Penalty Levied Against State in Landslide Case

SEATTLE (AP) — A judge hearing a lawsuit brought by victims of a deadly landslide north of Seattle has ordered the state of Washington to pay more than $1.1 million because the state's expert witnesses in the litigation were deleting emails that should have been preserved.

King County Superior Court Judge Roger Rogoff issued his ruling Monday after it was announced the state and a timber company had settled the lawsuit for $60 million.

Rogoff ordered the state to pay more than $394,000 in costs and attorney fees due to the deleted emails and to pay another nearly $789,000 in punitive damages.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson has acknowledged one of his lawyers knew for the past year and a half that experts hired by the state to determine the cause of the 2014 slide were deleting emails among themselves.

The 2014 landslide killed 43 people.