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428 stories matching plaintiff
- The Lease a Husband Had No Right to Sign
A Tacoma mercantile firm stopped paying $500-a-month rent, arguing the leased property was community property and the wives had never signed. Washington’s Supreme Court said the lease was not absolutely void—but the tenants had rights too.
- Judge Hanford Draws the Line: Sheep Can't Graze on Railroad Land Without Consent
A federal court ruling in Yakima County upholds the Northern Pacific Railway's right to protect its unenclosed lands from sheep, setting a precedent for property rights and land use in the West.
- Her Wages Bought the House at Fourth and Plum. The Sheriff’s Deed Was Canceled.
Elizabeth Burkett turned a $700 gift into a hotel and a home. When a Pierce County judgment against her husband threatened it, a Thurston County judge traced the property back to her own labor.
- The Divorce That Split Seattle Real Estate
A Seattle judge grants Mrs. Steel her divorce, hands her the city property, and leaves her mining-magnate husband the Montana claims—while calling her 'indiscreet' but not adulterous.
- The Train That Didn't Whistle
A Seattle teamster loses a leg at a blind railroad crossing, and the Washington Supreme Court weighs whether his failure to stop and listen bars his claim against the Northern Pacific.
- The Wharf King’s Victory: Yesler Wins Millions in Land Battle
Judge Lichtenberg rules that the state cannot seize waterfront property without paying just compensation, halting the Harbor Line Commission and protecting H.L. Yesler’s empire.
- The Secret Courthouse Bond Deal Benton County Tried to Ram Through
Commissioners Clements and McNeill authorized $125,000 in bonds for a Prosser courthouse after a closed-door plan their own lawyer admitted was designed to keep taxpayers in the dark. A Kennewick lawsuit put the deal before Judge Grady.
- The Trimmer Saw's Heavy Toll
A sawmill accident on the waterfront leads to a high-stakes court battle over worker safety and corporate negligence.
- The Ground Under Rainier Addition: A Seven-Year Title Fight Ends—for Now
After three trials and repeated reversals, Henry S. Alger is declared owner of a tract already platted into lots and improved by buyers who trusted the Hill title.
- A Wife's Testimony Was Enough: Supreme Court Reverses Divorce Denial
The Washington Supreme Court ruled that a wife's own account of cruelty and habitual drunkenness could justify a divorce, reversing a lower court that had dismissed Nellie Lee's case.
- The Mules That Weren't
A local land deal sours when a man discovers his new livestock are not quite as advertised.
- The Great Redmond Trout Betrayal
A friendly fishing wager among gentlemen turns into a formal, litigious scandal in Justice Miller's court.
- The Price of a Scandal in 1877 Seattle
A public notice in the territorial court reveals the harsh, legal reality of a divorce filing on the grounds of 'frequent adultery' in late-19th-century Seattle.
- The Price of Separation in 1878
A legal summons published in the Puget Sound Dispatch highlights the harsh reality of divorce proceedings in territorial Seattle.
- She Asked the Court for Her Maiden Name Back
Alma C. Van Epps filed for divorce and alimony in Olympia, alleging assault and cruelty and asking the court to restore her name and divide the property.
- A Frontier Debt Still Owed
A legal dispute over unpaid wages from 1878 illuminates the precarious nature of labor and contract in early Snohomish.
- The Hungry Democrats of Adams County
A local lawyer files a mock legal complaint humorously detailing the political squabbling over patronage and power in late 19th-century Washington.
- The Price of Matrimony in Territorial Seattle
A public court summons from 1877 highlights the rigid legal and social standards for marriage and family in the Washington Territory.
- Divorce and Duty in 1877 Seattle
A legal notice exposes the harsh realities of matrimonial dissolution and property disputes in late 19th-century Washington Territory.
- The Divorce Decree: A Seattle Woman’s Fight for Freedom from Willful Abandonment
In July 1876, Eliza Carakaden was served with a summons in King County District Court, marking one of the earliest recorded legal battles for divorce in the young settlement of Seattle.
- The Bank vs. The Smiths: A Benton County Foreclosure Drama
A summons filed in the Superior Court reveals a $200 debt dispute between the Bank of Kennewick and local residents F.B. and Belle Smith, highlighting the precarious financial ties between early agricultural settlers and regional lenders.
- The Divorce of a Pioneer: A Legal Battle in King County
In the early days of Seattle, legal proceedings were public record. This summons reveals the gritty reality of marriage dissolution in 1876, where 'abandonment' was a grounds for divorce and the courts were one of the few places to settle domestic disputes.
- The Brutal Departure from Commercial Street
After years of enduring her husband's violence and the destruction of her home, a Seattle woman seeks a divorce to save her young daughter.
- The Diamond Palace Jeweler Who Vanished With the Stock
Simon Rumpf’s 'Diamond Palace' is placed in receivership after creditors allege he conspired to transfer his stock and then disappeared.
- A Homesteader, an Indian Agent and the Land at Lake Chelan
When a federal agent prepared to forcibly remove a homesteader from land newly allotted to Colville Indians, Judge Hanford drew a line: the eviction would have to go through the courts.
Also about this, in other words
- The Perjured Plaintiff
A lumber mill worker's $30,000 lawsuit collapses after he is caught lying under oath about the origin of his injuries.
- A Wife’s Legal Stand for Property Rights
When a sheriff attempted to seize a woman's water-rights machinery to satisfy her husband's debt, she fought back in court.
- A Lawyer Stood Up in Court and Accused the Jury of Being in the Company's Pocket
In a $25,000 Seattle injury suit, attorney James Hamilton Lewis turned his closing argument into a public warning about corporate influence—and left the courtroom seething.
- The Judge Who Stood Up to the Injunction
A local Everett judge delivers a fiery defense of the right to strike and critique of the 'injunction' as a tool against labor organization.
- A Fist Shaken in Open Court
A reputation suit turns personal when a witness calls the defense attorney a liar — then threatens him on his way off the stand.
- A Davenport Damage Suit
A Black woman files a high-stakes civil suit against a prominent town citizen for an alleged assault occurring eighteen months prior.
- The Debt of the Pioneer
A legal summons from 1883 reveals the precarious nature of early settlement, as Thomas French sues Luther L. Thomas over an unpaid debt for 'board and lodging'.
- A Drunken Man, a Barren Tract and a Race to Freeze the Money
A Tacoma guardian says Frank and Mamie Aylwin plied George Ward with liquor and sold him nearly worthless land; a judge orders the proceeds held.