Suit against treatment center loses again

P-I STAFF

The state Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal filed by two recovering drug addicts suing a South Seattle treatment center.

Former clients David Schodron and Leann Lafley sued Seattle Drug and Narcotic Center, saying they had been forced to work without pay in the center's recycling plant.

They argued in legal pleadings that they were made to work six days a week at the for-profit plant or face jail time for failing to complete court-ordered drug treatment.

SeaDruNar officials contended that clients working at the plant are volunteers engaged in a "work-therapy" program. Founder Nan Busby has received wide support from members of the Seattle legal community, including two King County Superior Court judges who sit on the SeaDruNar board.

The Supreme Court's July 8 decision not to hear the appeal effectively ended the lawsuit filed by Schodron and Lafley. The case had previously failed in Superior Court and the Court of Appeals, where judges found that SeaDruNar clients volunteered to work at the plant when they enrolled in the treatment program.