discrimination and retaliation for her involvement in the above mentioned
investigation and lawsuit. She began making numerous PRA requests to City
Light in connection with her retaliation case. Three of her requests, those made
on September 28, 2012, March 4, 2014, and March 17, 2014, are at issue in this
appeal.
On August 15, 2012, Rufin e-mailed a public disclosure request to
Maehara, City Light's Public Disclosure Officer. Rufin requested, among other
things, lap e-mails , attachments to e-mails, written correspondence, and/or
notes, to or from any employee or entity at Seattle City Light, dated January 1,
2004 or later, containing the name 'Rufin' or referring to Rebecca (Becky) Rufin."
CP at 140. The City's e-mails are automatically deleted after 45 days unless they
are saved to an archive folder or a litigation hold is placed on the account. Josh
2
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No. 74825-4-1/3
Walter, who worked on PRA requests, conducted a broad search and found that
there were thousands or tens of thousands of responsive records. He did not
review all the e-mails, and instead asked Rufin to refine her request. On
September 28, 2012, Rufin agreed to narrow the request to the e-mails of Jorge
Carrasco, Johnson, Kern, and Haynes that mention her name (September 28,
2012 request). Walter searched the e-mail accounts of these individuals, and
provided the responsive documents to Rufin. He did not find, and therefore did
not provide, the April 2012 Rufin e-mail that Haynes forwarded to Johnson, Kern,
and Maehara.
With her retaliation trial set to begin in April 2014, Rufin made additional
requests for documents. On March 4, Rufin requested various payroll records for