The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit looked to its sister circuits last week when considering whether a district court erred in dismissing a plaintiff’s malpractice claim for failing to file an arbitration declaration requirement under Washington state law.

Under state law, RCW 7.70A.020, a plaintiff in a medical malpractice suit must elect or decline to submit a claim to arbitration when a lawsuit is filed. If the plaintiff does not submit the dispute to arbitration, the plaintiff must file a declaration at the time of filing the action that they did not opt to submit the dispute to arbitration, according to the appellate court’s opinion filed on May 27.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]