Washington

Urging Others to Be Wary of ATM Skimming, US Attorney Says She Was a Victim Herself

Law enforcement agencies are working to try to cut down on prolific internet fraud, including the so-called computerized and photographic skimming of bank customers’ account information as they use their cards at automated teller machines and key in personal identification numbers. One sign that authorities aren’t yet on top of…

Sep 20, 2011 9:06 PM CDT

Where’s Mastro? Big Bankruptcy Client’s Disappearance Leaves Lawyers Unpaid

Ordered to turn over two diamond rings worth an estimated $1.4 million to a Seattle bankruptcy court, an elderly real estate developer and his wife disappeared over the summer from their home in Palm Desert, Calif. That left Bucknell Stehlik Sato & Stubner, the law firm representing Michael Mastro, 87,…

Sep 13, 2011 10:08 PM CDT

Woman’s $1M Lottery Win Will Also Benefit Court-Appointed Defender in Her Criminal Case

Asked by a court employee about her job and living situation, a 28-year-old woman facing a Washington state methamphetamine possession charge truthfully replied that she is unemployed and resides with her mom in Vancouver. No one asked her about any money she might have stashed away. But because Megan Gatlin…

Sep 6, 2011 6:10 PM CDT

Judge Says Court Workers Are ‘Scared to Death’ After Gun Is Fired in Scuffle

At least one shot was fired Thursday when a courtroom security guard in Union Gap, Wash., scuffled with a shoplifting defendant who tried to escape. The incident began when the defendant, Michael Garza, learned he was being taken into custody, the Yakima Herald-Republic reports. The security guard intervened when Garza…

Sep 2, 2011 11:54 AM CDT

Sedgwick Opens New DC Office with 14-Attorney Team From Wallace Partners

After opening a Seattle office last month, Sedgwick has now announced a new office in the nation’s capital. It will be staffed by a 14-attorney team from Wallace Partners, led by the firm’s managing partner, Rick Wallace, says a press release. Wallace specializes in the defense of products liability cases…

Aug 12, 2011 12:34 AM CDT

Judge Stays Own Ruling, Nixes Search Warrant Sought by Lampooned Wash. City to ID ‘MrFuddlesticks’

A Washington judge has temporarily stayed his own ruling granting a search warrant sought by the Renton city prosecutor after a lawyer for an unidentified videographer known as “MrFuddlesticks” provided more information. His client has done nothing criminal in creating online videos that apparently lampoon local police, and should not…

Aug 10, 2011 9:51 PM CDT

6-Partner IP Team Leaps from Black Lowe to Foster Pepper in Seattle

Led by law firm co-founder Richard Black, six partners have exited Seattle intellectual property boutique Black Lowe & Graham for one of the state’s largest business law firms, Foster Pepper. Left with 11 lawyers and agents, their former firm has changed its name to Lowe Graham Jones and is looking…

Aug 9, 2011 11:18 AM CDT

$10M Federal Wrongful Death Claim Over Hiker Gored By Mountain Goat in National Park

The survivors and estate of a hiker who bled to death soon after being gored by a monster 370-pound mountain goat in Olympic National Park last year are pursuing a $10 million wrongful death claim in federal court in Tacoma, Wash. They say park rangers should have acted more swiftly…

Aug 8, 2011 8:27 PM CDT

Attorney Is Disbarred After Conviction for Stealing a Vacuum Cleaner

A longtime Washington state lawyer has been disbarred after failing to defend a disciplinary hearing that resulted from his theft of a vacuum cleaner from a department store. Paul Ryals was admitted in 1988. He was convicted of second-degree theft in a Snohomish County bench trial earlier this year, reports…

Aug 3, 2011 10:15 PM CDT

FBI: Skyjacker May Have Survived ‘71 Parachute Jump With $200K, Died of Natural Causes Decades Later

A hijacker who parachuted from a Boeing 727 over the Pacific Northwest with a $200,000 ransom in 1971 and has never been found despite one of the most extensive manhunts of the 20th century may have survived the dangerous night leap into rugged territory. Agent Fred Gutt of the Federal…

Aug 2, 2011 12:28 AM CDT

Mom Loses Custody Battle with Ex, Who Is Married to a Child Killer

An Oregon woman is appealing a child custody decision that allows a child killer to help raise her two sons. Trisha Conlon of Silverton, Ore., fought to keep the boys out of her ex-husband’s home after a private investigator confirmed he was living with Kristine Cushing on Vashon Island, Wash.,…

Aug 1, 2011 2:14 PM CDT

Former Washington Post Reporter Loses Driver’s License After Revealing His Undocumented Status

After reading in the New York Times last month that a former reporter at the Washington Post had obtained a Washington state driver’s license despite his undocumented immigration status, state officials investigated. When a letter sent last month to the address he had provided on his application was returned unopened,…

Jul 21, 2011 11:12 PM CDT

Rape Defendant Allowed to Watch Child Sex Tapes in Jail

A Washington state man accused of taping his sexual assaults of boys is allowed to watch the videos he made from jail. A judge granted the defendant, Marc Gilbert, access to the tapes found in a police search of his home because he is acting as his own lawyer, report…

Jul 14, 2011 12:03 PM CDT

Class Action Says Too-High Public Defender Caseload in Muni Court Denies Right to Counsel

Three inmates have filed a class action suit against two cities in Washington state, contending that excessive public defender caseloads in municipal court have deprived them and other defendants of their constitutional right to counsel. The Skagit County Superior Court suit, which was filed by Toby Marshall of Terrell Marshall…

Jun 21, 2011 10:30 PM CDT

Suspended LA Lawyer Gets 32 Months, Must Repay $41M, in Quellos Tax-Shelter Scheme

A suspended Los Angeles lawyer has been sentenced to 32 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release for participating, along with the CEO and an attorney-principal of Quellos Group in a tax-shelter scheme involving wealthy investors. Sentenced Friday by a federal district court judge in western…

Jun 13, 2011 7:27 PM CDT