The state of Washington paid out nearly $50 million last fiscal year to people who were somehow harmed by the state. The numbers were released Tuesday in an annual report on tort claim payouts.
The single biggest payout was $9 million, which went to six children who suffered physical, sexual and emotional abuse in their biological home and in foster care. The Department of Social and Health Services was accused of failing to protect the children. Washington also recently paid $8 million to six more children in a similar case.
Another $8 million went to victims of a deadly shooting in Skagit County in 2008. Issac Zamora was on community supervision when he killed six people, including a sheriff’s deputy, and wounded four more.
A Washington prison inmate was awarded nearly $3 million after his cellmate blinded him. All of these payouts were the result of out-of-court settlements. Washington paid a total of $48 million in tort claim payments last fiscal year. That’s a six-year low.
