All Topics

• Lawsuit Over Taser Use on Epileptic Settles for $90,000

  Jenny Albano | January 23, 2008 6:55 PM | 0 CommentsSeattle, WA

  A lawsuit for tasing and punching a man who had just had an epileptic seizure has been settled for $90,000. In addition, the settlement mentioned a new policy on Taser use in Lakewood in the $300,000 lawsuit brought against the municipality, the police department, Chief Larry Saunders and four other officers. According to Lt. David B. Guttu, the Taser policy changes listed in the settlement...

• Grates: The Bicyclist's Nemesis

  Ryan Nute | January 17, 2008 4:58 PM | 0 CommentsSeattle, WA

  Well, all right; bicyclists have multiple nemeses. But a recent front page article in the Seattle PI has brought attention to a problem many cyclists have been battling for years: unsafe street drains. Drains covered with grates that have slots parallel to the roadway are dangerous to cyclists as bicycle wheels can get caught - and stuck - in the slots. In 2004 one biker was biking through...

• Save Your Email Messages--Deleted Emails Must be Produced

  Michael Myers | January 15, 2008 5:15 PM | 0 CommentsSeattle, WA

  In a recent federal court case (Benton v. Dlorah, Inc., 2007 U.S. Dist. D. Kan, Oct. 30, 2007), the plaintiff testified at her deposition that she had deleted emails related to the case. The court ruled that deleting emails did not necessarily remove them from the plaintiff's possession. It reasoned that deleted emails should be retrievable from her computer system and thus remain within in...

• Jobsite Injuries--Don't Overlook the Third Party Claim

  Michael Myers | January 14, 2008 5:25 PM | 0 CommentsSeattle, WA

  You get hurt at work. You file a workers compensation claim. But that shouldn't be the end of the story. Workers compensations claims yield significantly less money for injured workers than third-party personal injury claims. A good example appeared in the paper recently. Rolondo Dudley, 32, suffered a compound fracture on his right leg during a construction accident this past Friday. Dudley...

• Recent Article Highlights Bicycle Safety Concerns

  Ryan Nute | January 07, 2008 11:36 AM | 0 CommentsSeattle, WA

  A recent article from King 5 notes that Seattle is considered one of the safest cities in the United State for cyclists. However, it is important to remember - as a cyclist or as a driver - that city roads still pose real dangers to those traveling on two wheels. Since 2001 1,800 cyclists have been injured and 6 cyclists have been killed on Seattle streets. That's about one accident every...

• New Year's Eve Crash in Seattle

  Ryan Nute | January 04, 2008 8:00 AM | 0 CommentsSeattle, WA

  On New Years Eve a car jumped a curb on Alakan Way, near Pier 30, went through a fence, across a parking lot and slammed into a cement barrier. The driver and passenger in the car were trapped for several hours inside their demolished car. Once firefighters arrived on the scene of car crash it took some time for them to be able to free the male driver and the female passenger. Both were taken...

• One Killed, Four Injured in Stevens Pass Ski Trip

  Ryan Nute | January 03, 2008 11:25 AM | 0 CommentsSeattle, WA

  Three teenagers, two boys and a girl, were returning from a ski trip to Stevens Pass when their vehicle crossed the centerline and hit a pickup truck head-on. One of the boys, 17, was killed. Four others were injured in the car accident, including both people in the pick-up truck. Police are not sure why the vehicle crossed the centerline. They do not believe alcohol, drugs or speed was a...

• New Law Banning Texting While Driving to Take Effect

  Ryan Nute | December 29, 2007 10:37 AM | 0 CommentsSeattle, WA

  Texting while driving officially becomes illegal on January 1, 2008. The law is a secondary violation, meaning that a police officer must first spot another violation (such as a person not wearing a seatbelt or speeding) before someone who is texting can be pulled over. This law and the law against cell phone use while driving (which will be enforced starting July 1, 2008) are attempts to...

• Model Ship Builders Reportedly Fleeced in Internet Commerce Scam

  Ryan Nute | December 26, 2007 9:18 AM | 0 CommentsSeattle, WA

  Dennis Ray Lunde, 60, of Poulsbo, Washington, has been charged with first-degree theft in an alleged Internet commerce scam.  The scam involved Lunde posing online as a Navy captain and selling model ship kits. Buyers of these kits would send money to Lunde but never received the kits.  Several buyers received an e-mail from Lunde's "wife," claiming that Lunde had suffered a heart attack, was...

• Open and Shut Case...Unlikely in Light of the Sudden Medical Emergency Defense

  Michael Myers | December 21, 2007 10:50 AM | 0 CommentsSeattle, WA

  I've written about it before. The defense bar never ceases to surprise. Affirmative defenses--legal tools to avoid taking responsibility--seem to be multiplying and mutating. The sudden medical emergency defense is an example. And it is frequently applied to situations like the really tragic one we blogged about here on December 17th. To recap, a jogger was hit and killed by a motorist last...