Seattle settles CHOP lawsuit for $3.6M, with $600K for deleted texts
"This is not Coachella," reads graffiti at the CHOP, or Capitol Hill Organized Protest, previously known as CHAZ, on June 21, 2020, in Seattle. - Bettina Hansen/TNS/TNS

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 ...