How long do you have to file a birth injury case in Washington?

When a baby is hurt during pregnancy, labor or delivery, parents are not thinking about court deadlines. They are thinking about the NICU and the next appointment. Washington State gives children more time than many states do, but its rules have changed several times, and some of what families read online is out of date.

This page explains the deadlines that matter in a Washington birth-injury case: the general rule in RCW 4.16.350, the pause for a child’s claim, the eight-year limit that no longer applies, the claim form and 60-day wait for public hospitals, and what happened to the old 90-day notice and certificate of merit.

The general rule for adults

Under RCW 4.16.350, a lawsuit against a health care provider for professional negligence must be filed within three years of the act or omission that caused the injury, or within one year of the time the patient or the patient’s representative discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, that the injury was caused by that act or omission, whichever period expires later. That last phrase matters: when an injury is found late, the one-year discovery period can give extra time after the three years have run.

The statute also pauses the deadline on proof of fraud, intentional concealment, or a foreign object left in the body with no therapeutic or diagnostic purpose. In those cases the patient has one year from actual knowledge of the fraud, the concealment or the object to file.

This matters because parents often have claims of their own: a mother injured by a delayed C-section or an untreated hemorrhage, or the parents’ claim for the child’s medical expenses under RCW 4.24.010. Those claims belong to adults, and the pause for minors described below does not apply to them.

The eight-year limit that no longer applies

If you read RCW 4.16.350 on the Legislature’s website, you will still see a sentence saying that no action may be commenced more than eight years after the act or omission. That outer limit, called a statute of repose, is no longer enforceable.

The Washington Supreme Court first struck down an earlier version in DeYoung v. Providence Medical Center (1998). The Legislature re-enacted it in 2006. Then, on December 7, 2023, in Bennett v. United States, the Court held that the eight-year statute of repose violates the privileges and immunities clause of article I, section 12 of the Washington Constitution. What controls today are the three-year and one-year rules above, and the pause for children below.

The rule for a child’s case

Washington’s general tolling statute, RCW 4.16.190, says that when a person entitled to sue is under eighteen when the claim arises, “the time of such disability shall not be a part of the time limited for the commencement of action.” In plain words: the clock does not run while the child is a minor.

For years, malpractice cases were the exception. In 2006 the Legislature added a subsection that denied this pause to minors in medical negligence cases. In Schroeder v. Weighall (2014), the Washington Supreme Court held that exception unconstitutional under article I, section 12, and in 2023 the Legislature removed it from the statute (Substitute Senate Bill 5087).

For a baby hurt during labor or delivery, that means the child’s own three-year period generally does not begin until the 18th birthday, so the child’s case can usually be filed until about the 21st birthday, or later under the one-year discovery rule. Two cautions. RCW 4.16.350 still contains older wording about a parent’s knowledge being imputed to the child, and every case turns on its own facts, so no family should plan around the longest possible deadline. And the parents’ own claims, and the claim step for public hospitals, run on their own timelines.

• Child’s own claim: generally paused until age 18, then three years (about the 21st birthday), or one year from discovery if that is later.
• Parents’ own claims: not paused. Three years from the act or omission, or one year from discovery, whichever expires later.
• Public hospital: a written claim and a 60-day wait come before any lawsuit, no matter the child’s age.

When the hospital is public: the claim form and the 60-day wait

Some Washington births happen at hospitals run by government. The University of Washington, a state institution, runs UW Medical Center. Harborview Medical Center is owned by King County and operated by the University of Washington under a hospital services agreement. And many communities are served by public hospital districts, which RCW 70.44.010 creates as municipal corporations; Valley Medical Center in Renton and EvergreenHealth in Kirkland are two examples.

Claims against the state follow RCW 4.92.100 and 4.92.110. The claim must be presented to the state Office of Risk Management on the standard tort claim form, which asks for a description of what happened, the injury, the time and place, the people involved, the amount claimed and the claimant’s residence. It must be signed by the claimant, a Washington attorney, or a court-approved guardian or guardian ad litem, among others. No lawsuit may be filed until 60 calendar days after the claim is presented.

