The current rule: a waiting period, not a hard deadline
Before suing the State of Washington, a claimant must first file a claim with the Department of Enterprise Services, then wait at least 60 days before filing suit, under RCW 4.92.110. Suing a local government follows a similar structure: a claim must be filed with that government's governing body, followed by the same 60-day wait, under RCW 4.96.020(4). Notably, this operates as a waiting period after presenting a claim, rather than a fixed outer deadline for the claim itself.
A real, earlier version struck down as unconstitutional
Here's a genuinely significant piece of legal history. An earlier version of Washington's state tort claim statute required that notice be given within just 120 days of when the claim arose. The Washington Supreme Court ruled this provision unconstitutional on its face, holding that the legislature had essentially created a disguised, truncated 120-day statute of limitations rather than a legitimate notice requirement — a result the state constitution's Article II, Section 26 didn't permit.
A second real showdown: medical malpractice notice
A separate, 2006 law created an additional 90-day presuit notice requirement specifically for medical malpractice defendants, under former RCW 7.70.100(1). In 2010, the Washington Supreme Court struck this down too, holding that it violated separation of powers principles.
Applied even to government-run hospitals
A later court case extended this 2010 ruling to a government-operated hospital, holding that the invalidated malpractice-specific notice requirement didn't apply there either — even though that same hospital's own separate, general 60-day government tort claim notice requirement continued to apply independently.
A real case where the government's own failure backfired
In a documented case, a hospital tried to have a lawsuit dismissed because the claimants hadn't presented the required pre-suit notice of claim. The court held that the hospital couldn't raise this defense, because the hospital itself had failed to make the required tort claim form and instructions available in the first place, as the statute required it to do.
Why this genuinely rich history matters
Because Washington's legislature has repeatedly tried to tighten pre-suit notice requirements for government and malpractice claims, and the state's courts have repeatedly pushed back, the exact requirements that currently apply can be less restrictive than an older article or outdated source might suggest. Confirming the current, valid requirement with a licensed attorney is a genuinely important step before assuming an older, invalidated rule still controls.