A Phone Call in the Middle of the Night, and a Family That Needs a Steady Hand
If you are reading this, someone you love was killed inside the Apple Tree Inn on North Division Street in Spokane, and the next hours and days will be some of the hardest of your life. We know that. We also know this: the criminal case is one thing, and the civil case is something else entirely, and you need a team that can walk you through both without ever making you feel like a file number. At Attorney911, Ralph Manginello, Lupe Peña, and our trial team represent Washington families in premises-liability wrongful-death cases, including negligent-security claims against hotels, motels, and short-term lodging. We offer a free consultation, and we work on contingency, so there is no fee unless we win. This page explains the law, the evidence, the insurance games, the timeline, and the choices your family is about to face. Call us at 1-888-ATTY-911 when you are ready.
We will say this once, plainly: nothing on this page can substitute for sitting down with a lawyer who knows the Spokane County courts, the Apple Tree Inn’s ownership and record, and the Washington wrongful-death statute. But you deserve a full picture before that call, and this is it.
The Two Roads After a Homicide: Criminal and Civil
A homicide opens two completely separate cases. They run in different courthouses, on different timelines, under different rules of evidence, and they do different things. A lot of families only ever hear about the criminal one because the prosecutor makes the decisions for that case. The civil case is yours, and you control it.
The criminal case asks: did this person break the law, and what punishment fits. The State of Washington prosecutes; the victims’ family is a witness, not a party. A conviction is not a check. A not-guilty verdict is not the end of the road.
The civil case asks: who had a duty to keep this person safe, and what did they fail to do that allowed this to happen. We bring that case, in your name, against the parties that owe the duty. The standard is lower than beyond a reasonable doubt, and the remedy is money damages for the losses you have actually suffered. A motel that let a violent crime happen on its property can be made to answer, even when the people who did the killing are convicted, acquitted, or never caught.
The two cases are not redundant. They do not cancel each other out. They exist for different reasons, and you are entitled to pursue both.
The Duty Washington Imposes on a Motel
Washington common law has long imposed a duty of reasonable care on a business inviter toward its invitees. The duty includes protection against foreseeable criminal conduct by third parties when the operator knows, or in the exercise of reasonable care should know, of a danger. The question is not whether crime can ever happen; the question is whether the motel knew, or should have known, that a guest faced a serious risk.
“An innkeeper is bound to exercise reasonable care to protect his guests from injury or molestation by third persons, whether malicious or negligent, if he knows, or in the exercise of reasonable care should know, of the danger.”
That common-law principle has a long pedigree in Washington, and the Washington Pattern Jury Instructions reflect it. The modern framing is the same: a business is not an insurer of guest safety, but it is required to take reasonable, proportionate steps when the risk is foreseeable.
What reasonable care looks like varies by property. A well-staffed, well-lit, well-camera-covered, key-controlled motel in a low-crime neighborhood has very different obligations than a 24-hour, cash-and-carry, low-staff operation on a corridor that police and paramedics have visited hundreds of times. The Apple Tree Inn sits on North Division Street, one of the most heavily trafficked and historically high-call commercial corridors in Spokane. Whatever reasonable care means in this case, it does not mean nothing.
Foreseeability is the single most contested issue in a motel negligent-security case. The defense will argue the killing was unforeseeable. The plaintiff shows the opposite by what the motel itself knew and what its own records show. The next section of this page lists the records that prove it.
What Damages a Washington Wrongful-Death Case Seeks
A wrongful-death case in Washington does not punish the motel. It restores the family. The remedy is full compensatory damages: the money your loved one would have contributed, the help your loved one would have provided, the companionship, the guidance, the presence. The law in Washington is not a punitive-damages regime in most private wrongful-death cases, so the case is built on the human losses that can be proven and quantified by a life-care planner, a forensic economist, and a vocational expert.
The categories are concrete. Medical and hospital bills your loved one incurred before death, and the emergency response. Funeral and burial expenses. Lost financial support your loved one would have provided, calculated year by year across a worklife, discounted to present value, with the personal-consumption deduction applied so the number reflects the support your family actually received. Lost household services, the cooking, the driving, the repairs, the childcare, valued at the cost of replacing each. Loss of companionship, love, and guidance, the human losses the law recognizes in their own right. Conscious pain and suffering your loved one experienced between the assault and death, a survival claim that belongs to the estate.
