Clairmont v. Sound Mental Health, No. 09-35856

Asylum Petition Granted

In Clairmont v. Sound Mental Health, No. 09-35856, a petition for review of the BIA's order affirming an Immigration Judge's denial of petitioner's claims for asylum and withholding of removal, the court granted the petition where petitioner's delay in filing her asylum application was due to the "extraordinary circumstance" of fraudulent deceit by an immigration consultant, and this circumstance directly related to her failure to file the application within the one-year deadline.

As the court wrote:  "In this First Amendment retaliation case, Richard Clairmont appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment to Defendant Joni Wilson, the Manager of Probation Services at the Seattle Municipal Court. Before filing suit, Clairmont was employed as a domestic violence counselor for Sound Mental Health, a private company that provides domestic violence prevention treatment programs to criminal defendants in Seattle."

Related Resources

• Read the Ninth Circuit's Decision in Clairmont v. Sound Mental Health, No. 09-35856