Letter from Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King, Jr. April 16, 1963
Civil rights actions under the federal civil rights statute, 42 U.S.C. 1983 are against governmental officials and agencies. Section 1983, the enabling statute originally passed in 1871 after the civil war, states as follows:
Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress . . .
Civil Rights actions which require litigation permit the attorney to recover attorney’s fees, which promote enforcement of an individual's civil rights.
Kahrs Law Firm has litigated false imprisonment cases against the Department of Corrections, resulting in settlements of $150,000 for individuals wrongfully kept past their release date.
Personal injury or tort law covers many damages caused by either intentional or negligent acts by persons or corporations. Our court system provides a means for past and future costs as a result of the negligent or intentional act to be recovered. It also provides a means to compensate the individual for their pain and suffering.
Kahrs Law Firm does not generally handle motor vehicle accidents but will consider all types of personal injury cases.
Individuals convicted of a crime in a court of the State of Washington are permitted to challenge their conviction after their appeal has been denied. This post conviction challenge must be timely filed in accordance with various state or federal statutes. In state court, individuals are permitted to file a writ of habeas corpus or a personal restraint petition. In federal court, individuals can be a writ of habeas corpus.
Post conviction relief is a complex but rewarding area of practice. It is an area of extreme specialization, especially in federal court. A new trial is generally the relief sought.
Kahrs Law Firm litigated a complex procedural issue in the Ninth Circuit, which resulted in an evidentiary hearing in federal district court on whether or not the state criminal defendant had received a fair trial.1 A four day hearing was held on whether or not trial counsel was ineffective. After the trial court first being denied a new trial, defendant was granted a new trial by the Ninth Circuit.2
1Sanders v. Ryder, 342 F.3d 991 (9th Cir. September 4, 2003)
2Sanders v. Ryder, Memorandum Decision (9th Cir. June 7, 2006)
Prison law is a multi-area practice including civil rights, administrative procedures and post-conviction relief, among others. Areas of concern to families and prisoners may include classification and transfer of, or medical services for the individual prisoner. It further includes challenges to sentence length, especially in the context of good and earned time.
In 1973, Washington citizens passed Initiative 276 in 1973 to provide a mechanism for oversight over their government. Known nationwide as a “sunshine law,” the Public Records Act (previously the Public Disclosure Act), provides the means for citizens to obtain documents from their government. The Act itself sets forth its guiding principals behind its purpose:
The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created.
The Public Disclosure Act provides penalties for those individuals who were unlawfully denied access to public records. It also permits the recover of attorney’s fees and costs of litigation to promote enforcement of a citizen’s right to his or her government’s records.
Since 2005, Kahrs Law Firm has obtained penalties and settlements valued over $200,000.
