Senior Managing Partner
The State’s motion to dismiss the wrongful death case of Estate of Summer Taylor v. State of Washington etc, was denied today by Judge Sandra Widlan, of King County Superior Court. Summer Taylor was a George Floyd/BLM protester who was killed on I-5 in downtown Seattle on July 4, 2024.
The State through Assistant Attorney General Steve Puz, strenuously argued that it owed no duty to Summer Taylor despite having closed the freeway on 30 different occasions to allow the protesters to occupy the roadway on 19 different evenings.
Shannon Kilpatrick of the Stritmatter firm, attorneys for Taylor, argued that the State’s failure to properly and fully close the freeway that night allowed Dawit Kelete to enter the roadway. The state could have prohibited protests on the freeway. Instead it allowed the protests, told the protesters it was closing the road, but failed to fully close the road.
Karen Koehler, Shannon Kilpatrick, Mo Hamoudi and Furhad Sultani represent the Plaintiff Estate of Summer Taylor.
Jury trial of this case will begin on August 19, 2024.