At Halverson Northwest, our attorneys bring the experience, dedication and client centered work ethic to successfully resolve all of your litigation needs. While no one wants to be involved in litigation, our attorneys strive to represent you in the manner that best fits your needs. Sometimes that means that we end up in the court room. The litigation team at Halverson Northwest is prepared to do so. However, if we can assist you to prepare the case in order to position the matter to successfully resolve the case short of trial, we will assist you in that manner as well. We strive to assist you in the manner that resolves issues in the manner best suited to your interest. We look forward to serving you and are experienced in:
Halverson Northwest knows our way around the government maze. Most government bodies—federal, state, or local—have their own regulations, procedures, and practices. Administrative law focuses on interactions between the public sector and private sector; including government regulation, legislation, rulemaking and administrative processes. It can be a mind boggling and confusing process. We are here to assist our clients in navigating through the maze.
We believe understanding and consistent application of principles of administrative law are critical to effectively representing clients in either the public or private sector.
At Halverson Northwest, our attorneys have extensive experience in administrative matters including:
Our attorneys provide legal services primarily to businesses and corporations caught in the complex interplay of government rules, regulations, procedures and enforcement pertaining to areas such as environment, water, land use and taxation (federal, state and local). Our attorneys also advise government in matters of administrative processes and enforcement, hearings and procedures, and municipal agency authority.
Yakima sits in the middle of a diverse, agricultural economy. The attorneys at Halverson Northwest are intimately familiar with the agricultural issues and the nuisances that the business brings. Our attorneys bring over 50 years of experience in the agricultural arena and bring that knowledge of the industry to the courtroom. That is a unique experience that other firms simply cannot bring to the table. Litigating agricultural cases requires a specialized knowledge of the industry. Halverson Northwest has that knowledge and uses it to further our client’s interests. At Halverson Northwest, we provide sophisticated business law services to leading companies in agribusiness and related industries. Our clients include growers, packers, processors, corporate and family farms, seed companies, fertilizer distributors, cooperatives, equipment manufacturers, and a wide variety of financial institutions serving the agricultural community. We bring that wealth of experience to your litigation needs.
Our Agricultural Litigation Law Practice Includes:
Alternative dispute resolution is a process by which parties can settle disputes with the help of a third party. Alternative dispute resolution is an alternative to litigation and has three primary benefits to the parties – it is faster, less expensive, and brings closure to the legal process. In Washington, alternative dispute resolution most often takes two forms – arbitration and mediation.
Arbitration
Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution, where a third party, either agreed to by the litigants or appointed by the court, reviews the evidence in a case and imposes a decision that is legally binding and enforceable. Arbitration often allows clients to resolve disputes more quickly and efficiently than by going to court. Instead of judges or juries, arbitrators decide if wrongdoing occurred and how to correct or compensate for it. Arbitration is most often used for resolution of personal injury claims and commercial disputes, as well as employment matters. The arbitration process may be mandated by court rules and statute, required by terms of a contract, or agreed to by the parties.
At Halverson Northwest, our arbitration lawyers have conducted hundreds of arbitrations, both as litigants and neutrals in claims involving agriculture, construction, commercial disputes and personal injury.
Mediation
Mediation is a popular form of alternative dispute resolution. It provides the parties with a vehicle to resolve their differences without going to court and at a much lower cost. Mediations are quick, usually being scheduled within a few weeks or months from the time of the request, private, and confidential. Mediation is particularly valuable when disputes involve parties that may need to remain on good terms, including family members, co-workers, business partners, landlords and tenants, neighbors, and others.
At Halverson Northwest, we act as neutral, third-party attorney mediators to help individuals and businesses resolve civil disputes without the time, expense, uncertainty and emotional strain of protracted litigation. We facilitate divorce and family mediation, as well as business, commercial and personal injury mediation.
Halverson Northwest provides representation to our clients who require our services to represent them at the appellate level of review. At Halverson Northwest, our Appellate attorneys conduct thorough legal research, analyze the legal issues in light of the rule-making and policy considerations that shape the development of law, and then present the facts, issues and arguments concisely and persuasively to the appellate court. Our attorney’s are successful in persuading appellate courts to overturn lower court decisions or expand or change the interpretation of statutory law. Attorneys at Halverson Northwest have represented clients at all appellate levels including the Washington Court of Appeal, the Washington Supreme Court and numerous of the federal circuit courts of appeal across the nation.
