In Brief : Washington Power Jury Dismissed

The 17-member jury for the massive security fraud trial involving the Washington Public Power Supply System’s $2.25-billion bond default was formally dismissed today.

In a ceremonial gesture to mark the end of five years of litigation over the largest default in the municipal bond market, nearly 20 attorneys in the three-month trial returned to thank the jurors for their work.

The trial had been expected to last at least a year, but continued testimony became unnecessary as settlements were reached.

The 11 women and seven men on the panel sat in court 32 days since Sept. 7 and heard 27 days of testimony from one witness, a WPPSS employee who was the liaison with 88 public utility districts.

Those districts had contracted with WPPSS to build two Washington state nuclear power plants. The plants were abandoned unfinished in 1982, and in 1983 WPPSS defaulted on the bonds they sold to finance the project.

A class of more than 24,000 bond investors and Chemical Bank of New York, a bondholder trustee, sued more than 100 agencies, consultants and individuals. They charged that the defendants conspired to lie to prospective bond buyers.