In Washington, any plaintiff with even a little bit of a case will win. If not a the trial level, they can appeal all the way to the supreme court and 100% of the time the supreme court will side with the plaintiff. Then it is automatic that there must have been bad faith and then triple damages are awarded. In this case it looks like there must have been at least some negligence (of course we don’t have all the facts) and Kitsap would lose big time, so the lawyers can extract a pretty penny. Of course it is the taxpayers who pay. Hopefully the health insurance company can recoup all of their money too so it is not double.
In Washington, any plaintiff with even a little bit of a case will win. If not a the trial level, they can appeal all the way to the supreme court and 100% of the time the supreme court will side with the plaintiff. Then it is automatic that there must have been bad faith and then triple damages are awarded. In this case it looks like there must have been at least some negligence (of course we don’t have all the facts) and Kitsap would lose big time, so the lawyers can extract a pretty penny. Of course it is the taxpayers who pay. Hopefully the health insurance company can recoup all of their money too so it is not double.