OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A secret brain-harvesting operation, run for years out of the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, is again under fire.

This time, the Washington State Supreme Court has the now-defunct program in its crosshairs.

Over the past three years, KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne has repeatedly exposed how the county profited -- more than $1 million -- from trading hundreds of human brains to an out-of-state research company.

We tracked down next-of-kin who said the county sold brains and other tissue from their loved ones without consent.

Now, the state's highest court says King County can be sued for its handling of the program.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office did not have the authority to sell the brain of a 21-year-old student who had simply checked the "donor" box on his driver’s license.

It's a rare ruling that was issued by the Washington State Supreme Court.

It was a unanimous ruling, with justices making it very clear that they believe the King County Medical Examiner's Office conspired to procure body tissue without consent.

Jesse Smith, 21, was a proud organ donor. He signed the back of his driver’s license and told his mom that if he died, maybe he could save someone else's life.

Jesse's chance came far sooner than anybody is comfortable with.

Within hours of Jesse's sudden cardiac death, Nancy Adams learned her son's organs could not be used for transplant into living patients.

However, what she didn't know was that his brain, liver and spleen were still being removed down at the King County Medical Examiner's morgue. The M.E. then mailed the body parts to an outside research company called the Stanley Medical Research Institute.

Adams didn’t find out about the move until after a KIRO Team 7 Investigation uncovered it.

“Our son's organs were taken without his permission and without our permission and sent to a medical research institute back in Maryland, who we had never heard of,” Adams said.

Adams sued, but a King County judge threw the case out, saying that because Jesse Smith marked the organ donor box on his license, the medical examiner didn't have to ask the family before it removed and traded his body parts.

Wednesday, the state Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the local judge was wrong.

Court documents state that "a medical examiner has authority to remove organs while conducting an autopsy. However, such authority does not imply that the medical examiner has the authority to retain the brain and merely return a veritable shell of the skull to the family for burial."

The court also said that Adams can sue the county for "mental suffering" based on the alleged misuse of a body.

Tacoma attorney Steve Bulzomi represents Nancy Adams and three other clients who claim the King County M.E. stole brains from their loved ones. He said the ruling could help shed light on nearly 200 additional brain removal cases still under seal.

“We had situations ranging from outright taking of body parts without consent to deception to misrepresenting as to the amount of body parts taken. I can't speak for the other cases because the county won't disclose them, but in the four cases I handled, we saw signs of serious overreaching and serious misrepresentation to bereaved families,” Bulzomi said.

The private law firm hired by King County to handle this case did not return a call for comment.

Because of our investigative work on the brains harvesting operation, the state legislature recently revamped Washington's Anatomical Gift Act. Now, when you mark "donor" on your driver’s license, you have greater protections as to how your body may be used.