October is the month to celebrate the harvest and embrace the beginning of the autumnal chill. Our shadows grow longer, and we are reminded it is also the month synonymous with ghouls, goblins, tricks and treats. Thanks to KCBA, there is no need to be spooked.

This month’s PBS Spotlight recognizes Shaun Baber for her work as a volunteer with the Neighborhood Legal Clinics (NLC). Shaun has been serving in important roles as a Clinic Assistant for the West Seattle General Clinic and as an intern with NLC’s Intake and Referral Line. It’s not common for volunteers to take on both volunteer roles, which speaks to Shaun’s commitment to helping clients access legal help.

Pity the appellate judge. The desire to do justice must give way to the incremental pace of our common law tradition, with its reliance on precedent, convention and procedural rules that limit the breadth and scope of appellate decisions. 

In Oltman v. Alaska, Division I affirmed Washington’s long-arm statute allows for minimum contacts through the acts of an agent.  This article explores the factual and legal analyses underpinning this compelling personal jurisdiction decision.  

Judge Lum invites you to tour the Court’s newest installation, the brainchild of Hon. Jeffrey Ramsdell that recognizes each and every judge who sat on the King County Superior Court bench.

Most personal injury mediations are not complicated by a defendant’s inability to pay what a plaintiff demands. Over the past two months, I have covered the basics for handling your first personal injury mediation when the availability of settlement funds was not a complicating issue. This month we address that complication.

Much has been written over the last few years about the rise of “nuclear verdicts.” Reasons range from the rise of the millennial majority in jury boxes to inflation and distrust in society’s institutions. There are many explanations, all of which have contributed to the inflationary trend in noneconomic awards, but one simple explanation is anchoring. Anchoring is a strategy typically deployed by plaintiffs’ attorneys where they ask for numbers well beyond what they believe the jury will award with the expectation that the net effect will be an amount larger than what the jury would have otherwise awarded absent the anchor. For example, if attorneys know the jurors are most likely to “split the baby,” a $30 million damages request will produce a larger award than a $20 million request.

Hi there, Upper East Siders, did you miss me?  Don’t look now but the Supreme Court’s notorious party justice is back in town.  Keeping track of shifting precedent and lavish gifts isn’t easy, but it’s what Gossip Clerk does best!  Get ready to clutch your pearls, this season promises to be the best yet.

Regarding the personal restraint of Ansell, Washington’s Supremes tackled the ambiguities of former RCW 9.94A.713(5) and the innuendoes of the Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board’s community custody conditions. 

The clerks and commissioners of our state’s appellate courts are responsible for much of the day-to-day operation of the court. Issues concerning, among others, perfection of the record, stays, extensions of time, overlength briefing, and the amount of cost and fee awards are handled by these “lower court” personnel in each of the three divisions of the Court of Appeals and in the state Supreme Court.