The Court of Appeals of Washington reviewed a judgment in favor of the plaintiffs in a recent premises liability case, Gould v. N. Kitsap Bus. Park Mgmt., LLC (Wash. Ct. App. Jan. 19, 2016). In Gould, the plaintiff was injured when she tripped over an unpainted wheel stop in a…
Seattle Attorneys Blog
Circumstances When Litigation May Not Be The Best Route – Family Law
While it might be surprising to to read a law firm telling you about circumstances when you may not need an attorney or want to seek court action to respond to a difficulty in your life, it actually serves both the clients’ interests and an attorneys’ interests to consider when court…
Washington Supreme Court Finds No Alternative Means to Commit DUI Under Prior Statute
The Supreme Court of Washington issued a recent opinion in the case of State v. Sandholm (Wash. Dec. 3, 2015), interpreting the former version of the driving under the influence (DUI) statute, RCW 46.61.502, in order to determine the number of alternative means of committing an offense under the statute.…
Think You are Ready to File for Divorce? Issues to Consider
January is a busy time for family law attorneys. The stress of the holidays seems to make an already unhappy marriage even unhappier, and in January, people vow to never spend another holiday with their soon-to-be-former spouse. While we understand that this issue can feel very urgent, and sometimes it…
Reminder for Parents Planning to Relocate
Parents sharing a child’s residential time under a court order (like a residential schedule or parenting plan) should be aware of the requirements of the relocation provisions of RCW 26.09. That chapter of the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) requires that under certain circumstances a residential parent relocating the child must…
Washington Appeals Court Finds for Plaintiff, Reverses Summary Judgment in Car Accident Case
In a recently published decision, the Washington Court of Appeals reviewed a case involving a plaintiff’s personal injury claim and the effect of his failure to amend his Chapter 13 bankruptcy schedules to include the claim. In Arp v. Riley (Wash. Ct. App. Dec. 28, 2015), the superior court granted…
Alternative Family Structures and Family Law Issues
We spent a lot of time on this blog discussing Washington families dealing with marital dissolutions and life after a divorce, but what about families where the parents were never married and/or never intend to marry each other? How does Washington family law affect these families? This post discusses some…
Washington Court of Appeals Reviews Conviction of No-Contact Order Violation
The Washington Court of Appeals recently reviewed a defendant’s conviction for violating a no-contact order, evaluating whether evidence should have been suppressed. In State v. Burks (Wash. Ct. App. Nov. 3, 2015), the police officer conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle for speeding. The police officer obtained the driver’s information…
What Should I Wear to Court?
Many of our family law clients are dealing with their first court case of their lives. They are nervous and intimidated about what the court process will be like, what they should wear, how they will be expected to act, and what they should say. We hope with this article…
Washington Court Reviews Expert Testimony of Industry Custom in Premises Liability Case
The Washington Court of Appeals recently addressed the issue of whether a trial court properly admitted expert industry custom testimony in a premises liability case. In Ponce v. Mountaineers (Wash. Ct. App. Nov. 2, 2015), the plaintiff’s son died in a sledding accident at the defendant’s recreational facility. The family…