Washington

In Reagan v. St. Elmo (Div. II, No. 50662-9-II), Division II of The Court of Appeals addressed, among other things, the issue of whether the physical examination portion of an IME constitutes “health care” for purposes of RCW 7.70, i.e. the medical malpractice statute. As a refresher, RCW 7.70  “exclusively governs any action for damages based on an injury resulting from health care” and RCW 7.70.030 states in an action for damages resulting from “health care,” a plaintiff must establish one of the following:

Kalles v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. (Div. II, 2019) involved an action for, among other things, UIM property damage benefits for loss of use, i.e., rental car costs, while the insured’s vehicle was being repaired. Although the insured’s UIM policy language did not expressly state that loss of use damages would be covered, the Court of Appeals held that (1) because an average person could have interpreted the policy language to include those benefits, the language was, at best, ambiguous; and (2) because ambiguous policy language must be construed in favor of an insured, the insured was ultimately entitled to said benefits.

In Everett Hangar, LLC v. Kilo 6 Owners Assoc., et al, Division 1 of the Court of Appeals reaffirmed a party subject to a court order must demonstrate more than mere passive obedience with the order to avoid a finding contempt.

In  Baker v. Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, et al., plaintiffs filed suit against their insurance companies, defendant Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company and American Insurance Company (collectively, “Fireman’s Fund”), for breaching their duty to defend in a litigation related to plaintiffs’ landfill, which became contaminated. After over a decade of litigation, plaintiffs obtained a successful result and were awarded seven-figure attorney fees. Though the fee award was disputed by both plaintiffs and defendants, it was nevertheless upheld by the Court of Appeals as the award was within the trial court’s discretion and was properly supported by its findings. The summary of the Court of Appeal’s opinion below outlines the nuanced process by which courts determine an attorney fee award to the prevailing party in a bad-faith claim.

In Group Health Cooperative v. Nathaniel Coon and Lori Coon, (Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1; August 13, 2018) 2018 WL 3830032, plaintiff Nathaniel Coon (hereinafter, “plaintiff”) had knee surgery and subsequently developed an aggressive leg infection resulting in an above-the-knee amputation. Plaintiff’s insurer, Group Health, paid $372,000 in medical expenses for plaintiff’s related treatment.