Wash. anti-fraud auto insurance bill wins committee approval

In Olympia, Wash., a legislative committee amended and passed legislation that is designed to assist consumers injured in intentional “road rage” collisions — and protect insurers against auto insurance fraud, according to Kenton Brine, northwest regional manager for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).

House Bill 2415 would redefine state to law so that a person who is injured or suffers property damage as a result of a collision caused by an uninsured or underinsured motorists has a right to financial recovery from those injuries or damages through the uninsured motorist or underinsured motorist insurance coverage, Brine said.

HB 2415 requires that the recovery would be mandatory, even if the collision is the result of an intentional act of the uninsured driver, or whether the accident victims are the intended targets of the at-fault driver.

PCI supports the amended version of the bill, according to Brine. He noted the bill, authored by Rep. Steve Kirby, D-Tacoma, at the request of Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, was unanimously approved by the House Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee.

The bill now goes to the House Rules Committee, which will likely schedule a vote by the full House in the coming weeks.

The Senate is working on an identical bill, which at press time was going to be considered in committee.

“PCI is pleased to see this legislation move forward to protect innocent victims of collisions that are caused — on purpose or due to an accident — by uninsured motorists,” Brine said. “We appreciate Commissioner Kreidler bringing this bill forward and we support the effort made … to strengthen the bill and help insurers guard against fraud.”

Without the amendment, Brine said, insurers would potentially be exposed to the chance that an alleged “intended victim” might be colluding with the driver who caused a collision to collect insurance proceeds.

The amendment makes no changes to the protection the bill offers to unintended “third party” victims.