Photo Credit: dvande / Shutterstock.com Property owners may be liable for injuries that result from a dangerous condition on their property. The duty a property owner owes to a person on his or her property regarding a dangerous condition of the property often turns on the status of the injured…
Photo Credit: HubbardSteve / Shutterstock.com Washington criminal defense attorneys understand that people sometimes face drug charges because they were in a vehicle or a home where drugs were present. This can be particularly true of the owner or resident of the property where the drugs were found. Although a landlord…
Photo Credit: Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock.com When a parent does not exercise his or her visitation time, the child is obviously affected, but so is the other parent. In addition to any scheduling issues that may result, there are also financial effects on the other parent. A parent who completely stops…
Photo Credit: DedMityay / Shutterstock.com A defendant in a Washington personal injury case may try to limit damages by alleging the plaintiff failed to mitigate damages. A defendant seeking a failure to mitigate jury instruction must show that the plaintiff acted unreasonably in deciding on treatment when there were alternative…
Photo Credit: Lukatme / Shutterstock.com Violation of a Washington no-contact order is generally a gross misdemeanor. In some circumstances, however, it can be elevated to a class C felony if the violation includes an assault. Defense of property can be an affirmative defense to assault. The Washington Supreme Court has…
Photo Credit: Tiko Aramyan / Shutterstock.com When a court sentences a defendant to community custody in a Washington criminal case, there are some conditions the court must impose and others that the court may impose in the court’s discretion. These conditions are set forth in RCW 9.94A.703. Pursuant to the…
Photo Credit: Ruslan Grumble / Shutterstock.com In a Washington divorce, the court must characterize the assets as separate or community property. While categorizing some types of property are fairly straightforward, others can be more complicated. Employee stock options, for example, are characterized based on when they were acquired. The court…
Photo Credit: tonkid / Shutterstock.com An employer may be held vicariously liable for the negligence of its employees in a Washington automobile accident case when the employees are acting within the scope of their employment. An employee is acting within the scope of employment when engaged in the performance of…
Photo Credit: Paul Biryukov / Shutterstock.com A misdemeanor Washington DUI can be elevated to a felony under some circumstances, including a prior conviction for “[v]ehicular assault while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug.” To elevate a charge, the state must prove the existence of the conviction and…
Photo Credit: zimmytws / Shutterstock.com Courts have broad discretion in ordering postsecondary educational support in Washington family law cases. Washington law sets out a number of factors courts should consider, including the parent’s expectations for the child, the child’s aptitude, the nature of the education sought, and the parents’ level…