Apportionment of Damages in Settlement

If a plaintiff brings a tort claim where multiple people or entities may be responsible for harm to the plaintiff, liability for the tort may be apportioned among those people or entities, determining the degree to which each caused harm to the plaintiff, and how much of plaintiff’s damages each is responsible for paying as a result.  RCW 4.22.070(1).  Liability can be apportioned to the defendant, multiple defendants if there are more than one, or the plaintiff (whose own negligence may have caused their harm).  Id.  Liability can also be apportioned to non-parties or former parties, including defendants that the plaintiff entered into a settlement agreement, parties that may have been partially at fault that the plaintiff chose not to sue, or parties that the plaintiff cannot sue because of some defense or immunity.  Id.  The one exception to this is if a party is liable to an injured plaintiff for worker’s compensation under the Industrial Insurance Act, Title 51 RCW, their liability may not be considered when apportioning fault.  Id.  Apportionment of liability to nonparties reduces the amount the other defendants have to pay, because nonparties do not have to pay anything. 

If the plaintiff settles with one defendant before trial, liability is still apportioned to the settling defendant, but they only pay the amount in the settlement agreement.  RCW 4.22.070(1), 4.22.060(3).  This can get even more complicated if defendants are jointly and severally liable, because the plaintiff can collect their full damages from any defendant, and it is the paying defendant’s burden to seek contribution from the other liable defendants for their fair share.  RCW 4.22.050(1).  However, the paying defendant can only seek contribution from a defendant who settled with the plaintiff.  RCW 4.22.060(2).

To prevent injustice to the other defendants, if the plaintiff and one defendant wish to settle in a case with other defendants, they have to first seek a determination from the court that the settlement is reasonable.  RCW 4.22.060(1).  The amount of the settlement paid by the settling defendant is deducted from the total damages paid by the other defendants.  RCW 4.22.060(2). 

If settlement happened before litigation started, the court may still determine whether the settlement was reasonable.  RCW 4.22.060(3).  This does not effect the amount paid by the settling defendant, but only the amount determined to be reasonable is deducted from the amount paid by the other defendants, not the value of the settlement.