The insurance company for Battle Ground Public Schools — which lost a lawsuit this week just because it never responded — issued a public apology Thursday, calling the situation an “oversight.”
The school district, through its insurance company, Canfield Solutions of Ephrata, was ordered Tuesday to pay $129,185 in damages to the family of a Yacolt boy. Trae Letts, then 13, was struck in 2009 by a falling tree while playing at Yacolt Primary School. He suffered a skull fracture.
The lawsuit meant the school district was on the hook for a $1,000 deductible. But “as a result of this event, Canfield … will be fully responsible for any financial impact,” a letter from the insurer stated.
The Letts’ attorney, William Baumgartner, had contended the school district was negligent in allowing old, rotting trees to be on school property, in the wake of several community complaints.
But that’s not why the district lost the case. Clark County Judge Diane Woolard made a default judgment, or a money award based on the insurance company’s lack of response to the family’s lawsuit.
High-profile gaffe
Phil Riche, vice president of the insurance company, sent a letter Thursday to the Battle Ground district, as well as a number of other school districts throughout Washington covered by Canfield, to apologize and explain the gaffe.
The Associated Press picked up the story on the lawsuit judgment, and it ran in at least one Puget Sound newspaper, so the situation was high-profile, he said.
Riche said the insurance company never responded to the lawsuit because an adjuster who received the complaint mistakenly thought it was a claim, or the initial paperwork filed two months before a formal lawsuit. A claim doesn’t require immediate response.
Riche said his staff is taking the error very seriously.
“This is the first time a default judgment has been entered as a result of our error in over 25 years in business,” Riche said in the letter.
Riche also absolved the school district of any part of the mistake, saying officials did what they should have done — forward the case to Canfield and assume it was being litigated.
Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516; Twitter: Col_Courts; laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.
