Attorney ordered to pay for pursuing lawsuit
Spokane attorney Amos Hunter faces paying $58,624 in legal bills because he filed a state court lawsuit on behalf of a client previously convicted of arson in federal court.
Hunter filed the state court lawsuit in April 2006, representing Kelly Falcon, who had been convicted by a U.S. District Court jury the previous September of burning down the Wild Horse Saloon, a Spokane Valley bar he operated.
Three former employees or business associates of Falcon, who testified as prosecution witnesses or cooperated in the federal arson investigation, were named as defendants in the state court suit. They had to hire attorneys to defend themselves in Superior Court.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office got involved, arguing that the state court civil suit against cooperating individuals “was a continuation of a series of attacks” on Falcon’s U.S. District Court criminal conviction, later upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Falcon’s suit, filed by Hunter, “lacked a rational basis in fact or in law, and was being pursued for an improper purpose, that is retaliation,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in legal filings.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the state court civil suit couldn’t exceed the jurisdiction of the criminal case in U.S. District Court.
Falcon, a former Spokane and Coeur d’Alene police officer, is serving a five-year federal prison term for the 2004 arson.
“Hunter and Falcon made numerous material inaccurate representatives to (Superior Court) concerning facts and proceedings that occurred in the federal criminal case,” the court documents said.
“Hunter persistently requested that (Superior) Court abandon its duty to refrain from exercising jurisdiction and authority where none exists,” documents said.
The Spokane attorney was urged on multiple occasions to drop the lawsuit he brought on Falcon’s behalf, but refused, filing “thousands of pages” of legal documents and protracting the litigation and related costs, according to the documents.
Last May, Superior Court Judge Robert Austin granted defense motions seeking dismissal of Falcon’s lawsuit.
The judge then took the unusual step of granting defense attorney Michael Kinkley the option to recover attorney fees for his client, Luke Ralston.
On March 14, the judge entered an order requiring Hunter to pay Kinkley $42,500 in legal fees. Hunter earlier had agreed to stipulated payments of $7,624 in legal fees to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and $8,500 to attorney David Miller, who represented another defendant.