No license or nonresident's driving privilege of any person shall be suspended under the provisions of this chapter if the department shall find that an insurer was obligated to pay the judgment upon which suspension is based, at least to the extent and for the amounts required in this chapter, but has not paid such judgment for any reason. A finding by the department that an insurer is obligated to pay a judgment shall not be binding upon such insurer and shall have no legal effect whatever except for the purpose of administering this section. If the department finds that no insurer is obligated to pay such a judgment, the judgment debtor may file with the department a written notice of his or her intention to contest such finding by an action in the superior court. In such a case the license or the nonresident's driving privilege of such judgment debtor shall not be suspended by the department under the provisions of this chapter for thirty days from the receipt of such notice nor during the pendency of any judicial proceedings brought in good faith to determine the liability of an insurer so long as the proceedings are being diligently prosecuted to final judgment by such judgment debtor. Whenever in any judicial proceedings it shall be determined by any final judgment, decree, or order that an insurer is not obligated to pay any such judgment, the department, notwithstanding any contrary finding theretofore made by it, shall forthwith suspend the license and any nonresident's driving privilege of any person against whom such judgment was rendered, as provided in RCW 46.29.330.
[ 2010 c 8 § 9040; 1967 c 32 § 42; 1963 c 169 § 36.]