Halverson Northwest has extensive experience on condemnation, eminent domain, inverse condemnation and taking proceedings. Through its litigation, municipal, land use and real estate disciplines, Halverson Northwest has developed the resources to manage any property acquisition or condemnation proceeding. We have represented property owners and municipal clients in acquisition projects. Representation has included evaluation of public use and necessity, negotiation of just compensation and damages, assessment of immediate use and possession, and litigation of just compensation and damages.
Governmental regulation and action has also raised claims of inverse condemnation and constitutional takings. Halverson Northwest has successfully prosecuted actions relating to property taking through regulation or failure to issue the land use permits, as well as flooding, noise and access in the past. Litigation has also included challenges to regulator exactions and requirements that violate constitutional protections of property rights and interests.
Halverson Northwest serves clients involved in all aspects of construction litigation. Experience includes a variety of construction projects including subdivision and plat developments, residential construction, and commercial and multi-family/mixed use structures. We have represented homeowner associations, general contractors, specialty subcontractors, owner/developers, engineers and individual home owners.
Our representation has also included issues related to insurance and third party liability claims, including:
Halverson Northwest is experienced in a wide variety of creditors’ rights matters, both in bankruptcy and non-bankruptcy situations. Our attorneys have advised both public and privately held corporations (including institutional lenders), partnerships, businesses, entities and individuals on matters related to bankruptcy, collection, foreclosure, loan workouts, business restructuring and reorganization, and other debtor/creditor matters. While we do not file bankruptcy on behalf of debtors, our experience representing creditors covers the gamut of situations a creditor may encounter.
Halverson Northwest has provided representation in the following areas:
At Halverson Northwest, our attorneys have helped employers navigate the ever-changing landscape of the federal, state, and local laws that govern the modern workplace.
Our experience spans from complex class and individual employment litigation for employers to providing advice on day-to-day employment law issues.
Our Employment and Labor attorneys provide advice and litigation representation on a variety of employment contract matters, including disputes involving trade secrets, non-competition agreements, and executive compensation. We also help companies draft and implement personnel policies and procedures that both comply with applicable law and meet the client’s business objectives.
From the board room to the courtroom, we help our clients with issues including employment counseling and litigation, employment and employee benefits litigation, single-employer and industry-wide collective bargaining, Department of Labor matters, L&I concerns, intellectual property disputes, and employee benefits matters.
Halverson Northwest Employment and Labor counseling and litigation practice includes the following:
Agricultural Employment Issues
Department of Labor & Industry Counseling and Litigation
Employment Counseling and Litigation for Employers
Labor Matters
Non-Competition, Confidentiality, and Trade Secret Law
Wage and Hour Counseling and Litigation for Employers
Workplace Safety and Health
Halverson Northwest has applied its environmental and land use experience in litigation, when necessary. Litigation takes place at all levels of state and federal courts, and before local hearing examiners and state administrative bodies such as the shorelines hearings board, the pollution control hearings board and the growth management hearings board.
Legal representation also has included significant issues involving development exactions and requirements, environmental compliance and processes, zoning and subdivision regulation, regulatory takings, annexation and permit damage claims. Our representation has included the following subject areas:
Estate and trust litigation involves a myriad of issues, including family businesses, bankruptcy, fiduciary duties, tax law, real estate, and creditors rights. Effectively resolving complex trust and estate disputes requires a clear understanding of the substantive issues that have relevance, as well as strategic judgment, procedural and evidentiary expertise, and case trial experience.
At Halverson Northwest, our comprehensive Estate and Trust litigators are deeply knowledgeable in virtually every aspect of estate and business succession planning, estate taxation, administration, probate, guardianships and more.
We represent trustees, guardians, conservators, personal representatives, beneficiaries, heirs, and other interested parties in a wide variety of disputes.
We have successfully litigated claims involving:
Halverson Northwest attorneys are here to fight for your rights under the policies of insurance that you have purchased. Insurance policies exist to provide the peace of mind that, in the event of circumstances outside of initial intentions, clients can protect their personal or financial interests. At Halverson Northwest, our Insurance Coverage litigators have extensive experience in assisting clients to recover all of the benefits that they are due under their policies of insurance
Our attorney’s have extensive experience in commercial property and business interruption losses and individual property, disability, health and life insurance claims. The firm represents clients whose claims have wrongfully been denied on a variety of grounds such as fraud, arson, misrepresentation and coverage issues.
Our firm has the capacity to represent policyholders in the prosecution of claim denials, unfair claim practices and extra-contractual bad faith actions.
Our Insurance Law practice covers:
Halverson Northwest has extensive experience with real property litigation.
Halverson Northwest does a variety of real estate work for and on behalf of title and escrow companies and insureds (both property owners and lenders). Such work includes: