Docket No. 77753-5 (from Court of Appeals Division I Case No. 53214-6)  Facts:  Petitioner Gaylon Thiefault was convicted of attempted second degree rape in the Superior Court for Snohomish County.  As Thiefault had three prior convictions, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole pursuant to Washington’s Persistent Offender Accountability Act (Washington Revised Code §9.94A).  Thiefault appealed his sentence, asserting that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel when his attorney failed to object to the comparability of a previous conviction in Montana to a Washington “strike” offense.  The Washington Court of Appeals affirmed Thiefault’s sentence. Continue reading →

Docket No. 77615-6 (from Court of Appeals Division I Case No. 53027-5)  Facts:  Petitioners Randal Chenoweth and Barbara Wood motioned for the suppression of evidence used in their prosecution of unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine. Specifically, they argued the evidence of the crimes found on the property was obtained by a search warrant issued on the basis of uncorroborated information provided by a named informant. Continue reading →

Docket No. 77690-3 (from Court of Appeals Division II Case No. 30434-1)  Synopsis: Has Tobacco Sales proven the Department of Revenue’s measure of the excise tax on some of its 1992 tobacco products was incorrect and has it proven the correct measure of the tax? Continue reading →

Docket No. 77689-0 (from Court of Appeals Division III Case No. 23289-1)  Facts:

Petitioner attorney David L. Tingey sought to recover unpaid attorney fees from respondent client Lloyd Haisch by filing action in Grant County Superior Court, more than three years after the last day Tingey performed legal services for Haisch. Tingey performed legal services for Haisch on an hourly fee basis without a written fee agreement. Continue reading →

Docket No. 200,315-0 (from WSBA Case No. 19879)  Facts:  Petitioner Margita A. Dornay was charged for intentionally giving false testimony as a witness in a judicial proceeding by the Washington State Bar Association’s Disciplinary Board. Dornay admitted giving false testimony during a later hearing and in her deposition to the Washington State Bar Association. Continue reading →

Docket No. 77885-0 (from Court of Appeals Division II Case No. 23776-1)  Facts:  Petitioner Mickey Brown was convicted of first degree burglary while armed with a deadly weapon and intimidating a witness after burglarizing a home and warning his roommate not to provide information to the police regarding the burglary.  Brown appealed his conviction for intimidating a witness and his deadly weapon enhancement, asserting that the threat he made to his roommate did not constitute an attempt to influence their testimony and that the fact that the victim found that their rifle had been moved from a closet to a bed is insufficient to establish he was armed with a deadly weapon during the burglary.  The Washington Court of Appeals affirmed Brown’s convictions. Continue reading →

Docket No. 78421-3 (from US District Case No. CV05-1047)  Facts: Ramona Danny was fired from her job as scheduling manager with Laidlaw Transit Services, Inc. after taking leave from work to assist in the prosecution of her husband for domestic violence and move her children to a shelter. Continue reading →

Docket No. 302-8 (from WSBA Case No. 15830)  Facts:  The respondent Washington State Bar Association’s disciplinary board recommended that petitioner Bradley Marshall be disbarred after finding that Marshall violated several rules of professional conduct in the course of his representation of a group of longshoremen bringing racial discrimination claims against their unions.  In particular, the disciplinary board found that Marshall improperly shared his fees with a non-lawyer, subsequently attempted to conceal the fee-sharing arrangement, inflated his costs, failed to provide proper accounting to his clients, failed to properly advise his clients of the risks of multiple representation, and filed an appeal without their authorization.  Marshall appealed the disciplinary board’s findings and sanction to the Supreme Court of Washington, asserting that he had acted negligently rather than knowingly, that he was not given adequate notice of the charges against him or the possible sanctions involved, and that the sanction imposed is disproportionate to the violations committed. Continue reading →

Docket No. 78866-9 (from King Case No. 03-2-33533-9)  Facts: Following the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement that governed the terms and conditions of employment for employees of the respondent Port of Seattle, the Port of Seattle ceased making the payments to the International Longshore and Warehouse Local 9 Warehouse Welfare Trust Fund that funded healthcare and welfare benefits for retired Port of Seattle employees. Continue reading →

Docket No. 77708-0 (from Court of Appeals Division II Case No. 31775-3)  Synopsis: Under the federal Truth in Lending Act loans for personal, family, and household purposes are subject to disclosure requirements; those primarily for business, commercial, or agricultural purposes are exempt. Continue reading →