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Roy v. City of Everett2/6/1992
im of domestic violence the maximum protection from abuse which the law and those who enforce the law can provide." RCW 10.99.010. RCW 10.99 created no new crimes but rather emphasized the need to enforce existing criminal statutes in an evenhanded manner to protect the victim regardless of whether the victim was involved in a relationship with the aggressor. As specifically stated by the Legislature, the purpose and intent of RCW 10.99 was to counteract the societal and historical tendency not to enforce laws against domestic violence, to emphasize the
need for enforcement of existing laws, and to provide guidance to law enforcement agencies in how to go about enforcing them and to protect peace officers from suit when they, in good faith, attempt to enforce the law in an incident involving domestic violence.
An interpretation of RCW 10.99.070 that protects law enforcement agencies which fail to enforce the laws defeats the stated purpose of the statute as a whole. The statute is designed to protect law enforcement officers in their good faith actions involving an "incident of domestic violence" (RCW 10.99.070), not from the failure to take action, as was the case here, in a series of events occurring in the period of over a year. If the Legislature had intended to create blanket immunity for all injuries arising out of interaction between police and parties to domestic violence, the statute could have been written so explicitly. RCW 10.99.070 should be interpreted in a way which harmonizes with the intent of the rest of the domestic violence act.
In Guffey v. State, 103 Wash. 2d 144, 152, 690 P.2d 1163 (1984), we stated a rule which immunized police officers from liability when they "carrie out a statutory duty". The Guffey rule still stands with regard to police conduct in situations which do not involve domestic violence. In contrast, the defendants' new rule would provide for blanket immunity in domestic violence cases even when police fail to enforce the law. Thus, the defendants' interpretation of RCW 10.99.070 actually places persons seeking to enforce the laws against domestic violence in a worse situation than if RCW 10.99 had never been passed because police immunity would be broader in domestic violence cases than in cases involving the same crime (assault, burglary, kidnapping, etc.) between strangers.
The rule of ejusdem generis reinforces the contention that RCW 10.99.070 should be read narrowly:
The ejusdem generis rule requires that general terms appearing in a statute in connection with specific terms are to be given meaning and effect only to the extent that the general terms suggest items similar to those designated by the
specific terms. In short, specific terms modify or restrict the application of general terms where both are used in sequence.
Dean v. McFarland, 81 Wash. 2d 215, 221, 500 P.2d 1244, 74 A.L.R.3d 378 (1972), quoted in Condit v. Lewis Refrigeration Co., 101 Wash. 2d 106, 111, 676 P.2d 466 (1984). RCW 10.99.070 lists two specific actions: "an arrest based on probable cause," and "enforcement in good faith of a court order," and then adds "or any other action or omission". Under ejusdem generis, the final phrase should be interpreted to read" or any other similar action or omission"; that is, the statute im
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