is to be patient, and we’re going to get there,” concluded Garrett.SEATTLE (AP) _ A $40 million civil rights lawsuit against the suburban Kent school system was dismissed after lawyers who brought the case were late to a pretrial hearing in U.S. District Court. Judge John C. Coughenour ordered the case closed Tuesday when attorneys representing the families of 16 students arrived late by 5 to 20 minutes, lawyers said. No one in the judge’s office would comment to The Seattle Times. The lawsuit was filed last year after black students ranging in age from 10 to 17 said security guards unfairly handcuffed them, twisted their arms and grabbed their hair. Leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People accused the school district of violating students’ civil rights and damaging their ability to learn. School officials denied that there was any discrimination or mistreatment. The case “wasn’t dismissed on its merits,” said Alfoster Garrett Jr., president of the Seattle chapter of the NAACP and one of the one of two lawyers representing the students’ families. “I was five minutes late to court, and the judge threw it out.” Michael B. Harrington, the school system’s lawyer, said it was more like 20 minutes. “What you learn in law school is you can be late to your own wedding but don’t be late to federal court,” Harrington said. Harrington also said Garrett and his law partner, James Egan, were previously warned by Coughenour to be better prepared for court, adding that the judge fined their law firm $250 for missing a hearing a few weeks ago. Nearly 27,000 students are enrolled in Kent schools, and officials say handcuffs have been used on school grounds 33 times since January in situations including fights, investigation of drug possession and the serving of a warrant.