A life-care planner, retained early, builds the medical-and-living-expense model for the years that would have followed, including any disability that resulted from the assault before death. A forensic economist reduces each annual stream to present value at the appropriate discount rate. A vocational expert projects the worklife your loved one would have worked in the job, the industry, and the community. A jury in Spokane County hears the number, and we explain it. There is no single formula and no shortcut, and the defense will attack each component. That is why the experts matter.
“Recovery is intended to make the family whole for the loss of a loved one’s life and the things that loss actually takes away.”
The honest framing: damages are real and substantial when the proof is strong, but they depend entirely on the facts of your family. There is no number we can promise. The number is built.
The Insurance-Adjuster Playbook and the Counters
The motel’s insurance carrier will get to the family before we do, in most cases. The adjuster is friendly, often local, and will say the things the family needs to hear. The adjuster’s job is to make this case go away for as little as possible. We name the plays because every family should know what is coming.
The friendly “just checking in” call. Within hours or days, a claims adjuster will reach out to the family, express sympathy, and ask a few careful questions. The conversation may be recorded, or reconstructed from notes. The adjuster is looking for the names of any prior medical conditions, anything that minimizes the death, anything that can be turned into a comparative-fault argument. The counter: the family does not speak to the adjuster without counsel present. Polite, warm, but firm. We handle that conversation.
The fast check with a release. Within a week, a check will appear, often in the low five figures, with a release buried in the paperwork. The release covers the motel, the management company, the franchisor, every employee, and every insurer. Signing it closes the case for everyone, not just the motel. The counter: no one signs a release before a lawyer reads it. The fast check is real, but the release is the trap. We will read it and tell you what it covers and what you are giving up.
The recorded statement. The adjuster will request a recorded statement from the surviving family, ostensibly “to help us understand what happened.” Recorded statements are designed to be quoted against the family later, especially in a survival claim, where the family’s own words about conscious pain and suffering can be used to minimize the loss. The counter: no recorded statement before counsel reviews the questions. Most recorded statements are not required, and we do not provide one.
The “you have no case against our insured” letter. The defense will send a letter, often before suit, denying liability and citing the criminal case as the reason. The letter is not the case. It is the carrier’s standard opening. The counter: the criminal case and the civil case are different; the motel owed its own duty; the carrier’s letter is the start of a fight, not the end of one. We respond.
The “policy limits are low” framing. The adjuster will eventually mention, sometimes off the record, that the policy limits are smaller than the family thinks. The counter: the limits figure is the start of an evaluation, not the end. Multiple defendants carry multiple policies. Excess and umbrella layers attach. The right response is to identify every layer, not to accept the first one.
The surveillance and social-media watch. The carrier will look at the family’s social media. The family should know. We tell our clients what to do and not to do online during a case. The counter: a quiet, careful, advised public profile.
The delay. The carrier will wait. Delay is the cheapest defense there is. The counter: Washington gives us three years, but evidence dies in weeks. We move fast on the records and patient on the value.
The Defendants We Sue and Why
We name every defendant that owes a duty. The list is built around a simple model: the operating carrier, the property owner, the brand or franchisor, the management company, the corporate parent that actually holds the money, and any individual or commercial defendant whose conduct contributed. We do not over-name to make a press release. We name what the proof supports.
The motel operator. The Apple Tree Inn, the entity that ran the front desk the night the family lost their loved one. This is the starting point and the central target.
The property owner. The LLC or individual that holds title to 9508 N. Division Street. Owning the dirt carries its own duty. The owner has authority over the locks, the cameras, the lighting, and the policy on who is allowed to be on the property. If the operator was a separate tenant, the owner’s duty runs separately to lawful guests.
The management company and the franchisor. If the Apple Tree Inn is part of a chain, a regional management company, or a national franchise, those entities may be defendants as well. Franchisor liability turns on control, not branding alone, but the right franchisor can be the right defendant for the right reason.
The corporate parent. The operating company is often a single-asset LLC with limited insurance. The parent that owns the LLC, and that consolidates the insurance, may be the real defendant. We map the structure before we file.
The per-person defendants. The people charged in the criminal case. We will pursue them in the civil case as well, where their assets allow.
The insurance carriers. They are not defendants, but they are the practical defendant. We identify every carrier, every policy, every limit, and every layer as early as possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Attorney911 different from the public defender or prosecutor’s office in the criminal case?
We are not involved in the criminal case at all. The prosecutor represents the State of Washington. We represent the family in the civil case. The two cases run in parallel and do not interfere. The criminal conviction, if there is one, can be powerful evidence in our civil case, but the civil case stands on its own.
What if the criminal defendants are acquitted?