Claims against local government entities, including public hospital districts and county-owned hospitals, follow RCW 4.96.020. The claim is presented to the agent that the entity’s governing body has appointed, within the time allowed for the lawsuit itself, and the same 60-day waiting period applies.

Under both statutes, the filing deadline is paused during the 60 days, and a lawsuit started within five court days after the wait ends counts, for the deadline, as if it were filed the day after the 60 days ran. Washington has no separate six-month claim deadline like California’s, but the claim is still a required step: filing suit without it, or sending it to the wrong place, can put a case at risk. When a hospital is owned by one public body and operated by another, as Harborview is, a claim may need to go to more than one.

What happened to the 90-day notice and the certificate of merit

Older articles about Washington malpractice law describe two steps that are no longer required. The first was a certificate of merit: a statement from a health care professional, filed with the complaint, under RCW 7.70.150. The Washington Supreme Court struck it down in Putman v. Wenatchee Valley Medical Center (2009), holding that it unduly burdened the right of access to the courts and violated the separation of powers. The Legislature repealed it in 2023.

The second was a 90-day notice of intent to sue in RCW 7.70.100. In Waples v. Yi (2010), the Court held that it conflicted with the court rule on how a lawsuit begins (CR 3(a)) and was unconstitutional. The Legislature deleted the notice from the statute in 2013 (House Bill 1533).

What remains is mandatory mediation. Under RCW 7.70.100, a case for injury resulting from health care must be mediated before trial unless an exception applies, such as an agreement to arbitrate. Court rule CR 53.4 sets the timing: mediation must begin no later than 30 days before the trial date unless the court orders otherwise. And under RCW 7.70.110, a written, good-faith request for mediation made before a lawsuit is filed pauses the filing deadline for one year.

Why acting early protects the evidence

Deadlines are only part of the reason to move quickly. Birth-injury cases are won or lost on evidence that fades.

Washington law helps with the first step. Under RCW 70.02.080, after a patient’s written request, a health care provider must make the records available no later than 15 working days after receiving it, or explain the delay in writing and give a date no later than 21 working days after the request.

There is also a practical reason. Children with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, cerebral palsy or Erb’s palsy often need therapy, equipment and specialized care right away, and a case that starts early can be resolved while that care makes the biggest difference.

• Fetal heart monitoring strips and electronic records can be overwritten, archived or lost as hospital systems change.
• Nurses and residents rotate, move to other hospitals or leave medicine; memories of one delivery blur after a year.
• Placental pathology, cord blood gases and newborn imaging are easiest to obtain and interpret when requested soon after birth.
• Early expert review tells a family whether a case exists at all, so no one waits years for an answer.

How Beverly Law helps

Beverly Law is a Los Angeles personal injury firm. In Washington State, we take birth-injury cases through licensed local counsel, and we talk with families in English and Spanish. The first step is a free consultation: we listen to what happened, identify who provided care, and work out every deadline that may apply, including the claim form and 60-day wait if the hospital is public. Then the complete medical records, including the monitoring strips, are requested and reviewed by qualified medical experts.

If a case exists, the claim forms are presented on time, the lawsuit is filed within the limits of RCW 4.16.350, and mediation is handled as the law requires. You pay no fee unless we win, and in a Washington medical negligence case the court can review attorney fees for reasonableness under RCW 7.70.070. Call 1 (877) 427-2752 to talk with our team today.

Questions parents ask

Related pages

Cerebral Palsy · Erb’s Palsy / Brachial Plexus Injury · HIE / Oxygen Deprivation at Birth · Damages in Washington · Washington birth injury lawyers

Important: This page is general information about birth injuries and Washington law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Beverly Law. Every case is different — talk to a lawyer about your own situation. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. No fee unless we win. Last reviewed: 2026-09-30.