Oregon Supreme Court reverses judge’s motion to ban West Linn residents from jury
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Oregon Supreme Court nixed a Clackamas County judge’s choice to prohibit West Linn residents from jury service for a trial between the city and a local school district.
After the City of West Linn filed a motion to stay the decision Clackamas County Circuit Court Judge Susie Norby issued late last month, the Supreme Court reversed the judge’s ruling on Friday.
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On July 31, Norby sent a letter to the attorneys representing the city and West Linn-Wilsonville School District — informing both parties that West Linn residents could not serve on the jury for an ongoing battle in which the district has accused the city of interfering with the sale of Oppenlander Field.
“The elevated status that people derive from being part of the West Linn community typically becomes part of their identities, and as such would predictably skew their discernment when evaluating accusations of misconduct by their chosen City,” Norby wrote.
The school district has owned the 10-acre field since the 1970s, but in 2021, leaders deemed it as “surplus land” they planned to sell. West Linn officials reported that locals feared a developer would acquire the property, urging the city to buy the land so it remained a community park.
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Both parties agreed the city would purchase the field in January 2022. An appraiser determined the land was worth just $120,000 if it were only designated as a park. But the school district rejected that amount due to a prior appraisal that assessed the property’s value at $6.5 million.
In the complaint filed against the city in February 2022, the district said the defendant failed “to perform a fair, objective, good faith, and thorough appraisal of Oppenlander Field.”
The trial over the matter began on Monday. But before the Supreme Court issued its decision, West Linn officials argued the case wouldn’t be reviewed fairly without any residents on the jury.
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“The Court has deprived an entire community of the right to participate in jury service based on the assumption that living in West Linn is ‘something to brag about,’ and ‘inspires a level of loyalty in residents that becomes part of their identity,’ and therefore makes residents incapable of objectivity,” a West Linn spokesperson said on their website.
In a statement Norby sent to KOIN 6 prior to the Supreme Court’s decision, Norby asserted that judges must ensure juries aren’t biased — and “being predictably aligned with one party’s interest is the antithesis of fairness.”
“I believe that my letter opinions are clear that the decision is driven by the District’s allegations of bad faith/misconduct of City officials, and the implicit risk that residents will instinctively lean toward defending the City’s good name, rather than approaching deliberations with the neutrality that the law requires,” Norby said.
But the Supreme Court referred to the judge’s ruling as a “categorical assumption” that West Linn residents cannot review an issue impartially.
West Linn-Wilsonville School District said it does not comment on pending litigation.
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