May 28, 2015, StandWithUs is thrilled to share
the news that, in a major setback to the anti-Israel boycott, divestment,
sanctions (BDS) campaign, this morning the Washington State Supreme Court held,
by a vote of 9-0 that a lawsuit can proceed against Olympia Food Co-op board
members, challenging their 2011 decision to boycott Israeli products.
StandWithUs helped the plaintiffs, five
long-term dedicated members of the Olympia Food Co-op, find counsel to take
legal action after they’d exhausted all other opportunities to get the Olympia
Food Co-op board to follow its own boycott policy and bylaws and to reconsider
the boycott decision.
When the trial court ruled against the
plaintiffs, it assessed $232,000 in fees and penalties, an amount that would
have been an overwhelming burden to the plaintiffs.
To appeal the case, the plaintiffs would have
had to post a bond for more than that amount – over $400,000 – exremely
difficult for the five middle class Olympia plaintiffs.
StandWithUs saw the situation the plaintiffs
were in – long-time co-op members, supporters of Israel – who now faced
devastating financial penalties simply because they stood up for fair treatment
of Israel and demanded that their co-op board follow its own rules and bylaws.
StandWithUs stepped in and borrowed the money to
post the bond for the full amount so that the plaintiffs could challenge the
lower court decisions.
Now that the Washington State Supreme Court has
completely rejected the Olympia Food Co-op board members’ argument and sent the
case back to the trial court, StandWithUs is looking forward to the plaintiffs
having their day in court – a real trial on the issues they first presented:
The Olympia Food Co-op board’s violation of the co-op’s own rules and boycott
policy when, without any public notice or debate, the co-op board voted to
boycott Israeli products.
StandWithUs congratulates the plaintiffs and
their counsel, the Seattle law firm of McNaul Ebel Nawrot & Helgren, on
their important victory.
Background
The Olympia Food Co-op is the only commercial
establishment in the U.S. to officially vote to boycott Israeli products. The
anti-Israel BDS vote at the Olympia Food Co-op passed because the Olympia Food
Co-op board gave its community no notice or opportunity to debate before
voting. The co-op board decided to vote on the boycott resolution at a
regularly scheduled co-op board meeting, with no mention of a possible vote on
the agenda, in a room filled with organized BDS supporters, with no one in
opposition present. And in violation of specific requirements of its own
board-adopted boycott policy, the Olympia food co-op board voted on the BDS
boycott proposal.
In every othercase, where co-ops have faced
anti-Israel BDS boycott resolutions, the co-ops notified their members and
allowed for open debate before voting. And in each case where the community
debated, BDS lost.
After the plaintiffs filed their case, the co-op
board members, the defendants, moved to dismiss the case claiming that it was
groundless and was only filed to intimidate the co-op into cancelling the
boycott. They argued that it was a “SLAPP” lawsuit – strategic litigation
against public policy.
The trial court agreed, and under Washington
State’s anti-SLAPP statute, the court awarded the defendants attorneys fees and
fined the pro-Israel plaintiffs penalties, leaving the plaintiffs facing nearly
$232,000 in fees and penalties.
In Washington State, you cannot appeal the
decision of a court unless you can post a bond in the amount of any fees and
penalties assessed against you.
Without StandWithUs posting the required bond,
the plaintiffs would have lost their case and been hurt financially. Instead,
today the plaintiffs are celebrating this overwhelming victory.
