H-2144.1 _______________________________________________
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1541
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State of Washington 57th Legislature 2001 Regular Session
By House Committee on Judiciary (originally sponsored by Representatives Carrell, Lambert, Cairnes, Van Luven, Reardon, Santos, Veloria and Morris)
Read first time . Referred to Committee on .
AN ACT Relating to defenses in civil actions; adding a new section to chapter 4.24 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that a person who is injured as a result of engaging in criminal activity should not be entitled to recover damages for that injury if the criminal activity was an actual cause of the injury and the circumstances of the injury warrant preclusion of liability as a matter of social policy and common sense. The law provides a complete defense against a personal injury action if the injured person was engaged in a felony at the time of the injury. The legislature intends to extend this policy to situations involving gross misdemeanor and misdemeanor crimes if the person is found to have committed the offense.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 4.24 RCW to read as follows:
It is a complete defense to any action for damages for personal injury or wrongful death that the person injured or killed was engaged in the commission of a gross misdemeanor or a misdemeanor at the time of the occurrence causing the injury or death and the gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor was a proximate cause of the injury or death. However, the defense provided in this section applies only if the injury or death was not caused by an act of the person claiming the defense and, in the case of a personal injury action, the person injured has been convicted of the offense that was a proximate cause of the injury, or in the case of a wrongful death action, the court finds by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence that the person killed committed the offense that was a proximate cause of the death. Nothing in this section shall affect a right of action under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, nor shall anything in this section affect a right of action under the common law doctrine of attractive nuisance when the only offense committed or intended to be committed is trespass.
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