Every four years, all members of the Spokane County Superior Court bench stand for election.
Often a single judge is not challenged, but this year three are running against Judge Timothy Fennessy.
Two of the challengers, F. Dale Andersen and Andrew Van Winkle, argue that Fennessy's conduct in court is unbecoming of the court.
A third challenger, Jerry Charosh, said he filed because he was under the impression that Fennessy was not running for re-election.
Judge Marla Pollin, who will be facing attorney Brandon Casey, is also an opponent in the election, arguing that judges should have a variety of legal experience to serve on the court and that the goal of serving the public is no different today. He said he believes this is being lost in the system.
The other 11 sitting high court judges who have applied for re-election will not be challenged.
The Spokane County Superior Court bench has undergone significant changes over the past five years, with half of the judges appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee.
Judges Dean Chuan, Brianne Beggs, Jeremy Schmidt, Pollin and Jacqueline Hi-Edwards have all been appointed from 2022.
Attitude Complaints vs. Experiences
Fennessy, 66, initially decided not to run for a third term and informed his colleagues of his plans.
One of Fennessy's campaign promises when he ran against and ousted Judge Greg Sippold in 2016 was that he would not resign midway through his term. This is common practice among judges on Spokane Superior Court, where the governor can appoint a replacement.
However, Fennessy said some of his colleagues on the bench have approached him about coming back out of fear of losing experience to an already inexperienced bench. Mr. Fennessy's colleagues elected him as chief justice last year for a two-year term.
“I feel I still have valuable and important experience left on the bench,” he said.
He decided to apply for re-election and did so on Thursday.
Mr. Andersen, 59, said he decided to run for judge because he felt Mr. Fennessy's behavior on the bench was inappropriate.
“We felt that we could provide lawyers with a better opportunity to have judges who will hopefully listen and provide them with the judicial courtesy they expect,” Andersen said.
He called Fennessy “rude” and said he didn't seem to listen to his lawyer's arguments.
Andersen has been an attorney for 31 years and practices law in Washington, Idaho. For most of his career, he was a trial attorney handling criminal defense and personal injury claims.
After the pandemic, Andersen closed his private practice and took a job with the Spokane County Prosecutor's Office, where he worked for two years.
Van Winkle echoed Andersen's concerns. He chose to run against Mr. Fennessy because members of the legal community are often unhappy with Mr. Fennessy's behavior. Mr. Van Winkle has never had a case before Mr. Fennessy, he said.
He noted that prosecutors routinely disqualify Mr. Fennessy from presiding over sex crimes cases.
Van Winkle, 35, chief counsel for the Washington State Court of Appeals, Third Department, also said that Fennessy's decisions are reflected in his work.
“I watch his work on the Court of Appeals,” Van Winkle said. “Simply put, I'm not a fan of what I'm watching.”
With more people representing themselves in court, Van Winkle said if elected, he would like to work on solutions to improve the experience within the system. He proposed an online interactive form system for civil protection orders where people could submit evidence and answer basic questions.
Fennessy confirmed that he was removed from the domestic violence case by a division of the prosecutor's office.
“It's their right to do that,” Fennessy said. “No one has ever asked me to explain the rationale.”
Fennessy said he also hasn't heard any complaints about his behavior.
“I don't feel like I have a problem with my attitude,” Fennessy said. “I think one of the tools a judge has is to make sure he's asking the right questions, and that's especially true when someone is represented.”
He said it was up to voters to decide whether the criticism was valid.
In 2019, Fennessy received a recommendation from the Judicial Conduct Commission for taking longer than allowed by state law to decide two cases. He was asked to confirm to the committee every three months that no decisions were pending for more than 90 days.
Sharosh, the current court president, said he had no intention of filing a lawsuit against a sitting judge, but now that he has, he plans to remain in the race.
“I still believe that I would be a good Superior Court judge and that my experience and demeanor make me well-suited for a position on the Superior Court,” Sharosh said.
Mr. Sharosh, 49, has been a lawyer since 2007. After practicing civil litigation at a local law firm, he spent six years at the Washington State Attorney General's Office representing Child Protective Services and the Department of Corrections.
He served as a Spokane County prosecutor from 2019 until 2023, when he was appointed as court commissioner, primarily in the Special Assault Unit.
“I think experience is important. I have been practicing in Spokane County Superior Court for over 15 years, and my legal background is very diverse,” Sharosh said.
In judicial elections, if a candidate receives 50% or more of the votes in the primary, he or she has effectively won the election and only his or her name appears on the general election ballot.
If there are three or more candidates in the primary and no one receives more than a majority of votes, the two candidates who received the most votes in the primary will face each other in the general election.
Pauline's challenge
Local attorney Brandon Casey filed the lawsuit against Judge Pollin on Thursday.
Casey, 50, said he wants to become a judge to serve the people. For years, he had wanted an attorney with extensive experience, particularly in civil matters, to run. When his friend brought up Casey's running a few months ago, he said, he knew he had to be at bat.
Rather than go to law school, he completed a law clerk program with his father, J. Gregory Casey, and took the less familiar path of becoming a lawyer. Casey passed his bar in 2004 and has been working with his father at the Casey Law Firm ever since.
Casey said he has handled cases ranging from personal injury to civil rights.
If elected, Casey said he would speed up pretrial information exchange and work to come early and stay late to hear motions so that trials move more quickly.
“I think for most people this is torture,” he said of the length of time the case has been pending.
Mr. Casey said he chose to run against Mr. Pollin because she lacks the diverse legal experience that would best suit the position. Casey said Pollin is qualified, but she said what the court is looking for now, with most judges appointed as civil servants, is experience in handling a variety of civil cases.
Pollin, 44, was appointed to fill the seat left by Judge Harold Clark III when he retires in 2022. She ran unopposed in 2023.
After graduating from Gonzaga Law School in 2005, Pollin practiced criminal defense in Spokane before transitioning to civil practice.
From 2012 until her appointment, Pollin was contracted by the state to represent sex offenders in civil trial trials, allowing her to appear in courts across the state.
She said civil involvement cases are also quasi-criminal cases, so she has a good understanding of both types of law.
Pollin said during her nearly two years as a judge, she fell in love with the role and how she could serve the community.
“I can say I've never worked so hard in my life. I was an incredibly hard-working trial lawyer, but this is on a whole different level,” Pollin said.
“It's something you won't understand until you experience it.”
Mr. Pollin touted his experience as a lawyer and judge as making him the most qualified candidate in the race. For the past two years, Pollin has handled complex family law cases and juvenile cases, in addition to criminal and civil matters, he said.
“I really got to experience everything on the bench,” Poulin said. “That's something he can't compete with.”