Harger: Washington needs $1.3 billion more for lawsuit payouts. That’s more than UW gets in state operating support

Reuven Carlyle spent 14 years in Olympia as a Democrat. So when he went on X over the weekend and argued that Washington’s lawsuit math has become unsustainable, it was worth looking at the math.

It’s gotten pretty hard to ignore.

In 2010, Washington paid about $52 million in tort claims. Last year, it paid a record $537 million resolving them, plus another $90 million for the Attorney General’s Office, outside defense attorneys, and related insurance costs.

And then there’s the number that really jumps off the page.

The Washington State Standard said it will be $4.4 billion.

That needs some explanation, because Washington doesn’t have a $4.4 billion invoice sitting in a drawer waiting for somebody to find a pen. It’s an actuarial estimate of the state’s outstanding liability in existing cases. In plain English, it’s the best estimate today of what claims already in the system could ultimately cost. Some will settle for less. Some could cost more. Some of that money won’t be paid for years. But as of the end of June, the estimate was $4.4 billion.

That’s the pile already coming down the conveyor belt.

Washington’s liability account needs another $1.275 billion

The Department of Enterprise Services, which manages the account that pays these claims, says it needs another $1.275 billion over the next two years. That comes after lawmakers already put more than $1 billion into the account this year. Even with that infusion, the account is projected to be $345 million in the red by the end of June 2027.

Then comes the following two-year budget cycle. Actuaries expect about $1.3 billion in payouts between mid-2027 and mid-2029. The liability account normally gets about $360 million, leaving a $940 million gap. Add the earlier deficit, and you get to the new $1.275 billion request.

For scale, the University of Washington’s (UW) current two-year budget contains about $1.07 billion in near-general-fund state operating support.

So Olympia is being asked for more money to shore up the state’s lawsuit account than UW gets from those main state operating funds over two years.

Yes, I know UW has other money. Tuition, federal grants, research dollars, hospital revenue. I’m comparing two checks Olympia has to figure out how to cover because sometimes the easiest way to understand a number this big is to put something familiar next to it.

A billion dollars tends to lose its personality after a while.

DCYF is at the center of Washington’s growing claims

The volume is moving in the same direction as the cost. Nearly 5,500 claims came in last year, up from 4,233 the year before. The Department of Enterprise Services says it sees no indication that the volume is about to fall. Most of the claims now target the Department of Children, Youth and Families, which runs Washington’s child-welfare and juvenile-detention systems.

Some claims involve events from decades ago, dating back to the Eisenhower Administration. Washington law recognizes that victims of childhood sexual abuse may not understand the connection between what happened to them and the damage it caused until many years later. For abuse occurring before June 6, 2024, state law uses a discovery-based deadline and pauses the clock until the victim turns 18. For intentional childhood sexual abuse occurring on or after that date, there is no civil time limit.

There’s a reason for that. The legislature itself has recognized that childhood sexual abuse can produce injuries that don’t become fully apparent until years later.

That means Washington can be dealing today with the financial consequences of failures that happened a very long time ago. And for the person who lived through one of those failures, “a very long time ago” doesn’t make the damage disappear. That’s what makes this problem more complicated than trimming a budget line.

Olympia tried arbitration. Then came the committee

Lawmakers did try something this year. Senate Bill 6239 proposed arbitration for certain tort claims against state and local governments before they went to trial, with supporters arguing that it could resolve cases faster and reduce costs. The legislation stalled amid opposition from trial lawyers and others concerned about restricting plaintiffs’ access to courts and full compensation.

So the legislature created a committee to study possible reforms.

The committee is spending $50,000 and is supposed to issue recommendations by November 1. Its members include personal-injury lawyers, victim advocates, and representatives of state and local government. Survivor advocates on the panel have raised concerns that the process is weighted too heavily toward government, while also suggesting alternatives such as earlier resolution of legitimate claims and restrictions on lawyers directly soliciting potential clients.

Those ideas belong in the conversation. So do arbitration, litigation costs, settlement practices, and Washington’s broader liability rules.

A 2011 legislative audit found Washington exposes state government to broader tort liability than the other states it reviewed. Washington waived sovereign immunity in 1961, allowing the state to be sued much like a private person or corporation.

The question now is what, if anything, lawmakers want to change.

Washington’s damages debate gets harder when you meet the kids

One option certain to come up is some form of limit on damages. Plenty of states restrict government liability in ways Washington doesn’t. The budget argument for a ceiling is easy enough to understand.

Then you meet the cases.

A Pierce County jury awarded $130 million this spring in the death of 2-year-old Sarai Brooks. Sarai had been involved with Washington’s child-welfare system because of suspected abuse. She was killed in 2022 by her mother’s boyfriend. Her estate sued the state and a daycare, and the jury returned the $130 million verdict.

Then there are Leo “Bubby” Strode and Matilda Strode, two Pierce County children who suffered catastrophic injuries while in the care of their biological parents as DCYF was involved with their families. Washington agreed this year to settle Leo’s cases for $45 million and Matilda’s for $34 million. DCYF disputed liability and denied wrongdoing before the settlements.

Leo suffered burns over 75% of his body and lost his hands and six toes. Matilda suffered severe brain damage and is blind, deaf, and unable to speak. Nearly $47 million from the settlements, after legal costs, is going into special-needs trusts to help pay for their lifelong care.

Those cases show why the cap question gets uncomfortable very quickly.

A lower ceiling gives taxpayers more predictability. It can also limit compensation in a case involving lifelong medical care or the death of a child. Leaving damages uncapped preserves a jury’s ability to set compensation based on an individual case, while leaving the state exposed to very large and unpredictable awards.

That’s the tradeoff lawmakers would have to resolve.

DCYF reform is the other half of the lawsuit debate

There’s another issue underneath all of this that shouldn’t disappear while Olympia debates courtroom rules.

Why are so many claims coming out of the child-welfare system?

Changing arbitration rules, settlement practices, attorney costs, or damages can affect the size of the check Washington writes after something goes wrong. Those changes don’t address the underlying case that produced the check.

That puts DCYF’s own operations squarely in the conversation. Staffing, supervision, placement decisions, recordkeeping, continuity between caseworkers, and the ability to identify danger before a child gets hurt all matter. DCYF is already operating under a federal court settlement requiring eight system improvements involving children in state care, including placement stability and services for vulnerable youth.

So Washington really has two problems sitting in the same file folder.

One is financial and legal: How much liability should taxpayers face, and what process should determine what an injured person receives?

The other is much more basic: how does the state reduce the number of children and families who ever wind up with a legitimate reason to sue?

Those questions don’t have to produce the same answer.

But after $537 million in payouts last year, a $1.275 billion request for the next budget, and $4.4 billion in estimated outstanding liability, lawmakers are running out of room to pretend they’re separate conversations.

Whatever Olympia eventually does with the lawsuit rules, the measure of success goes beyond whether the liability account gets cheaper.

The other number worth watching is how many kids ever need that account in the first place.

Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here. 

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