OSO — A timber company that argues its logging over the years had nothing to do with the deadly Oso mudslide will have to make its case before a jury, a judge has ruled.
Grandy Lake Forest Associates failed to convince King County Superior Court Judge Roger Rogoff that a trial is unnecessary to determine whether it bears any responsibility for the March 22, 2014 disaster.
Attorneys for the Skagit County-based company had filed a summary judgment motion seeking to be dismissed from a wrongful death lawsuit brought by attorneys representing people who were killed in the slide.
Among other things, Grandy Lake blamed media attention on it becoming part of the case, particularly coverage that focused on studies done over the years suggesting the company’s cutting of trees on an area known as the Whitman Bench may have increased groundwater that reached the slide area.
The timber company pointed to recent drilling on the hill that found a layer of glacially compacted soil known as till about 130 feet down. The company has an expert prepared to testify that the 90-foot-thick layer forms a barrier to rain percolating into the hill. It contends groundwater that fueled the slide likely reached the site from sources other than rain falling on clearcuts on the Whitman Bench.
In his written ruling, the judge took notice of Grandy Lake’s theory about what was going on under the ground prior to the mudslide.
“While these arguments may very well win the day, they will have to win the day in front of a jury,” Rogoff wrote. “A genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether Grandy Lake’s alterations to their land increased the landslide risk.”
The judge also held that a jury should decide what duty, if any, Grandy Lake owed others in the valley below.
Lawyers for those suing Grandy Lake say clear-cutting in 2004 plus thinning and other work on the property in 2010 allowed more rain to percolate into a hill that already had a long history of slides.
The summary judgment motion was resisted by attorneys Corrie Yackulic, John Phillips, Guy Michelson and Karen Willie.
In all, 43 people died and dozens of homes were destroyed in the mudslide. Trial is now scheduled for June.
Scott North: 425-339-3431; north@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snorthnews.
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