Sports bar sues county over smoking case

OLYMPIA — Frank Schnarrs, an Olympia sports bar owner and critic of the state’s smoking ban, has filed a $1.5 million claim against Thurston County. Schnarrs said the county violated his civil rights.

The decision stems from the legal action taken by the county against Schnarrs earlier this month, said Schnarrs’ attorney Shawn Newman.

On March 7, the county sought a contempt of court ruling against Schnarrs for allegedly violating an earlier injunction to enforce the state’s smoking ban.

As part of that civil lawsuit, the county sought $100-a-day fines dating back to the injunction of Dec. 29, or about $7,500.

Schnarrs was cleared of contempt last Friday, with Superior Court Judge Anne Hirsch ruling that the county had not produced sufficient evidence to prove their case against him.

Now, Newman alleges that the county made a mistake in seeking punitive damages as part of a civil lawsuit. Instead, the county should have filed a criminal complaint, he said.

“You can’t under the guise of a civil lawsuit seek criminal penalties,” Newman said. “They (Thurston County) want to essentially treat my client as a felon without affording him the due process protections for those accused as suspects.”

As part of the claim, Schnarrs also found defamatory the comments made by county Environmental Health Specialist Dale Tahja at last Friday’s court hearing.

According to the claim, Tahja said: “Schnarrs was the only proprietor in the county who still was not compliant with the state anti-smoking law.”

Newman said he looks forward to Tahja’s sworn testimony on that statement.

A tort claim stops just short of a lawsuit and gives the county 60 days to respond to the filing. If the county fails to respond to the claim in 60 days, a lawsuit could then be filed, he said.

The claim was filed Monday with the risk management division of the county’s human resources department, he said.

Thurston County Administrator Don Krupp said the county will evaluate the concerns raised by the claim and determine whether it is valid.

County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jane Futterman couldn’t comment on the claim Monday because no one in her office had seen it yet, she said.

Schnarrs, who owns Frankie’s Sports Bar at 3663 Pacific Ave., deferred to his attorney for official comment, except to say, “I want to operate my business and follow the law.”