Tort Law – NWSidebar

by NWSidebar

Court of Appeals Rules on Law Firm Trade Secrets Claim

Over the past generation, lawyers have increasingly moved from firm to firm in private practice. Most moves occur with relatively little drama and, when there are issues over points like notice to clients, WSBA Advisory Opinion 201801 (2018) and ABA Formal Opinion 99-414 (1999) offer practical guidance to law firms and departing lawyers on their obligations under the professional rules.
The Washington Court of Appeals, however, recently issued a relatively rare decision involving a trade secrets claim by a law firm against a departing lawyer. Hudson v. Ardent Law Group, PLLC, 2023 WL 2859334 (Wn. App. Apr. 10, 2023) (unpublished), involved a law firm that had a very focused practice representing clients in real estate timeshare disputes. The firm had developed tailored forms and collected a large amount of electronic data for use in handling client work. While still employed by the firm, a lawyer secretly copied the firm’s entire client database. The lawyer then left the firm to start a competitor and used the information in an effort to recruit the firm’s clients.

by NWSidebar

How Legal Name Changes Affect the Patent Application Process

There are many reasons why an inventor might undergo a legal name change, whether as part of a marriage or divorce, as part of a gender transition, or out of a desire for a name that better reflects the inventor’s sense of self. Even though name changes are handed through state-level legal procedures, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has specific rules about using legal names that can result in costly delays or even an abandoned or invalidated patent if not followed. With the patent application process often taking several years, consistency of inventor naming and compliance with state-level rules about legal names is important to avoid issues down the road.

by NWSidebar

Tracy Chapman v. Nicki Minaj: Commercial Purposes Can be Fair Use, but Minaj May be ‘Sorry’

Tracy Chapman recently sued Nicki Minaj for copyright infringement, after Minaj sampled part of a Chapman song. Minaj won a partial summary judgement motion on fair use grounds. A win for Nicki Minaj? Not so fast…

by NWSidebar

How to Manage a Personal Injury Claim and Bankruptcy

A personal injury claim may or may not be protected if you file for bankruptcy and will depend on several factors discussed below. Often, consumers thinking about filing for bankruptcy have suffered some sort of personal injury or have been involved in an accident. This could be due to a loss of wages or the accumulation of various medical debts.

by NWSidebar

Fine Print: Federal District Court Distinguishes Disciplinary and Malpractice Defense in Coverage Decision

Professional liability policies for lawyers and law firms often distinguish between disciplinary and malpractice defense. Some don’t cover disciplinary defense or, if they do, include a much lower coverage limit. A recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington underscored the practical impact of the distinction between disciplinary and malpractice coverage.

by NWSidebar

Alaska Bar Opines on Representing Parties and Witnesses in the Same Case

Should you represent a witness in the same case in which you are representing a party? Mark Fucile examines Alaska Bar Association’s opinion.

by NWSidebar

A Chat With Foodborne Illness Injury Lawyer Bill Marler

In the June issue of NWLawyer, we spoke with attorney Bill Marler, widely recognized as an expert in plaintiffs’ litigation for foodborne illness injuries and, perhaps most famously, the attorney who represented children injured during the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak.

by NWSidebar

Dispute Resolution in Washington and the Women Behind It — From the Nordic Bronze Age to the 2019 NW Dispute Resolution Conference

The origins of mediation and arbitration can be traced back as far as 1800 B.C. to the Mari Kingdom in Syria as a way to resolve disputes with other kingdoms, according to A History of ADR, published by the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR). In the book “Malinche, Pocahontas, and Sacagawea: Indian Women as Cultural […]

by NWSidebar

From Printed Page to Silver Screen: A Legal Primer on Taking Comics to Hollywood in 2019

It’s no secret that comic books supply much of the underlying source material for today’s most popular movies and television programs. In 2018, superhero movies dominated the box office with Black Panther alone bringing in $200 million in its opening weekend and wrapping up the year with a gross of $1.35 billion worldwide. While movies […]

by NWSidebar

New WSBA Advisory Opinion on ‘Quadripartite’ Relationships

The WSBA Committee on Professional Ethics recently released advisory opinion No. 201802 addressing “quadripartite” relationships. “Tripartite” relationships among an insurer, the insured, and defense counsel have been delineated extensively in both court decisions and advisory opinions. “Quadripartite” relationships, by contrast, are a fairly new development and remain comparatively unplumbed. The term generally describes situations where […]

by NWSidebar

Why I Keep Coming Back to WSBA’s Trial Advocacy Program

Patent cases don’t often end up in trial. Despite that fact, as a patent litigator approaching my ninth year in practice, I have always enjoyed the thrill of being in court. Arguing in front of a jury has been one of the best parts of my job, even if it doesn’t happen all that often. […]

by NWSidebar

What You Should Know about Childhood Injury Cases

There is nothing more heartrending than seeing a child injured, and for the parents it can be devastating. This is why prevention concerns all of us. Millions of children suffer some kind of injury requiring medical treatment every year in the U.S. According to Child Trends, there were more than 9 million unintentional injuries in […]

by NWSidebar

Court of Appeals Interprets ‘Proceeds’ Attached by Attorney Lien in Dissolution Case

Division I of the Washington Court of Appeals recently interpreted the term “proceeds” to which an attorney lien attached in a dissolution case. Matter of Marriage of Shulikov, 2017 WL 3476783 (Wn. App. Aug. 14, 2017) (unpublished), involved a dissolution case that had settled in trial court. The resolution involved payments of maintenance and child […]

by NWSidebar

7 Tips to Negotiate Effectively

In law, negotiations between parties can end in a win-win for both sides or they can break down and leave your client further from their objective. It’s a delicate dance that requires a clear understanding or your client’s needs and desires as well as those of the opposing party. Here are seven tips for negotiating […]

by NWSidebar

Court of Appeals Rules on Authority of Insurance Defense Counsel

Division II of the Court of Appeals recently addressed the authority of insurance defense counsel in an unusual scenario: where defense counsel had no contact with the insured throughout the course of the litigation involved. Kruger-Willis v. Hoffenburg, 198 Wn. App. 408, 393 P.3d 844 (2017), arose out of an automobile accident. The defendant drove […]

by NWSidebar

Mental Health Professionals Now Subject to Expanding Tort Liability

A recent Supreme Court ruling extends psychiatrists’ duty to people harmed by their client even if the client never mentioned a threat. The Washington Supreme Court recently extended the potential duty a psychiatrist owes to people harmed by their outpatient clients. In Volk v. DeMeerleer, 187 Wn.2d 241, 386 P.3d 254 (2016), the Court extended […]