While “statute of limitations” is a phrase many people are familiar with, not everyone is sure of the details or how the statues may work in their home state. A statute of limitations is a law that sets a specific time limit on the right to file a case in civil court. If the plaintiff files a claim after the set cutoff date, a defendant can use the statute of limitations as their defense. Under many circumstances, a court can completely dismiss the case when the plaintiff misses the deadline.

Below is a chart broadly detailing the statute of limitations for a variety of civil claims in the state of Washington. While we’ve listed the relevant statutes, please be aware that statutes can change over time, and court rulings can determine the way statutes are interpreted.

As this article covers Washington State’s statutes of limitations in broad terms readers are encouraged to research the actual laws and contact a reputable law firm to see if your situation is impacted in any way by your state’s statute of limitations.

Cause1	Statute
Assault and battery: 2 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.100(1) (2016)
Contract (in writing): 4 or 6 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.040(1) (2016); Wash. Rev. Code § 62A.2-725 (2016)
Contract (not in writing): 3 or 4 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.080(3) (2016); Wash. Rev. Code § 62A.2-725 (2016)
False imprisonment: 2 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.100(1) (2016)
Fraud: 3 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.080(4) (2016)
Legal malpractice: 3 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.080(3) (2016)
Libel: 2 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.100(1) (2016)
Medical malpractice: 3 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.350(3) (2016)
Personal injury: 3 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.080(2) (2016)
Product liability: 3 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.080(2) (2016); Wash. Rev. Code § 7.72.060(3) (2016)
Property damage: 3 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.080(2) (2016)
Slander: 2 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.100(1) (2016)
Trespass: 3 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.080(1) (2016)
Wrongful death: 3 years	Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.080(2) (2016)

1: https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/research/washington/washington-statutes-of-limitations.html

In Washington State, those that are injured at work may file a claim to be eligible for workers’ compensation. Also referred to as L&I, workers’ compensation pays for medical care that is directly related to your workplace injury. Further, it may allow you to recover a portion of lost wages should you be unable to work due to injury.

While the details regarding workers’ compensation may vary based on your employer’s insurance status, if you are injured on the job in the State of Washington, know what you have rights. Also, know that your employer has some responsibilities that need to be addressed immediately.

Washington State Department of Labor & Industries outlines what your employer needs to do should you become injured at work^[1]:

• Make sure you receive prompt medical attention.
• Complete the employer section of the accident report form.
• Consider keeping you at work in a light-duty job, if medically approved. This can help maintain your salary, and speed your recovery while keeping claim costs down for them.

If you are injured at work, please be sure to get first aid, the medical attention of a doctor, and tell your employer about the incident as soon as possible. It may also be in your best interest to contact Washington State Department of Labor & Industries as well as a reputable attorney.

[1] https://www.lni.wa.gov/ClaimsIns/Claims/Guide/phase1.asp

If you downloaded the app “thisisyourdigitallife” in 2015 or were a Facebook friend of someone who did, you may recall seeing political ads during the 2016 presidential campaign that favored Trump. The app, which purported to offer a personality prediction in the form of “a research app used by psychologists”, allegedly collected personal profile information in violation of Facebook’s data privacy policies to attempt to sway voters in the 2016 Trump presidential campaign.

On March 17, 2018, the New York Times reported that Cambridge Analytica, a startup voter-profiling company, had improperly obtained the personal profile data of more than 50 million Facebook users through app “thisisyourdigitallife”.  The company then allegedly used that data to target articles and advertisements to voters who may or may not be backing Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.  Interviews with several Cambridge Analytica employees and contractors supported the allegations and said that the company was still in possession of the data at the time of the writing on March 17th.

One former employee of Cambridge said, “rules don’t matter for them, this is a war, and it’s all fair. They want to fight a culture war in America. Cambridge Analytica was supposed to be the arsenal of weapons to fight that culture war.”

The New York Times published one such political advertisement used in the 2016 presidential campaign supporting Trump, below:

Number May Stand at 87 Million

In an article by money.cnn.com on April 4, 2018, they stated that “previous reporting had put the number of people whose information may have been shared with Cambridge Analytica at around 50 million” and that Facebook had “announced its own [higher] estimate” in a blog post.

