Washington bill to curb increasing lawsuit payouts ‘unlikely’ to move forward this year

OLYMPIA – Legislation aimed at reining in Washington’s growing tort liability appears to be dead, at least for this year.

In recent years, state lawmakers have sought to curb the state’s drastic increase in payouts to settle lawsuits from those who allege misconduct by state agencies or while in state care. Between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, the state paid nearly $500 million in payouts, up from the $100 million the state paid between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021.

“The truth of what’s happening in our state is something that we cannot continue doing,” state Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, said during a Jan. 27 committee hearing. “Washington is an outlier in the country in terms of how much liability exposure it has when it comes to actions of government.”

Most of the increase against the state has originated from litigation filed against the Department of Children, Youth and Families, which oversees child welfare, juvenile rehabilitation, early care and education, and family support services, with many of the lawsuits resulting from conduct that occurred decades ago.

A recent court ruling and desire to allow victims to seek compensation have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in payouts in recent years, with lawmakers worried the trend will continue for the foreseeable future.

In 2018, the state Supreme Court found that the state is responsible for the safety of children and has a duty to protect them, even after they are placed in a foster home, prompting an increase in cases brought against the state.

The state Supreme Court also ruled that a cap on damages awarded by a jury is unconstitutional, meaning there is no limit to how much could be awarded following a trial.

“The single switch that you could hit that would reduce those costs a lot would be to cap damages that the jury can award a victim,” House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, D-West Seattle, said Tuesday. “The Supreme Court has already told us that that’s not constitutional in our state.”

During his final legislative session, Gov. Jay Inslee also signed legislation that removed a statute of limitations to bring civil cases following child sex abuse. The bill, however, was not retroactive and only applies to instances that occur after June 6, 2024.

Faced with a growing financial liability, lawmakers attempted this year to require that certain older cases against the state or local jurisdictions go through an arbitration process before proceeding to trial. The bill also would have required legislative hearings on judgments or settlements of claims against the state once they exceed $5 million.

It’s not clear exactly how much money the system could save the state in legal costs.

Spokane Valley City Attorney Kelly Konkright told the Senate Justice Committee it would reduce legal costs and reduce strain on the judicial system.

“Mandatory arbitration, it does not shield the government from public scrutiny,” Konkright said. “The proposal here is triggered when a lawsuit, a complaint, is filed in court, which, of course, is public record. Arbitration is simply an efficient way of resolving a claim.”

Following a work session in June, Dhingra said several things became “very, very clear.”

“As a state, we do not want to restrict claimants’ right to a jury trial. We also did not want to put caps on victim damages. And we did not want to limit attorney fees,” Dhingra said. “What was also very clear from the work session that we did is that there was a broad consensus that we need a system that can deal with early resolution.”

While in committee, survivors of childhood abuse and attorney groups objected to the legislation and expressed concern that it could restrict their ability seek damages.

Kelli Carson, who testified on behalf of the Washington State Association for Justice, told the Senate Law and Justice Committee that while they were opposed to the legislation, they appreciated the conversations they had with Dhingra “on this very challenging topic.”

“I would urge the committee to also consider other factors that have caused an increase in tort liability,” Carson said. “And that is systemic failures, and victim harm that is ongoing today. So we’re looking at cases, older cases, but also current harms.”

The bill passed the Senate last week on a 33-16 vote, with both a majority of Democrats and Republicans supporting the legislation. But after a hearing on the bill in the House Judiciary Committee was canceled Tuesday, Dhingra, the bill’s sponsor, said she would “defer to the House” on its status.

“I think everyone acknowledges and understands that this is a huge problem for the state that we have to address,” Dhingra said.

Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, said Tuesday she was appreciative of the work Dhingra had done and referred to the legislation as “a bill of first impression.”

“I think our shared goals are to make sure that anybody who is a victim of childhood sexual abuse, or other kinds of misconduct, has access to justice,” Jinkins said. “But we have also seen skyrocketing tort claims. So, how we find the balance there is something that we’ll continue to work with Sen. Dhingra on, and I think that her bill has moved us a long way there.”

Jinkins said she spoke with committee chair Rep. Jamila Taylor, D-Federal Way, a “couple of days ago” and that the legislation “was not in a position to move forward this year.”

“But I think that this is work that we’ll continue to do collaboratively over the interim,” Jinkins said.

Jinkins added that it’s “unlikely” that the bill moves forward this session.

Senate Majority Leader Jaimie Pedersen, D-Seattle, said Tuesday the focus of lawmakers is on reducing the number of instances of abuse while in state care.

“The real focus of our work has to be on making sure that, whether it’s the child welfare system or the juvenile justice system, that kids are safe and are taken care of,” Pedersen said. “That’s going to mean more investments in those facilities, in the people who are staffing those facilities, whether it’s the psychologists or the teachers or whatever or the social workers, those are the kinds of things we do to prevent injuries that I think are the real answer in the long term to bending the curve on what our liability is.”

Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, said Tuesday that “what you see is a state that continuously harmed its own citizens and got sued and lost.”

“So every dollar of that liability represents real harm done to Washingtonians. And you could pay down the debt or you could cap liability or you could do a whole lot of different things,” Couture said. “But I think the bigger thing that needs to happen is we need to focus on real solutions that stop harming citizens of Washington state.”