Jafar v. Webb

This court case is active

In 2010, a court rule was adopted (with the support of the ACLU and numerous access to justice organizations) authorizing waiver of all filing fees and surcharges for indigent litigants (GR 34). Nevertheless, the trial court in this case ordered a woman with $1 to her name, after leaving the allegedly abusive father of her young child, to pay $50 in surcharges within 90 days or risk dismissal of her petition seeking a parenting plan for the child. ACLU-WA filed an amicus brief in support of Ms. Jafar in the Washington Supreme Court, arguing that her due process rights were violated by the trial court’s refusal to waive all fees and surcharges.