A federal magistrate has ordered that former Oregon Gov. Kate Brown can be deposed in a class-action lawsuit, specifically regarding her role in how the state responded to
It鈥檚 the first time a current or former Oregon governor has been ordered to sit for a deposition in a civil case related to policy decisions during their time in office.
The litigation, first filed in April 2020, . The lawsuit covers about 5,000 people and contracted COVID-19. A separate wrongful death class covers the estates of 45 others who were in .
In her order released Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman states this is about more than the experience of one person in custody.
鈥淚nstead, a certified class of thousands of individuals infected with COVID-19 while in the state鈥檚 custody鈥攊ncluding the estates of dozens who died鈥攕eek to ask Governor Brown questions about her knowledge of and actions regarding the spread of COVID-19 in Oregon鈥檚 prisons while she served as Oregon鈥檚 governor,鈥� Beckerman writes.
For years, attorneys representing the state successfully argued against deposing Brown. They argued there were less intrusive means to get the same information and Brown was a high-ranking government official, which should protect her from being deposed.
鈥淕overnor Brown was similarly elected from the mass of the people, and on the expiration of the time for which she was elected, she has returned to the mass of the people again,鈥� Beckerman writes. 鈥淎lthough the Court agreed with Defendants that deposing Governor Brown while she remained in office would interfere with her official duties as governor, the demands of the job have now remitted.鈥�
A spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Justice didn鈥檛 immediately request for comment following Wednesday鈥檚 ruling by the court. They could appeal Beckerman鈥檚 decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Though Beckerman鈥檚 order clearly lays out how her ruling fits within the Ninth鈥檚 Circuits own rulings on similar cases.
Attorneys representing those in custody want to ask the former governor 鈥� under oath 鈥� about her decision to close two prisons during the pandemic and about information Brown received regarding an early release program plaintiffs鈥� attorneys argue 鈥渄id not meaningfully reduce the prison population.鈥�
鈥淭hose decisions are central to plaintiffs鈥� claims in the case, which allege that the Oregon Department of Corrections and the governor were deliberately indifferent to serious medical needs and health and safety of people in prison during the pandemic,鈥� Nadia Dahab, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, said late Wednesday.
Beckerman limited Brown鈥檚 testimony to two hours, saying the amount of time in the class-action case 鈥渋s not too much to ask of a former elected official.鈥�
According to an updated contract signed in March that OPB obtained through a public records request, the Oregon Department of Justice has agreed to pay the private law firm Markowitz Herbold up to $13.6 million to represent the state. The contract covers this case and 28 others mostly cases in federal court, involving the Oregon Department of Corrections.
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