After waiting many years to be summoned, I have now twice been picked as a Juror for cases in the King County Superior Court. Where does the trial by jury originate? The US Constitution provides for a trial by jury in the Sixth Amendment (criminal cases) and Seventh Amendment (civil cases). Similarly, the Washington State […]
Archives for 2016
Multimillionaire Founder of Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Costly Divorce
Richard Stephenson, the founder of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, is currently involved in an extremely high-stakes divorce trial with his ex-wife Alicia Stephenson. Alicia is asking for $400,000 per month net (after tax) from Richard, and Richard acknowledges that he has the ability to pay that much. Alicia’s attorneys have gone to great lengths […]
New WA Law Brings Important Changes in Digital Information Access
An important new law went into effect in Washington State, which deals with increasing fiduciary access to “digital assets.” Who is a fiduciary and what are digital assets? In general, a fiduciary is any person or institution who has the power to act on your behalf in situations that require trust, honesty, and loyalty. These […]
Prince’s Estate Complicated by Lack of Will
According to the Associated Press, the superstar musician Prince died without having a Will in place. Although Prince’s net worth exceeded $300 million, his estate will be administered through needlessly complicated and expensive Minnesota statutes governing estates without a will, known as Intestate Succession. Unlike streamlined probates in Washington, intestate administration requires greater court oversight […]
Erin Andrews Receives $55 Million Award in Invasion of Privacy Case
The lawsuit arises out of an incident at the Marriott Hotel in Nashville, where Ms. Andrews was secretly filmed while undressing in 2008, during the time she worked for ESPN. The jury determined 51 percent fault on Michael David Barrett, the man who filmed Ms. Andrews, who also served 2.5 years in federal prison after pleading […]
Donald Sterling court case cements importance of planning for Incapacity
Sticking with the basketball theme of our last blog post, we now turn to the November 16, 2015 decision of the California appeals court that denied Donald Sterling’s bid to undo his wife’s actions as Trustee of his trust corporation in selling the Los Angeles Clippers to Mr. Ballmer. The court relied on the Trust […]
