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Washington Supreme Court hears challenge over felony-bar and intoxication defenses in jail deaths
Summary
At oral argument in Anderson v. Grant County, counsel debated whether Washington's felony-bar and intoxication statutory defenses can fully bar damages claims when harm occurs in jails, and whether jails may assert comparative fault or are effectively barred by their custodial duties.
The Washington State Supreme Court on Feb. 13 heard argument in Anderson v. Grant County over whether state statutes that bar recovery for injuries connected to felonious conduct or intoxication apply when the conduct and injury occur inside jails — and whether a jail can ever assert comparative fault against an incarcerated person.
Petitioner counsel Shelby Lemel of Masters Law Group told the court that two statutory questions are at issue: "the statutory defenses and their application in a carceral context" and whether a jail or prison can assert comparative fault given the special relationship between custodial institutions and people they incarcerate. Lemel argued the legislature's adoption of the felony-bar statute and RCW 9.94 (which defines certain felonies in a carceral context) reflected a policy…
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