[No. 69129-5-I. Division One. February 3, 2014.]
James Egan and Jay W. Wilkinson (of Law Offices of James Egan LLC); and Dawn M. Bettinger (of Law Office of Dawn M. Bettinger), for appellant.
Peter S. Holmes, City Attorney, and Mary F. Perry, Assistant; and Philip A. Talmadge (of Talmadge/Fitzpatrick), for respondent.AUTHOR: Grosse, J. WE CONCUR: Lau, J., Dwyer, J.Grosse
FACTS No sound or video recording made under this subsection (1)(c) may be duplicated and made available to the public by a law enforcement agency subject to this section until final disposition of any criminal or civil litigation which arises from the event or events which were recorded. Such sound recordings shall not be divulged or used by any law enforcement agency for any commercial purpose.» ANALYSIS [1-3] (a) Any oral statement made, or written statement or other document submitted, in a legislative, executive, or judicial proceeding or other governmental proceeding authorized by law; (b) Any oral statement made, or written statement or other document submitted, in connection with an issue under consideration or review by a legislative, executive, or judicial proceeding or other governmental proceeding authorized by law; (c) Any oral statement made, or written statement or other document submitted, that is reasonably likely to encourage or to enlist public participation in an effort to effect consideration or review of an issue in a legislative, executive, or judicial proceeding or other governmental proceeding authorized by law; (d) Any oral statement made, or written statement or other document submitted, in a place open to the public or a public forum in connection with an issue of public concern; or (e) Any other lawful conduct in furtherance of the exercise of the constitutional right of free speech in connection with an issue of public concern, or in furtherance of the exercise of the constitutional right of petition. Egan argues that all of the subsections apply to the present case. We disagree. A moving party bringing a special motion to strike a claim under this subsection has the initial burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the claim is based on an action involving public participation and petition. If the moving party meets this burden, the burden shifts to the responding party to establish by clear and convincing evidence a probability of prevailing on the claim. If the responding party meets this burden, the court shall deny the motion.» [4-8] [9] [10] One purpose of declaratory relief is "to liquidate doubts with respect to uncertainties or controversies which might otherwise result in subsequent litigation. One test of the right to institute proceedings for declaratory judgment is the necessity of present adjudication as a guide for plaintiff's future conduct in order to preserve his legal rights." Likewise Egan's reliance on Dove Audio, Inc. v. Rosenfeld, Meyer & Susman [11] [12] The principle of reading statutes in pari materia applies where statutes relate to the same subject matter. Such statutes "must be construed together." "In ascertaining legislative purpose, statutes which stand in pari materia are to be read together as constituting a unified whole, to the end that a harmonious, total statutory scheme evolves which maintains the integrity of the respective statutes." Because we construe the PRA to allow the City to seek declaratory and injunctive relief and we determine that the City's action was not primarily concerned with limiting Egan's protected activity, we conclude the anti-SLAPP statute does not apply here. DWYER and LAU, JJ., concur.