Attorney Forrest Lee Wagner's Legal Cases

Family

Marriage of Jennings

N/A

OUTCOME: Supreme Court unanimous opinion in our favor.

In this case my client was a military wife who was awarded a portion of her ex-husband's military retirement, which was the most valuable asset of the marriage. After the decree was entered the husban ... d then gradually had virtually all of the retirement incrementally converted to disability which is non-divisible under federal law. This action eventually deprived my client of nearly all of the retirement award she received at the time of trial. We filed a motion to vacate the decree and to award my client "compensatory spousal maintenance" in the same amount as the retirement she lost. The trial court granted our motion and Mr. Jennings appealed. The Court of Appeals agreed with Mr. Jennings and held that the trial court erred in vacating the decree. We appealed to the Washington State Supreme Court and it reversed in a unanimous opinion which endorsed the idea of "compensatory maintenance" in such situations. This case is now frequently cited as precedent for military ex-wives seeking relief in similar situations.

Criminal defense

State v. Ladson

N/A

OUTCOME: Dismissal of charges and Supreme Court approval

Thomas Ladson was driving a car with expired tabs along with three other young African American men. He was pulled over by an officer on "gang patrol" who candidly admitted on the stand that the expir ... ed tabs were nothing more than a convenient excuse for conducting a stop and trying to gather evidence. In the course of the stop controlled substances were found in my client's possession and he was charged with a felony. At trial we sought to exclude the evidence as the fruits of an unlawful search, arguing that the expired tabs were a "pretext" and that pretextual searches were incompatible with the Constitution. Earlier precedent had suggested that as long as there was an outwardly valid reason for the stop it didn't matter what the officer's subjective intentions were. The trial court agreed with our argument and the charges were dismissed against my client. The state appealed and the Supreme Court eventually also endorsed the theory we enunciated at trial and the dismissal was affirmed (Forrest did not handle the appeal).

Criminal defense

State v. Greenland

N/A

OUTCOME: Acquittal and State payment of attorney fees

The defendant and his ex-wife had a contentious relationship. Around Christmas time of 1996 they had a dispute over their young son's visitation time with his father. In the course of that dispute ou ... r client allegedly drove away with his son in the car. His ex-wife alleged that in the process he had nearly run her over with the car. The case went to trial and the client was acquitted. We had also argued a theory of self-defense. The jury specifically found that the client had indeed acted in self-defense. As a result of that finding the client's attorney fees of nearly $17,000 were paid by the state. This is the second time that Forrest has won an award of attorney fees after arguing self defense on behalf of a client.

Forrest Lee Wagner's Legal Cases (3)

Marriage of Jennings

State v. Ladson

State v. Greenland