15
For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
Southwick, Inc. v. Dep't ofLicensing Bus. & Professions Div., No. 95237-0
(Gordon McCloud, J., dissenting)
No. 95237-0
GORDON McCLOUD, J. (dissenting)—The state Department of Licensing
Business and Professions Division (Department) charged Southwick Inc. with
unprofessional conduct for violating ROW 68.50.140(4). ROW 68.50.140(4) is a
criminal statute originally designed to target grave robbers' and it makes removal of
"human remains from a place of interment, without authority of law," a felony.
Whether ROW 68.50.140(4) covers Southwick's conduct presents a
straightforward question of statutory interpretation. The rules of statutory
interpretation compel us to hold that the plain language ofthis statute—criminalizing
removal of human remains "without authority oflaw," without defining the meaning
of the phrase "without authority of law"—creates confusion in this case. The
confusion centers on whether Southwick's decision move those cremains to comply
with a lawful demand by the city of Olympia(City)to vacate the City's easement—
an easement necessary to protect public health^—should be characterized as moving
'Laws of 1909, ch. 249, § 239.
^ The relocation would allow the City unimpeded access to water pipes that supplied
water to 90 percent of its residents.
1
For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
Southwick, Inc. v. Dep't ofLicensing Bus. & Professions Div.,^o. 95237-0
(Gordon McCloud, J., dissenting)
cremains "with" or "without authority of law." Since the statutory language and
context do not answer that question, we must turn to legislative history and the rule