For the first time in nearly 40 years, federal regulators are preparing to significantly strengthen the rules that govern debt collection in an effort to clamp down on collectors who hound consumers for debts they may not even owe.

YAKIMA, Wash. — In yet another blow to Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center in a lawsuit over its charity care practices, a judge has ruled the hospital violated the state Consumer Protection Act by failing to provide adequate financial help to low-income patients.
 
Additional Info:
Spanish] by Columbia Legal Services

OLYMPIA — The state Supreme Court weighed in on a Wenatchee class action case Thursday, saying a national mortgage service company wrongfully locked a woman out of her home when she defaulted on her mortgage. The decision allows the multi-million-dollar class action case to go forward in federal court, with Wenatchee plaintiff Laura Zamora Jordan and some 3,600 other Washington home buyers seeking damages after being similarly treated by Nationstar Mortgage LLC.
 
Wenatchee attorney Clay Gatens, who represents Jordan and the class plaintiffs, said the service company’s action violated state foreclosure law, taking possession of the home without court process. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision upholds that claim, but strikes down a related complaint that Nationstar attempted to bypass state laws that require a court-appointed receiver.

Officials celebrated the opening of a new respite center downstairs in the King County Juvenile Detention
Center on Thursday, June 30, the second phase in a new model for keeping youth out of the criminal justice system while addressing domestic violence cases involving their families.
The Family Intervention and Restorative Services pilot program started at the beginning of the year, with the goal of reducing the largest segment of offenders in juvenile detention, which are those accused of domestic violence against a guardian or sibling.

From farm fields in Texas to the halls of power in Olympia, Estela Ortega is honored for a lifetime of work championing the poor.

The law allows people who have been convicted of certain crimes to petition a judge for a certificate that shows they have completed their sentence and have been law abiding citizens.

Through a 4-4 tie, the U.S. Supreme Court has just ruled on United States v. Texas. The High Court’s failure to fall one way or another in the case leaves in place a lower court decision that blocks immigration protections known as DAPA and the expansion of DACA, from being implemented.

A class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that Northwest Hospital & Medical Center fails to properly screen patients eligible for charity care under state law, instead sending their debt to collection agencies.

For years, conservative policymakers have urged those in need to get work. But for those without driver’s licenses—who are by and large people of color—that’s not such an easy task.

For far too long, we have been content to suspend or expel many minority students for perceived offenses that did not result in discipline for white students engaged in the same behavior.