According to Facebook, their calculation has estimated a maximum number of 87 million users that could have been impacted after analyzing the number of friends app users had at that time.

Facebook Admits Mistake

In a Facebook post by a company vice president Andrew Bosworth, he wrote “we thought that every app could be social. Your calendar should have your events and your friends birthdays, your maps should know where your friends live, your address book should show their pictures. It was a reasonable vision but it didn’t materialize the way we had hoped.”

Can Duruk, a technology consultant and software engineer, questioned Facebook’s permissiveness of data collection and the ramifications of Facebook’s loose policies, “it seems insane that you can make haphazard decisions about so many people’s data” and called Facebook policies “extremely lax with what kind of data they allowed people to get.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called it a “major breach of trust” and said he was “sorry that happened” in a CNN interview, here.

Data Breach Statistics

In a recent article published by TechBeacon, the company showed the following data breach statistics for 2017:

• 1,579 publicly disclosed data breaches; 44.7% higher than 1,091 in 2016
• 1,946,181,599 records containing personal data were compromised between Jan. 1, 2017 and March 20, 2018
• 75% of data breaches were caused by external hackers (i.e., cyber-crime groups, state-affiliated groups), 25% caused by malicious insiders – per survey of 1,200 companies that reported at least one data breach
• 71% of U.S. enterprises reported suffering at least one data breach in the last few years
• $3.62 million was the average cost of a data breach
• 191 days was the average length of time it took an organization to identify a data breach
• 66 days is the average time needed to contain a data breach

Data Breach Notification Requirements for Washington State

There are laws and requirements that businesses must abide by when they own or maintain data such as consumer names, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial records, credit card numbers, passwords, etc., whether stored electronically or on paper.  A breach of such is defined as unauthorized access which may compromise the data’s security.

In Washington, consumers must be notified within 45 calendar days of the discovery of a breach.  If more than 500 residents receive notice, government notification is also required.

What is this new law about?

On March 7th, Governor Inslee signed House Bill 1723 that broadens the criteria for Hanford workers to qualify for workers compensation claims. That means people who have been denied claims previously may now qualify and it may be easier for new claims to be approved.

 What is the definition of a Hanford worker?

Per HB 1723, “a Hanford site worker is any person, including contractor or subcontractor, who was engaged in the performance of work, either directly or indirectly, for the United States, on projects and contracts at the Hanford nuclear site and worked on the site for at least one eight-hour shift while covered under the state’s industrial insurance laws.

What types of diseases and conditions may be covered?

The bill states that a prima facie presumption of occupational disease will now apply.  That means certain diseases and conditions will be accepted as work-related unless proven otherwise, instead of the other way around.  These potentially covered diseases and conditions are to include:

• Respiratory disease;
• Acute and chronic beryllium disease;
• Heart problems, experienced within 72 hours of exposure to fumes, toxic substances, or chemicals at the site;
• Certain cancers specified in the bill; and
• Neurological disease

What types of cancers may be covered?

The bill states that “regarding cancer, the [prima facie] presumption only applies to a worker who has cancer that develops or manifests and who was given a qualifying medical examination upon becoming a Hanford site worker that showed no evidence of cancer”, including:

• Leukemia;
• Primary or secondary lung cancer (with certain limitations);
• Primary or secondary bone cancer;
• Primary or secondary renal cancer;
• Lymphomas, other than Hodgkin’s disease;
• Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia and mycosis fungoides; and
• Primary cancer of the:  thyroid, male or female breast, esophagus, stomach, pharynx, small intestine, pancreas, bile ducts, gall bladder, salivary gland, urinary bladder, brain (with certain limitations), colon, ovary and liver (with certain limitations).

Are claims allowed for survivors of a deceased workers?

Yes, the bill states “a worker, or survivor of a worker who has died from one of the conditions or diseases, whose claim was denied by the L&I, the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals, or a court, may file a new claim for the same exposure and contended condition or disease.”

When do these changes take effect?

The bill will take effect 90 days after it is passed but it may be advisable to have an attorney review your potential claim in advance to ensure all provisions of the new bill are followed correctly as your appeal or new claim is processed.

Where can I see a copy of the new bill?

Click here to download a copy of HB 1723.

Watch – “Governor Inslee Signs New Bill into Law”:

Read:  New Law Allows Hanford Workers Compensation Claims