SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - A woman has lost her second chance at blaming Boeing for a murder-suicide that was carried out by an employee, but not on company property.
Seattle federal judge Kymberly Evanson on Sept. 18 again tossed the case of Rachel Washington, who sued Boeing earlier this year on behalf of the Estate of Isaiah Washington. Rachel's amended complaint didn't fix the problems with the first one, Evanson wrote in dismissing the case with prejudice.
The complaint said Isaiah Washington was caught in a love triangle involving Rachel Pettit and murderer Ralph O'Connor. Boeing had argued O'Connor's actions were unforeseeable and not connected to work.
But the amended complaint attempted a claim for negligent retention. Washington had argued O'Connor had previously been suspended by Boeing for threatening another employee and had texted coworkers that he wanted to "pull the trigger" and that a Boeing supervisor was aware of that and other messages.
O'Connor knew what time Isaiah Washington's shift started on Nov. 21, 2022, and shot him as he walked through Renton Landing to the Boeing plant.
The amended complaint says Boeing's negligent retention of O'Connor as an employee allowed him to know when Washington would be at work and how he commuted to the facility.
"This allegation overlooks that the amended complaint alleges that O'Connor killed Washington in a public, non-work location while neither man was working, and this allegation indicates that O'Connor was not acting as Boeing employee at the time of Washington's murder," Evanson wrote.
"These allegations therefore suggest that Boeing's retention of O'Connor was not the proximate cause of Washington's murder, if O'Connor was not acting as a Boeing employee nor enjoying any of the benefits of his employment at the time of the murder."
Evanson also rejected a claim under the Washington Law Against Discrimination. The plaintiff said Isaiah suffered an adverse employment action because he was unable to work without fear of harm.
The plaintiff said Boeing failed to offer him a schedule or location change to allow him to avoid O'Connor.
"While an employer's denial of an employee's request to change a work schedule can constitute an adverse employment action, the Court is not aware of any authority indicating that an employer's failure to affirmatively offer an employee a schedule change can as well," Evanson wrote.