An acquittal is not the end of the civil case. The civil standard is lower, the parties are different, and the family is suing for the loss, not for punishment. A motel that let the danger exist on its property can be on the hook regardless of what a criminal jury decided about the individual defendants.
How long do I have to file a wrongful-death case in Washington?
Three years from the date of death, under Washington’s wrongful-death statute, RCW 4.20.010. The discovery rule and other tolling doctrines are narrow. Do not wait. Call 1-888-ATTY-911.
What if my loved one was involved in a drug transaction?
Washington follows pure comparative negligence under RCW 4.22.005. A finding that the decedent shared some fault does not erase the case; it reduces the recovery by the percentage of fault assigned to the decedent. A motel still owes a duty of reasonable care to a guest on its property. The criminal context is not a license to ignore that duty. We address it head-on, with the proof.
What does it cost to hire Attorney911 for this case?
No fee unless we win. We advance the case costs. Our fee is a percentage of the recovery. The first consultation is free, and the second one is free too, and every meeting after that is free, until the case resolves. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes.
Who brings the case? The family, or the estate?
In Washington, the wrongful-death case is brought by the personal representative of the estate for the benefit of the statutory beneficiaries, typically the spouse, the children, and the parents. A separate survival action, for the decedent’s conscious pain and suffering before death, is brought by the estate. We help the family identify the right personal representative and bring the case in the right posture.
What if the motel has very little insurance?
We find out, and we tell the family. Multiple defendants can carry multiple policies. Excess and umbrella layers attach. The operating company, the property owner, the management company, the franchisor, and the per-person defendants can each carry coverage. The total recovery is the sum of every layer. If the total is not enough, we tell the family that, too. We do not promise what we cannot deliver.
Will the case settle or go to trial?
We prepare every case to try. Most motel negligent-security cases resolve before trial, but the value of a settlement is a function of how ready we are to try. We do not settle cheap to close a file. We settle when the offer reflects the value, and we try the case when it does not.
What about the criminal case — should I cooperate with the prosecutor?
Yes, fully, and we will help you navigate that. Anything you say to law enforcement in the criminal investigation is not the same as a statement to the insurance carrier. We keep the two separate so the family does not accidentally damage the civil case while helping the criminal one.
What about the motel — will they be shut down?
That is a public-safety question that belongs to the City of Spokane, the Washington State Patrol, and the relevant licensing authorities. Our job is the civil case. We will, however, document every code violation, every licensing failure, and every public-safety failure we find, and we will make the record available to the authorities that can act. A motel that puts its guests in danger is a public-safety problem, and we will not be silent about it.
What if I cannot afford a lawyer right now?
You do not need to. The consultation is free, and the case is taken on contingency. There is no retainer for the family to write. We do not get paid unless we win, and the costs of the case are advanced. Call 1-888-ATTY-911 today.
What should I do this week, right now?
Three things. First, save anything you have: receipts, text messages, voicemails, photos, anything that documents the loss. Second, do not post about the case on social media, and tell the family the same. Third, do not speak to the motel’s insurance adjuster, the motel, or any representative without a lawyer on the call. We will take that call for you.
Why Attorney911 for This Case
We are a trial firm. Ralph Manginello has spent 27 years in courtrooms, and Lupe Peña brings years of insurance-defense experience to the family side of the table. We are a Houston-based firm that takes Washington cases, working with local counsel where required. We are bilingual, with full Spanish-language representation: Hablamos Español. We work on contingency, so there is no fee unless we win. We have experience in commercial-vehicle cases, refinery and industrial cases, construction cases, offshore and maritime cases, workplace injuries, brain injuries, and wrongful death. The Apple Tree Inn case sits in the middle of that work: a premises-liability wrongful-death case with negligent-security, premises-management, and corporate-structure issues that we have handled in different forms in different venues, and that we are built to handle here.
We are not the firm that promises a number before it has read the file. We are the firm that reads the file, builds the case, and tries it. We give the family the same advice we would give our own.
A Closing Word to the Family
The days after a motel homicide are a kind of grief that does not have a name. There is the grief of the loss, the grief of the place where it happened, the grief of a public story that will not match the private one, and the grief of a system that moves slowly. We have walked into that system with hundreds of families, and we know the system, and we know how to make it work for you.
The motel owed a duty. The motel had records. The records are dying, or have died, and the family’s window to act is short. The criminal case is the State’s; the civil case is yours. A free consultation costs you an hour. A contingency agreement costs you nothing up front. A settlement or verdict is built, not promised. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes.
Call Attorney911 at 1-888-ATTY-911. Hablamos Español. We will answer.