Washington

School Board Member Gives Up Adopted Kid

It isn’t just ordinary parents who sometimes find themselves unable to cope with the extreme demands placed on them by a troubled, potentially violent child. A member of the Pinellas County School Board, near St. Petersburg, Florida, told attendees at a recent state legislative committee hearing that she is going…

Oct 23, 2007 10:28 PM CDT

Panel: Convictions Disqualify Temp Judge

Unless it is over 10 years old, a criminal record disqualifies a lawyer from serving as a judge, even on a temporary basis, in Seattle. This decision by the King County District Court’s executive committee—as well as a new policy of conducting criminal background checks on all applicants for temporary…

Oct 17, 2007 7:33 PM CDT

WA, Not Parents to Fund Child Mental Care?

In a ruling that could help struggling families, the Washington Supreme Court says the state must help some children who need mental health services even if their parents aren’t unfit. Ordinarily, parents must care for their children unless they abuse or neglect them. But after “Henry’s” parents paid some $200,000…

Oct 12, 2007 11:17 PM CDT

WA Lawyers, Official v. Insurers in Ballot Battle

The state insurance commissioner is reportedly siding with tort lawyers in a hard-fought battle to persuade Washington state voters to approve a ballot measure that would greatly increase the damages for bad-faith failure to pay a claim. At present, no matter how egregious the insurer’s refusal to pay a legitimate…

Oct 10, 2007 10:48 PM CDT

Law Barring Political Lies Struck Down

The Washington Supreme Court has struck down a law that barred political candidates from saying false things about their opponents. The court struck down the law even though it barred only lies that were motivated by actual malice, the New York Times reports. The court said the law violated the…

Oct 8, 2007 5:59 PM CDT

Justices Debate Voter Confusion Over WA Primary Law

Both sides left the U.S. Supreme Court in an optimistic mood after oral arguments yesterday in a challenge to a Washington state law that curbs the influence of political parties. The law allows candidates in a primary to designate their own political party preference, Legal Times reports. The top two…

Oct 2, 2007 10:35 AM CDT

Life for 48 Murders, So Why Me?

The notorious Washington state killer who murdered 48 women didn’t get the death penalty. And Robert Yates Jr. didn’t, either, when he confessed in a Spokane County plea deal to murdering 13. But two of the killings about which he gave information wound up being prosecuted in a separate case…

Sep 27, 2007 6:25 PM CDT

Court to Parents: No Tough Love, No Cars

A lack of tough love has cost two Washington state parents their cars. Because they didn’t act quickly enough to snatch back their car keys from a son who apparently was using their vehicles to deal drugs, according to authorities, they were properly seized by the government under drug-forfeiture laws…

Sep 19, 2007 11:48 PM CDT

Fuss Over Firm’s $1.8 M ‘Pro Bono’ Fee

A major Seattle-based law firm’s effort to collect $1.8 million from taxpayers in a pro bono case has ignited a firestorm of controversy. As provided for by statute, Davis Wright Tremaine wants to collect for seven years of work for a prevailing plaintiff in a reverse-race-discrimination case that went to…

Sep 17, 2007 9:35 PM CDT

$350K Legal Bill in Closed-Meetings Case

A town in Washington state has racked up $340,000 in legal fees to defend litigation over allegedly illegal closed-door meetings of the municipal council. And that amount could rise by another $250,000 if the plaintiffs win their case against four current and former members of the Shoreline City Council, and…

Sep 13, 2007 9:15 PM CDT

Releasee’s Car Crash Costs City $1.8 M

A city in Washington state has agreed to pay $1.8 million to the widow of a man killed eight years ago in a hit-and-run accident. That’s because the driver should have been incarcerated, but was released prematurely from jail in an Algona drunken driving case, reports the Seattle Times. Tracy…

Sep 11, 2007 7:29 PM CDT

‘Pee-In’ Tests New WA Restroom Law

Dozens of attendees at a Seattle gender conference reportedly staged a “pee-in” recently to protest the eviction of two female-to-male transgender cohorts from a men’s restroom at a downtown shopping mall. The reported removal of the two, by mall security, after a male restroom patron complained apparently violates a year-old…

Sep 7, 2007 8:05 PM CDT

Bad Day for WA Judge: 2 Ethics Issues

When Judge Mark Chow made a quick—and, he admits, lewd—remark one day in January as he was presiding in King County District Court, he immediately realized he’d made a mistake. Although the 53-year-old jurist was responding to a man’s suggestion that he perform a sexual act, Chow’s response was inappropriate…

Aug 30, 2007 9:55 PM CDT

‘New’ Low-Tech Crime Tool: Trackers

In an age of increasingly high-tech criminal investigation techniques, some are finding that a low-tech traditional method is underused. Special trackers, whose skills are similar to those used for thousands of years by hunters but honed for criminal investigation, can see a great deal in crime scenes that reveal little…

Aug 29, 2007 7:03 PM CDT

Visa Squeeze Sparks Legal Creativity

A land rush on coveted visas permitting skilled foreigners to work in the U.S. legally is prompting alternative approaches by those who don’t win the lottery. Some denied the so-called H-1Bs—three-year visas for skilled workers with college degrees—are going back to school or applying for other types of visas. But…

Aug 27, 2007 8:28 PM CDT