Hon. Franklin L. Dacca was appointed to the bench by the Pierce County Council in 2003 and was retained to the seat in subsequent elections. Dacca retired in 2018.
During his tenure on the District Court, he presided over the Domestic Violence Court. Prior to his appointment, he was a judge for the Milton Municipal Court (1989 to 1993); a pro tem judge for the Pierce County District Court and the Fife, Puyallup, and Bonney Lake Municipal Courts; and a commissioner pro tem of the Pierce County Superior Court.
Dacca received a B.A. in political science from the University of Washington in 1969. He then completed a J.D. at the University of California, Davis School of Law in 1973.
Dacca joined the United States Army Reserves in March 1969, where he served as a medical corpsman at Madigan Army Hospital. During his military service, he was also affiliated with the 50th General Hospital. Dacca was honorably discharged in 1975.
After law school, he became a law clerk to the Hon. Robert T. Hunter, justice of the Washington Supreme Court. A year later, upon completing his clerkship, Dacca began a three-year tenure as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California in Los Angeles (1974 to 1977).
Dacca returned to Washington in 1977, at which time he became an associate in the Burgess & Kennedy law firm in Tacoma. He handled civil litigation and insurance defense cases at the firm until 1980 when he briefly entered into solo practice. The following year, Dacca joined Dacca & Hickman as a partner, and his practice there focused on civil and criminal litigation including criminal law, domestic relations, civil matters, estate planning, probate and personal injury.
Dacca returned to his solo practice in 1989 and he continued in that capacity until joining the District Court bench in 2003.
In addition to his private practice, Dacca spent six years as a public defender for the City of Fife (1981 to 1987) and as counsel for patients in Mental Health Civil Commitment Proceedings through the Department of Assigned Counsel.
His memberships included the District Court Judges’ Association, the Washington State Bar Association, the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association, the Washington Women Lawyers (Pierce County Chapter), and the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association.
Dacca was also a member of the District and Municipal Court Judges’ Association Rules Committee (vice-chair), the Nominating Committee, and the Long-Range Planning Committee as well as the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association and District and Municipal Court Liaison Committee (co-chair).
From a civic standpoint, he was involved with the Fife-Milton Rotary Club, the Tacoma Urban League, Inc., the Fife Parks, Recreation and Senior Services Advisory Board, the Fife Historical Society (president), the Tacoma-Pierce County Junior Soccer Association, Harbor Tournament Hoops, the Peninsula Athletic Commission, and the Fife Area Chamber of Commerce.
Dacca was born in Tacoma, Washington, where he was raised on his parent's vegetable farm in the Fife Valley. He later graduated from Fife High School. Dacca and his late wife, Terry, have two adult sons.