A Seattle judge has fined two lawyers $32,000 for failing to tell opposing counsel that the county risk manager never approved a proposed $250,000 settlement, even as deal language was being negotiated.
Judge Beth Andrus of King County imposed the sanction last Wednesday on lawyers Richard Jolley and Stewart Estes, the Tacoma News Tribune reports. Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist had hired the two lawyers to defend a false arrest lawsuit filed by Lynn Dalsing of Longbranch.
A mediator had suggested the $250,000 figure. Testimony differed over whether Jolley asked Dalsing’s lawyer whether he would accept that amount, though the judge found the version of events by Dalsing’s lawyer more credible.
