Across the nation, insurers have had surprising success “policing the police,” ending risky behavior, ousting chiefs, even closing troubled departments. By Kit Ramgopal and Brenda Breslauer for NBC NEWS The city of Niota, Tennessee, population 700, has a police department with just three officers. So when two of them wound up in court in 2011 accused of beating up a … Read More
An Interview with Jack Connelly
May 2020 | Originally published on Post-Prison Education Program Attorney John R. (Jack) Connelly believes in fighting for the individual above all. In being a voice for the voiceless. He’s consistently been named one of the top lawyers in Washington State, where he’s practiced for 28 years, always for the plaintiff. At Connelly Law where he currently practices, he has … Read More
Seattle police officer assigned to clean up homeless camps files $10 million claim, alleges polluted site made him sick
By Lewis Kamb | Originally published in Seattle Times A Seattle police officer filed a $10 million claim against the city on Wednesday, alleging it negligently exposed him to “an extremely dangerous man-made toxin” by assigning him and dozens of other city workers to clean up a homeless encampment in the Sodo neighborhood this year. Officer Timothy Gifford, a … Read More
Puyallup SD pays $1.6 million to settle two claims of sexual misconduct by PE teacher
By Amy Clancy | Originally published in Kiro 7 PUYALLUP, Wash. – A former Kalles Junior High School student told KIRO 7 recently that physical education teacher Tim Paulsen began grooming him when he was in seventh grade. “It would start with his hand on my thigh when he was driving,” the now-grown man said about his time as … Read More
Man shot by Tacoma cop can pursue damages against city, a split state Supreme Court rules
By Alexis Krell | Originally published in the News Tribune, June 2019 A mentally ill man who was shot by a Tacoma police officer can proceed with his claim that the officer’s actions were negligent, the Washington State Supreme Court said in a 5-4 decision Thursday. Cesar Beltran-Serrano and his family sued the department after the June 29, 2013 … Read More
It Needs To be Done: Representing a Refugee
By Attorney Matthew Wurdeman | Originally published in Trial News, March 2019 As children were separated from their parents and put in cages this past May, I felt compelled to do something, anything. I had long been planning to get involved with pro bono immigration work, but there was always a reason why “now wasn’t the right time”—travelling for … Read More
$3M awarded to children molested by ‘psychopath’ foster child placed by state with Island County family
By Mike Carter | The Seattle Times The settlement comes in a lawsuit that alleged the state withheld the extent of a 12-year-old foster child’s violent behavior, including a diagnosis of psychosis, from the family who adopted him. The boy molested three children in the home. A federal judge has approved a $3 million settlement for three children who were … Read More