Latest Washington Headlines
All the headlines from our Washington Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Family of Oregon Man Whose Car Crashed off Bridge into River Sues
Feb 18 2022 // The family of a Portland, Oregon, man whose car slid off the Glenn Jackson Bridge and plunged into the Columbia River during a winter storm is suing the Oregon Department of Transportation for $12 million. A crash...
Washington Roofing Manufacturer Fined $100K in Worker Death
Feb 18 2022 // The failure to follow lockout/tagout procedures was directly connected to the death of a worker in Sumas, Washington, when an agitator arm inside a tank he was cleaning turned on, according to the Washington State...
Insurers Taking Battle with Commissioner to Washington Supreme Court
Feb 17 2022 // Insurer groups this week sought to take their battle with Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler to the Supreme Court of Washington. The American Property Casualty Insurance Association, the Professional Insurance...
Court Upholds Decision Not to Certify Class in Washington Auto Case
Feb 14 2022 // The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the district court’s decision declining to certify a proposed damages class in an auto insurance diversity action in Washington involving Liberty Mutual. This case...
Criminals Gained Access to Info on 650K Through Washington Database
Feb 14 2022 // Investigators believe hackers stole at least some of the Social Security numbers and other sensitive personal data of 650,000 current and former Washington state professionals and business owners during a breach of a state...
Washington Businesses Fined After 250 Workers Contract Virus in Same Warehouse
Feb 11 2022 // Three Washington businesses were fined after workers housed in Thurston County hotels and employed at a Lewis County distribution center got sick with COVID-19, and then walked to the hospital for help and feared they...
Washington Database May Expose Personal Information
Feb 9 2022 // The Washington State Department of Licensing said the personal information of potentially millions of licensed professionals may have been exposed after it detected suspicious activity on its online licensing system. The...
School District in Washington Offers $34M in Toxic Exposure Case
Feb 9 2022 // The Monroe, Washington, School District offered a $34 million settlement to students and parents exposed to toxic chemicals on a public school campus. The Seattle Times reports the district proposed the settlement in...
Couple Accused of Laundering $4.5B in Bitcoin Tied to 2016 Hack
Feb 9 2022 // The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it has unraveled its biggest-ever cryptocurrency theft, seizing a record-shattering $3.6 billion in bitcoin tied to the 2016 hack of digital currency exchange Bitfinex and...
Traffic Control Firm in Washington Ordered to Pay $250K to Workers
Feb 8 2022 // Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards says a traffic control company has agreed to pay more than $250,000 to settle wage theft allegations. Officials alleged that Traffic Management Industries failed to pay its workers...
Washington Woman Who Says Coach Raped Her at Age 16 Will Get $7.5M
Feb 7 2022 // A woman has received $7.5 million from the Olympia-based Blackhills Football Club to settle a lawsuit that alleged she was raped by her soccer coach in an Oregon hotel room when she was 16. Darrell Cochran, who represented...
Insurer Groups Sue to Stop Washington Credit Scoring Regulations
Feb 3 2022 // The American Property Casualty Insurance Association, the Professional Insurance Agents of Washington, and the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of Washington jointly filed two legal actions to halt the enforcement...
Washington Commissioner Adopts 3-Year Credit Scoring Ban, Proposes Transparency Rule
Feb 1 2022 // Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has adopted his rule banning insurers from using credit information to set auto, homeowner and renter insurance for three years. Kreidler’s rule temporarily banning...
MyShake Earthquake Warning App Available in Washington
Feb 1 2022 // A new earthquake-warning app is available for Washington state. The state said there are already two warning systems in place, but the MyShake app provides a third and possibly quicker option, The Seattle Times...
BP Fined $100K for Washington Pipeline Gasoline Spills
Jan 31 2022 // The Washington Department of Ecology is penalizing British Petroleum $100,000 for two Olympic Pipeline gasoline spills in a Seattle suburb. BP did some construction on the Olympic pipeline in Woodinville on Feb. 21, 2020,...
Washington Contractor Fined $248K After Worker Fell to Death from Bridge
Jan 31 2022 // A Bellingham, Washington, construction company is facing nearly $284,000 in fines for not ensuring safeguards were in place to keep workers from falling off the Beverly Railroad bridge spanning the Columbia River in...
Washington Roofers Face $750K in Fines for Putting Workers at Risk
Jan 13 2022 // The Washington Department of Labor & Industries issued a combined $768,000 in fines against three Washington roofing companies for reportedly allowing workers to roof on top of homes without using fall protection and...
Minimum Wage, OT And Workers’ Comp Premium Changes in Washington Starting in 2022
Dec 28 2021 // Changes in Washington’s minimum wage, overtime for white-collar professionals, overtime for agricultural workers, and workers’ compensation premiums are set to take effect Jan. 1, 2022. The Washington State...
$4M Settlement in Washington Foster Abuse Case
Dec 27 2021 // The state of Washington has agreed to a $4 million settlement for two former foster children who were abused and sexually assaulted. The record-breaking settlement comes out of a sex abuse lawsuit for the two sisters, who...
A Month After Washington Floods, Slow Return to Normal
Dec 21 2021 // Over a month has passed since flooding inundated northwest Washington’s Whatcom County that caused some $50 million in damage. As Roger De Bruin returned to his flood-damaged home in Sumas recently, the word...
