If wilful and malicious misappropriation exists, the court may award exemplary damages up to twice the compensatory award. RCW 19.108.030(2). The award is discretionary, and the statutory ceiling — 2x, not 3x — differs from some sister-state analogues.
Boeing remains the canonical application: the trial court found Sierracin's misappropriation wilful and malicious and doubled Boeing's $1,635,333 award. 108 Wn.2d at 45.
WUTSA defines neither "wilful" nor "malicious." ADA Motors addressed the sufficiency of jury instructions defining those terms as an issue of first impression, reviewing instructions that defined "willful" as "voluntary or intentional, but not necessarily malicious" and "malicious" as acting without just cause. 7 Wn. App. 2d at 63–64. Practitioners drafting instructions should treat this area as still developing.
Under the DTSA, exemplary damages are likewise capped at 2x, and are unavailable — along with fees — against an employee who was not given the § 1833(b)(3) whistleblower-immunity notice.