In late October 2022, in a narrow 5-4 decision, Washington’s Supreme Court struck another blow to general contractors—this time hitting them with a ruling holding that a one-year limitation period to file a lawsuit under a residential construction contract is “substantively unconscionable” and “void and unenforceable.”

The collaboration between an attorney and an investigator comes with challenges, particularly when it comes to communication between experts and non-experts.

In Henderson v. Thompson, 200 Wn.2d 417, 518 P.3d 1011 (2022), the Washington Supreme Court held that once a prima facie showing of racial bias has been made at a civil trial, the party claiming bias is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on a motion for new trial, where the burden of disproving racial bias falls on the party seeking to preserve the verdict. While the right to an impartial jury is critical to our justice system, the Court’s decision in Henderson begs the question of what arguments a defense attorney can make that will not trigger a presumption that racial bias played a role in a jury’s verdict.