The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Washington
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Tort Reform Act of 1986, chapter 5.40 RCW
- Effective
- standing
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Standing dutyOther
- Addressees
- persons generally; employers; owners or persons in control of premises (as defendants in negligence actions)
- Character
- liability shield condition
- Collection
- Standing duties: Washington DUT-WA
Operative words
A breach of a duty imposed by statute, ordinance, or administrative rule shall not be considered negligence per se, but may be considered by the trier of fact as evidence of negligence; however, any breach of duty... relating to:... (3)... other precaution against the spread of disease, as required under RCW 70.54.350... shall be considered negligence per se.
Penalty
Civil liability in negligence; breach of the enumerated duties is negligence per se
What it required
Washington enacted no COVID-19 liability shield; this standing statute made the breach of any statutory, ordinance or administrative-rule duty (every proclamation condition, every L&I rule, every Secretary of Health order and every local health order) admissible evidence of negligence in any suit by an employee, customer or visitor, so that compliance with the health directives was the legal standard of care.
Retrieval noteRecorded under character liability_shield_condition because it performs, for Washington, the standard-of-care function that the shield statutes' compliance conditions perform elsewhere. No Washington shield statute or proclamation was located (see liability_shield_finding).