Washington's Schools and Local Governments Are Paying the Price for Inaction on Lawsuit Abuse

Washington state's lawsuit abuse crisis has been building for years. Now it is landing in school district budgets and county insurance premiums, and public officials are demanding action.

Joe Van, President of the Highline Public Schools Board of Directors, was unambiguous in calling for lawsuit abuse reform at a recent public meeting:

"Nearly all increases across school districts this year are tied directly to Washington state's lack of lawsuit abuse reform and the resulting legal environment. …Every school district is seeing these claims, and in some cases we are receiving them on other districts' letterhead, meaning attorneys are sending them out indiscriminately."

County governments are facing the same wall. At a recent Clark County Council meeting, county staff put it plainly:

"The current legal environment makes it very difficult to obtain insurance at a reasonable rate, and local governments remain highly vulnerable to litigation."

These voices reflect a crisis across the state. Washington just closed its fiscal year with a record-setting $614 million in lawsuit payouts, legal fees, and tort settlements, up from $557 million the year before. Over just three fiscal years, the state has paid more than $1 billion in judgments and settlements, pushing Washington's self-insurance fund $1.7 billion in the red. The Seattle Times editorial board warned that "ballooning costs likely will plague state and local governments for years to come."

Washington's joint and several liability rules compound the problem further. As Ann Bennett of the Washington Cities Insurance Authority testified before the Bainbridge Island City Council in July:

"A jury could find the city 10% at fault and another party 90% at fault. If the 90% party lacks the assets to pay the judgment and the plaintiff is fault-free, the plaintiff can collect 100% of the damages from the city, despite the city being only 10% at fault."

The result is a "somebody has to pay" dynamic that targets the deepest pockets rather than the most culpable party.

The model for relief is not hypothetical. Florida enacted commonsense lawsuit abuse reforms and has since seen major insurers file rate reductions of up to 10.5%, litigation drop by 90% in some categories, and insurance markets stabilize.

Washington has the roadmap. What it needs is the will. Governor Bob Ferguson, Attorney General Nick Brown, and the state legislature must make lawsuit abuse reform a priority in the next session. Every dollar lost to indiscriminate litigation is a dollar taken from classrooms, county services, and the communities that depend on them.