SEATTLE — The city of Seattle has agreed to pay $3.65 million to settle a lawsuit filed by businesses disrupted during the Capitol Hill Organized Protests, an amount that includes $600,000 in penalties for the deletion of thousands of text messages by the former mayor, police chief and other high-ranking officials.
The Seattle City Attorney’s Office released the settlement amount Friday afternoon, two days after The Seattle Times first reported news of the agreement.
More than a dozen businesses and residents, led by the investment group Hunters Capital, sued the city over its handling of the three-week CHOP protests, claiming the city’s decision to tolerate — and in some cases aid — the closure of an eight-block section of Capitol Hill hurt their businesses.
