Tentative settlement reached in Mattawa day-care lawsuit

MATTAWA -- A tentative settlement has been reached in a long-running civil rights lawsuit brought by Latino-owned day-care centers in Mattawa against the state Department of Social and Health Services over unauthorized searches and seizures of property.

If approved by a federal judge, the plaintiffs will receive $45,000 each and the state will revise its manual on handling home child-care inspections. Columbia Legal Services, which represents the day-care owners, would receive $350,000 in legal fees.

Columbia Legal Services in Wenatchee in 2005 won class-action status on behalf of about 4,000 day-care providers in Washington and a subclass status for all non-English speaking day-care providers in the state. They sought systemic changes within the state Department of Social and Health Services and unspecified monetary compensation for nine Mattawa day-care providers.

In the lawsuit, day-care owners alleged that the "white mayor of Mattawa," Judy Esser, and members of the "all-white Mattawa Police Department" urged a state investigation into day-care providers working in the community of 3,000, which in 2001 was about 95 percent Hispanic.

The resulting investigation included inappropriate searches and confiscations, unnecessary immigration inquiries, intimidation, and legal documents that were never translated into Spanish -- the primary language of many of the providers, the suit stated.

-- Leah Beth Ward