Washington

As exposed health care workers seek legal remedies, who’s liable for lack of personal protective equipment?

Doctors and nurses across the country are asking about legal remedies they may have because of exposure to COVID-19 and a lack of personal protective equipment, or PPE. Invariably, their main concern is the dangers to which they’re being exposed.

Apr 2, 2020 11:35 AM CDT

BigLaw firm asks all employees to work remotely following death of legal assistant with flu-like symptoms

Updated: A Davis Wright Tremaine staff member, who worked out of the firm’s office in Bellevue, Washington, was found dead Thursday after she’d left work Tuesday morning, experiencing flu-like symptoms.

Mar 13, 2020 1:37 PM CDT

SCOTUS and other courts are restricting visitors or canceling proceedings amid coronavirus concerns

Some federal courts are changing or suspending some operations as a result of concerns about the coronavirus. The U.S. Supreme Court is among them.

Mar 12, 2020 12:15 PM CDT

Afternoon Briefs: Law firm agrees to solicitation settlement; judge is accused of funds theft

Law firm to pay nearly $1M to drivers it solicited from crash reports Utah-based law firm Craig Swapp & Associates will pay nearly $1 million to thousands of Washington drivers it solicited as clients after buying crash reports from the state police. A federal judge in Washington gave preliminary approval…

Jan 31, 2020 3:23 PM CST

SCOTUS adds cases on wayward presidential electors, contraceptive coverage exemptions

The U.S. Supreme Court added two high-profile cases on Friday to its docket concerning faithless presidential electors and expanded exemptions to mandated contraceptive coverage.

Jan 17, 2020 4:17 PM CST

Longtime prosecutor is fired after judge finds him in contempt for alleged disrespect

A longtime deputy prosecutor in Spokane County, Washington, has been fired after a judge held him in contempt for an alleged argumentative tone and disrespectful attitude in an evidence dispute.

Oct 25, 2019 3:25 PM CDT

Afternoon Briefs: Decisions by nonlawyer judge challenged; abortion law enjoined

Tort claims seek to vacate decisions of judge without a law license Tort claims filed last week against the Washington state towns of Airway Heights and Cheney claim that defendants’ constitutional rights are being violated when their cases are heard by a shared court commissioner without a law license. The…

Oct 15, 2019 5:12 PM CDT

Judges can’t use taxpayer funds to sue clerk in paper-files dispute, state supreme court rules

Superior court judges in Franklin County, Washington, can’t use taxpayer funds to pay a specially appointed prosecutor to pursue a civil suit against the county clerk, the Washington Supreme Court has ruled.

Aug 9, 2019 4:44 PM CDT

In-House Ethics: Top state court says ethics rules haven’t ‘evolved with the profession’ and lawyer-client relationships

A fired in-house lawyer may sue his former employer for breach of contract and violation of public policy, despite an ethics rule that “robustly protects” a client’s right to terminate a lawyer at any time, for any reason, the Washington Supreme Court has ruled in a 6-3 decision.

Jul 25, 2019 3:31 PM CDT

9th Circuit rules against bikini baristas, rejects their First Amendment empowerment argument

A federal appeals court has ruled against bikini baristas who challenged ordinances in Everett, Washington, that required them to cover up.

Jul 8, 2019 11:32 AM CDT

Federal judge blocks policy ending bond hearings for asylum-seekers

Updated: A ruling by a federal judge has blocked the enforcement of a new policy that would require immigrants awaiting asylum determinations to be detained during their review. Judge Marsha Pechman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington said in her opinion, filed Tuesday, that immigration…

Jul 3, 2019 11:21 AM CDT

Police who stopped fleeing black man after gun tip didn’t have reason to stop him, 9th Circuit says

Police who received a tip of a black man with a gun in a concealed-carry state did not have reasonable suspicion to stop a black man who ran from their patrol car with flashing lights, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Jun 11, 2019 6:30 AM CDT

Florist can’t refuse to provide flowers for same-sex wedding, state supreme court rules again

The Washington Supreme Court has ruled again against a Christian florist who refused to provide flowers for a same-sex couple’s wedding on the grounds that it would violate her religion.

Jun 7, 2019 10:55 AM CDT

Facing shortage of lawyers in some areas, this state is considering licensing legal technicians

The New Mexico Supreme Court has appointed a work group to consider whether the state should allow licensed legal technicians to provide civil legal services. The court has asked the group to submit a report by January 2020, according to a May 21 press release. Courthouse News Service and the…

May 28, 2019 7:00 AM CDT

Lawyer disbarred for abandoning clients after moving across the country to ‘play jazz’

A New Jersey lawyer has been disbarred for dropping work on two bankruptcy cases, vanishing from New Jersey and keeping retainers of $1,500 and $1,410. One of the clients learned that lawyer James Peter Byrne had moved through the lawyer’s Facebook page, according to a report by the New Jersey…

May 2, 2019 1:52 PM CDT