Court Filings

The Court of Appeals denied Ernest Dale Benson Jr.'s personal restraint petition challenging the Department of Corrections’ recalculation of his earned release time (ERT). Benson was resentenced in 2024 from life without parole to two concurrent 40-year terms. DOC initially credited him with 33.33% ERT but later concluded aggravated first degree murder qualifies as a serious violent offense, limiting ERT to 15% under RCW 9.94A.729(3)(b). The court held aggravated first degree murder is a type of first degree murder within the statutory scheme, so Benson was eligible only for 15% ERT and failed to show unlawful restraint.

The Washington Supreme Court answered a certified question from the Ninth Circuit about whether a consumer who buys and keeps a product at its advertised price but was induced to buy it by a false representation about the product’s former price has a cognizable injury under the Washington Consumer Protection Act (CPA). The Court held that such a buyer does not allege an injury to “business or property” under the CPA when the purchased, fungible product conforms to its advertised qualities and the purchaser paid the advertised price. The Court explained that mere disappointed expectations or being tricked into buying an item that is not objectively less valuable do not establish CPA injury, though other theories (e.g., objectively inferior goods) could.