Other LanguagesContact:
PO Box 2317
Tacoma, WA 98401
E-mail
Overview
The Tacoma Division is comprised of 37 attorneys and 42 professional staff. The division is the “face of the AGO” in communities in Pierce and Kitsap counties. This division provides a wide variety of legal services for a number of different client agencies, including the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF); Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS); Department of Labor & Industries (L&I); Employment Security Department (ESD); and Department of Licensing (DOL). Employees in the Tacoma office also handle tort matters on behalf of various state agencies.
DCYF/DSHS
A large percentage of the work of the Tacoma Division involves juvenile litigation on behalf of the Department of Children, Youth and Families in Kitsap and Pierce counties. The Tacoma Division attorneys also handle, among other things, guardianship fee cases, income and medical assistance appeals, and Adult Family Home and Assisted Living Facility licensing cases.
L&I
Attorneys in the Tacoma Division defend orders issued by the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) before the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals and state courts that are appealed by injured workers who are seeking benefits or additional benefits or by aggrieved employers seeking to reverse agency decisions. To a lesser degree, they also defend L&I orders that assert worker fraud, as well as orders that are appealed by employers who challenge the amount assessed for their workers’ compensation premiums or penalties assessed for violations of WISHA standards. Attorneys also represent L&I before the Office of Administrative Hearings and state courts on contractor and electrical citations, wage and hour citations, prevailing wage citations, employment standards matters, and WISHA discrimination cases. They also provide client advice on these matters.
ESD
Tacoma Division attorneys represent the Employment Security Department in Superior Court appeals seeking review of claims in which unemployment benefits were denied to claimants or granted to claimants and the matter is appealed by the employer.
DOL
Attorneys represent the Department of Licensing by handling appeals in Superior Court where drivers whose license have been suspended or revoked challenge their breath test results or their refusal to take breath tests when suspected of driving while intoxicated.
TORTS
The Tacoma Torts section defends state agencies and employees in state and federal court lawsuits typically involving claims of personal injury, death or property damage allegedly caused by state employees. Additionally, the section defends the state and state agencies in claims brought by state employees alleging discrimination or harassment in the workplace.