Armen Yousoufian's Blog

After 30 years in business/investment real estate, I added "citizen activist" to my resume in 1997 when I requested sports stadium documents of King County Executive Ron Sims. After being "stonewalled", I sued, winning more at every stage, up to the state Supreme Court. Documents disgorged by Sims (after 4 years denying they existed!) revealed rigged studies. Sims misled the public on the stadiums. Other issues found me (e.g. Critical Areas Ordinance). Google “Armen Yousoufian” for more.

About Me

Name:
Location: Vashon, Washington, United States

I was born and raised in New York City. I took classical violin lessons for 10 years and studied astronomy. I built telescopes, grinding the mirrors from scratch. I was a nerd! I considered a career in classical violin but chose astrophysics. I majored in Physics at Rutgers University for 2 years, then switched and graduated in mechanical engineering. I moved to Seattle in 1969 to work on missiles for Boeing, got an MBA from Seattle University, and became a business and real estate entrepreneur for over 30 years. In 1997 I became involved in open government activism when I asked King County Executive Ron Sims for sports stadium documents. I was stonewalled. I sued under the Open Records, or Public Disclosure, Act. I won the case in King County Superior Court, but still didn’t get all the documents, nor recovered my legal fees, which the law said I was entitled to be reimbursed. I appealed and won more in the Court of Appeals and the court of public opinion. But I still didn’t get all the documents! I appealed again and won yet more in the Washington State Supreme Court. But I still don’t have all the documents! While that fight goes on I have become involved in new issues.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

$897,000 award in FOIA case

I found the below at the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government website. Looks like my claim that my case is/would be a U.S. record was eclipsed a month ago. Otherwise, the fact pattern bears similarities to Ron Sims and King County's conduct in my case.

http://www.cjog.net/

Citing Unlawful Withholding, Court Awards $900,000 in FOIA Case Legal Fees

Declaring that the Department of Commerce’s handling of a 10-year-old FOIA request for trade mission records was “inadequate, unreasonable, and unlawful” and that the department both removed and destroyed public records rather than release them under court order, the U.S. District Court in Washington awarded Judicial Watch, the requester, $897,331 in fees and costs. “As if the agency's own conduct were not reprehensible enough, its counsel has also repeatedly strayed far outside the boundaries of professional conduct (although not without some provocation by counsel for Judicial Watch),” the court said. (8/5/05)

http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/opinions/2005/Lamberth/1995-CV-133~16:32:47~7-29-2005-a.pdf

Armen Yousoufian

posted by Armen Yousoufian | 11:38 PM

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