A Seattle police officer unlawfully stopped Mr. Wingate, a black man, and arrested him. The officer falsely claimed that Mr. Wingate had threatened her and that his walking stick was a weapon. Mr. Wingate, a septuagenarian, spent the night in jail before being forced to plead guilty to secure his release. The jury disagreed with…
In 2010, the Ninth Circuit established that DSHS social workers who fabricate evidence in child abuse investigations are not immune from lawsuits, but liable for civil rights violations. Costanich v. DSHS et. al., 627 F.3d 1101 (9th Cir. 2010).
In 2022, the Court established that litigants who are subjected to racism or bias in a legal proceeding are entitled to an evidentiary hearing in which the opposing party must prove its conduct was not an appeal to bias. Henderson v. Thompson, 518 P.3d 1011 (2022)
The adjuster in Mr. Keodalah’s case was untruthful and unfair in her dealing with him. He was forced to sue to gain access to his policy and then sued for the bad faith of the insurance adjuster. Our state Supreme Court held that insured’s can sue an insurance adjuster for bad faith. Keodalah v. Allstate…
Ms. Lock was hit by an uninsured motorist. American Family Insurance refused to communicate, refused to investigate and denied her benefits under her contract. Ms. Lock was forced to sue claiming American Family failed to act in good faith. The jury agreed, awarding her a substantial sum
Sedrick Altheimer was delivering papers in the same neighborhood he had worked in for five years, when Sheriff Troyer called 911 alleging that Sedrick had threatened his life. Altheimer had not threatened the Sheriff and the County settled the matter shortly after Troyer’s deposition.
Joshua Flores was an 18 year old experiencing a manic episode when he was confronted by Centralia PD. The officers on the scene knew Joshua as they had been to his home less than 12 hours earlier when he was having an episode. He was shot in the chest and left to die face down…
CJ Pellum was arrested and jailed after a woman falsely accused him of harassing her in a local supermarket. He was held in custody until his employer provided irrefutable proof that he was at his job and therefore unable to harass the complaining party. The City settled the claim.
