As Tacoma, Washington DUI attorneys, we are always concerned with how our clients’ finances will be affected due to their criminal traffic cases. And we know that for some people, a small fine can quickly become a larger problem if you don’t have the proper means to pay it.

A recent Washington State Supreme Court decision will hopefully change that.

As it stands right now, legal financial obligations, such as fines in criminal cases, often accrue interest at the rate of 12% per year.  These fines are then turned over to collection companies; they tack on fees, further increasing the amount owed.

In a criminal traffic case, such as a DUI, these fines aren’t just turned over to a collection company by the court. They also get reported to the Department of Licensing, and now the collection company has the added leverage of driver license suspension hanging over a person’s head. Not exactly a fair bargaining position.

The wealthy don’t experience the full impact of our penal fine system. Rather, it is the indigent and financially marginal person whose discretionary fines end up in collections and their driving privileges suspended.

In DUI cases, there are statutory minimum fines that a court must impose. Some courts are more cognizant of financial concerns and have alternative methods of satisfying mandatory minimum fines, such as authorizing community service hours with a non-profit organization of a person’s choice. But not all of them are.

The Washington Supreme Court has recently taken a small step to correcting this by requiring courts to at least take into account the defendant’s ability to pay before imposing discretionary fines.

As a result of the Washington Supreme Court decision in State v. Blazina, et al, a sentencing court must now make an individualized inquiry into a defendant’s current and future ability to pay before imposing legal financial obligations.

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Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Speith and all of the top golfers in the world will be converging on Tacoma, WA along with thousands of golf fans for the United States Open Championship that is being held at Chambers Bay Golf Course from June 15 to June 21.

This prestigious major golf championship has never been held in the Northwest before. The only major golf championship ever hosted in the Northwest is modern times was the 1998 PGA Championship held at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, won by Vijay Singh. Singh is among 79 top golfers who are automatically qualified to compete in the United States Open this year. The U.S. Open is unique among the major professional golf tournaments in that theoretically, you or I could qualify, because there are qualifying tournaments around the country for just a few open spots, with nearly 10,000 golfers attempting to survive the qualifying tournaments to gain entry into the U.S. Open.

All hotel rooms in the Puget Sound region are being booked to capacity.

The U.S. Open Championship is like the Super Bowl of golf. Millions of television viewers around the world will be focused on the around the clock coverage of this event.

Chambers Bay Golf Course is located along the shores of Puget Sound in University Place in an otherwise quiet residential area. There are no traffic arterials immediately accessing the golf course and there will be no parking at the golf course. Shuttle buses will be providing transportation to event-goers from parking lots around the Washington State Fairgrounds in Puyallup and Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood.

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Are you suffering from Obsessive Coffee Disorder? Do your friends know that they shouldn’t talk to you before you’ve had your three cups of coffee? B Sharp Coffee House is one of our favorites morning stops. At B Sharp Coffee House, it’s common to come in for the coffee and stay for the fun atmosphere.

B Sharp Coffee House is located at 706 Opera Alley in downtown Tacoma, only two blocks from our Tacoma office.

Their coffee is locally roasted, sustainability harvested, and traded with a taste that reflects it. While their menu is filled with classic espresso, latte, and their regular coffee, what they’re really known for is their slow coffee. With slow coffee you get to sit down, kick up your feet, and taste the best flavor in your coffee. [Read more…]

We’ve all received the lectures from our parents, and maybe even our close friends; don’t text and drive. While in general we acknowledge this as reputable advice, it doesn’t stop us from reading the occasional “urgent” message at a red light, or answering a phone call manually because you’re sick of your car’s Bluetooth functionality.

It’s difficult to put ourselves in a situation where this would put us, or others, in danger because so far, you haven’t had any trouble. Being able to multitask, answering a text, changing the music, and navigate down a road shows you are a good driver, right?

In a recent article in Fox News, we read more about the psychology of distracted driving and how a no-tolerance policy on texting and driving might not actually be doing the trick. According to a recent survey, 90 percent of drivers acknowledge the dangers of texting and driving, but that doesn’t necessarily stop them from doing it. And almost three-fourths of survey responders disclosed that they’ve looked at their phones while operating a vehicle.

We’ve seen the #ItCanWait campaigns and watched the commercials; we know it is illegal. In Washington State, all drivers are prohibited from using handheld devices while operating a vehicle. But it is almost too easy to come up with excuses for using or looking at your phone while driving. We’ve all heard them (or used them). “My mom texted me.” “I got lost and needed to find directions.” “I couldn’t wait to respond.”

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