News & Events

Congratulations to NBF attorneys Jeremy Jones and Noah Jaffe, who were both recently admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.

NBF attorneys Chris Nicoll and Jeremy Jones obtained a defense verdict for an international freight forwarder following trial in federal court. Chris and Jeremy argued that their client was not liable for over $700,000 in demurrage and related claims due to alleged delays unloading a cargo ship in South America. After favorable resolution of certain of the claims on summary judgment, the case proceeded to trial where the court granted a motion for directed verdict after the plaintiff rested its case.

NBF welcomes aboard Melinda (Mindy) Drogseth and Shantrice (Trice) Anderson. With Mindy and Trice, we add two courtroom savvy litigators with skills to complement our practice and expand the range of services we provide to our clients.

Melinda Drogseth

Before joining Nicoll Black & Feig, Mindy was an attorney at Lee Smart where her practice focused on representing hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers in all stages of medical malpractice litigation. She also advised healthcare entities on risk management and regulatory compliance. As a very experienced litigator working with physicians and other healthcare providers, Mindy brings a wealth of medical knowledge, medical procedural practice and medical industry relationships that will complement the firm’s personal injury practice and work with medical experts in a legal setting. Mindy graduated magna cum laude from Seattle University School of Law in 2008. She clerked at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, then spent several years practicing as a public defender, gaining substantial trial experience. Mindy also has experience in public records disclosure, election law, and voting rights litigation. Mindy’s bio is here: http://nicollblack.com/our-team/melinda-drogseth/.

Shantrice Anderson 

Trice joins Nicoll Black & Feig after serving as a Public Defender at the King County Department of Public Defense and the Colorado State Public Defender. In both offices, Trice represented her clients in a breadth of criminal matters. As a former criminal defense attorney, Trice has extensive courtroom and litigation experience, to include a substantial amount of motions hearings, jury/bench trials, felony and appellate work. Shantrice was the recipient of the Lowrey Kelly Bootcamper of the Year Award in 2016 for her trial advocacy skills within the Colorado system. Trice graduated from Gonzaga University in 2011, and Seattle University School of Law in 2014. During her time in law school, Shantrice served as a Law Clerk at the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C. and was the National Director of Community Service of the National Black Law Students Association. Shantrice is admitted to practice law in Washington and Colorado. Shantrice’s bio is here: http://nicollblack.com/our-team/shantrice-anderson/.

NBF hosted its 10th annual Mardi Gras Party at the J&M Cafe in Seattle on January 25, 2018 in conjunction with the Marine Insurance Association of Seattle (MIAS) week of activities. The event was exceedingly well attended and fun.

NBF attorney Larry Altenbrun is running in the Carlsbad (CA) half-marathon on Sunday, January 14. We note that there are more relaxing excuses for travel to a sunny place in January … We wish Larry the best of luck.

On Friday, December 8, 2017, NBF attorneys Chris Nicoll and Noah Jaffe gave a one hour presentation as part of the Washington Defense Trial Lawyers (WDTL) Association’s Annual Tort Law Update. The presentation addressed and summarized the WDTL Amicus Committee’s contributions during 2017, which included drafting amicus curiae submissions in six cases that were deemed to present issues of statewide concern to Washington civil defense attorneys and their clients. Chris is an active member of the WDTL Amicus Committee, and he and Noah had first-hand involvement in three of those six cases. In one such case, Noll v. Special Electric Co., 188 Wn.2d 402 (2017), the Washington Supreme Court cited directly and favorably to the WDTL’s amicus submission, for its central argument about the impact of recent United States Supreme Court case law on the personal jurisdiction analysis, and a civil defendant’s due process rights thereunder.

NBF attorney Nina Mitchell attended the Pacific Admiralty Seminar and also attended various related events in the Bay area on December 7 – 9, 2017.

On November 30, 2017, NBF attorneys Larry Altenbrun and Pegeen Mulhern made a continuing education presentation to the Northwest Yacht Brokers Association. The presentation addressed two maritime issues of significance to the yacht broker community that are evolving in the courts: (1) the evolution of maritime case law involving punitive damages, and (2) the warranty or “as-is” clauses in yacht purchase agreements. Pegeen and Larry also provided some practical tips and best practices for yacht broker transactions.