Diaz v. State

¶1 In this medical malpractice case, Louis Diaz seeks a new trial because the trial court admitted evidence that he settled before trial with two of the defendants. Diaz contends that the trial court misapplied RCW 7.70.080, a medical malpractice statute, in ruling the evidence admissible. We agree, concluding that (1) RCW 7.70.080 permits only a settling health care provider, not the nonsettling defendants, to introduce evidence of the settlement; (2) to the extent it deals with settlements, RCW 7.70.080 has been superseded by subsequent statutes that treat settlements inconsistently with…