RCW 18.27.050 Insurance or financial responsibility required—Suspension of registration upon impairment.

(1) At the time of registration and subsequent reregistration, the applicant shall furnish insurance or financial responsibility in the form of an assigned account in the amount of fifty thousand dollars for injury or damages to property, and one hundred thousand dollars for injury or damage including death to any one person, and two hundred thousand dollars for injury or damage including death to more than one person.

(2) An expiration, cancellation, or revocation of the insurance policy or withdrawal of the insurer from the insurance policy automatically suspends the registration issued to the registrant until a new insurance policy or reinstatement notice has been filed and approved as provided in this section.

(3)(a) Proof of financial responsibility authorized in this section may be given by providing, in the amount required by subsection (1) of this section, an assigned account acceptable to the department. The assigned account shall be held by the department to satisfy any execution on a judgment issued against the contractor for damage to property or injury or death to any person occurring in the contractor's contracting operations, according to the provisions of the assigned account agreement. The department shall have no liability for payment in excess of the amount of the assigned account.

(b) The assigned account filed with the director as proof of financial responsibility shall be canceled at the expiration of three years after:

(i) The contractor's registration has expired or been revoked; or

(ii) The contractor has furnished proof of insurance as required by subsection (1) of this section;

if, in either case, no legal action has been instituted against the contractor or on the account at the expiration of the three-year period.

(c) If a contractor chooses to file an assigned account as authorized in this section, the contractor shall, on any contracting project, notify each person with whom the contractor enters into a contract or to whom the contractor submits a bid that the contractor has filed an assigned account in lieu of insurance and that recovery from the account for any claim against the contractor for property damage or personal injury or death occurring in the project requires the claimant to obtain a court judgment.

[ 2001 c 159 § 4; 1987 c 303 § 1; 1963 c 77 § 5.]