Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill into law Friday that overhauls the nation’s wrongful-demise law.
“A clear tragedy delivered us to this bill,” Inslee said, referring to the 2015 Ride the Ducks crash in Seattle that killed 5 people.
SB 5163 eliminates the requirement that a discerning must be a U.S. Resident to convey wrongful dying claims.
The trouble arose in 2016 when a federal decision dismissed claims through the South Korean mother and father of a pupil killed within the Ride the Ducks crash who stated the residency requirement became discriminatory. The law that the Legislature passed in 1909 was among numerous national to save you court cases for the loss of life of Chinese railroad and my employees.
Inslee also referred briefly to the bulk of the bill, which allows dad and mom or legal guardians to deliver claims for the wrongful death in their unmarried person son or daughter — 18 years or older — if they have had “extensive involvement” in their life.
Current regulation says parents can convey such claims for the wrongful demise best if they’re financially dependent on their child, and lots of parents don’t match that definition.
The Washington State Hospital Association and exchange agencies representing town and county governments adversarial the invoice, warning that hospitals and governments, together with the kingdom, should need to pay the whole amount in a wrongful-dying lawsuit although they had been most effective 1 percentage at fault.
Puyallup resident Loli Mahoney and Rhonda Ellis, who lives in Anacortes, attended the invoice signing and embraced in tears in a while.
Mahoney, whose 22-year-antique daughter, Ella, died ultimate yr of what she and her husband said changed into “preventable medical negligence,” stated she felt “thrilled” that the invoice becomes law.
“We feel like we honored our children,” added Ellis, whose 25-year-antique son, daughter-in-law, and toddler grandson were killed in 2015 in Bonney Lake whilst a concrete barrier being cut by way of employees fell and landed on the cabin their pickup.
The bill becomes regulation ninety days after the everyday session, which ends Sunday. The degree is retroactive, applying to all claims pending in court docket whilst the bill becomes regulation and people who aren’t barred via the 3-yr statute of drawback.
