OLYMPIA — Members of a commercial fishing family have settled a lawsuit over their constitutional rights with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
KUOW reported the Tarabochias family settled for $130,000. The agency will formally acknowledge Friday that it violated the rights of two family members who commercially fished the Columbia River.
The lawsuit stems from a March 2007 traffic stop in southwest Washington in which Fish and Wildlife officers stopped four members of the Tarabochia family, wanting to inspect their load of salmon.
The family refused to comply and filed a federal lawsuit in 2010 challenging the constitutionality of the stop, saying the agency had no right to pull them over for a check without reason to believe a crime had occurred.
They lost in U.S. District Court, but successfully appealed to the 9th Circuit.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.