Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

Earlier this week Notre Dame University wrapped-up its investigation of an accident last October in which a 20-year-old student was killed when the mobile lift from which he was filming football practice toppled over amidst high winds. In a news conference the school’s president announced, in effect, that because everyone involved was partly to blame for Declan Sullivan’s death no one in particular was actually responsible, according to an account by sports columnist Mike McGovern.

The idea that universal blame for this tragedy means no one is individually responsible is disturbing – especially since, in many respects, it clashes with the findings of Indiana’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration. That organization fined the university for a list of workplace safety violations related to the accident. According to McGovern: “Notre Dame was cited for failure to properly train the students, failure to have the lift serviced and inspected as required, failure to have an operator’s manual on the lift and failure to have warning labels displayed.” IOHSA has levied over $77,000 in fines for these violations, which the university is contesting.

At a more basic level, however, someone made the decision to send Sullivan up an unsafe lift “in known adverse conditions.” Someone decided that videotaping football practice overrode legitimate concerns about a student’s safety.

One of the main reasons why we have civil courts – why our system of laws allows individuals to seek justice independent of the criminal prosecutions system – is to ensure that victims and their families can demand accountability at moments such as this. As an Oregon wrongful death attorney I am committed to helping families achieve the justice they deserve in situations where those who bear responsibility cannot, or will not, own up to their responsibilities.

Regardless of whether the tragedy at Notre Dame constitutes wrongful death, or fits the legal definition of an industrial accident, it is a painful reminder of the responsibilities all universities have to see to the safety of their students. That lesson is one that is as important here in Oregon as it is in Indiana.

Reading Eagle: Seems no one is to blame for death at Notre Dame

SB Nation: Promoting Declan Sullivan’s legacy more important than firing those responsible

The US Supreme Court heard arguments this week in a case that raises important issues about personal privacy, patients relationships with their doctors and what some see as corporate America’s right to see people’s personal data because doing so may aid their marketing efforts.

According to the Burlington Free Press, the case turns on “a Vermont law that restricts the use of doctors’ prescription records for marketing purposes.” Pharmaceutical companies have challenged the law, arguing that they need to know which doctors are prescribing generic as opposed to brand-name drugs so that they can target their marketing to doctors who, they feel, should opt for generic medicines less often. The Free Press reports that 35 states, the District of Columbia, the US Justice Department and “organizations representing more than 100,000 physicians” back the law, while “numerous business and research groups, including the US Chamber of Commerce” oppose it. The measure went into effect last year. A Federal District judge upheld it, but was reversed by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.

From a patients’ perspective challenges to this law raise several potentially disturbing issues. As patients we presume our conversations with out doctors are private. It is unclear from the court arguments whether personally identifiable information is being shared with drug companies. Also, should patients have some right to know whether their doctor’s prescribing decisions were effected by a marketing hard-sell from drug manufacturers? Considering the number of scandals in recent years surrounding medical marketing these are very legitimate questions for patients to ask.

Unfortunately, many people are uncomfortable with the idea of asking their doctor these sort of pointed questions. Answers that would have been useful when a person is sick may emerge only later as part of a medical malpractice or wrongful death case.

Washington and Oregon personal injury attorneys are here to help level the playing field between average citizens and companies who put their marketing plans ahead of the public good. The Supreme Court will issue a ruling in the Vermont case later this year, and it will bear close scrutiny at that time. When corporations are out mainly for themselves we need to rely on our courts to protect ordinary citizens rights to both privacy and crucial health-related information.

The Burlington Free Press: Supreme Court questions Vermont’s limits on use of prescription data

A Clatsop County court has convicted a 45-year old Portland man in a case stemming from a fatal drunk driving car crash last year, according to The Oregonian.

The case of Ken Middleton’s Portland fatal car crash is particularly shocking not only because of the sheer amount of alcohol he consumed in the hours leading up to the accident, but also because he got behind the wheel so completely intoxicated despite having his own 13-year-old daughter riding with him. The Daily Astorian reported that Middleton, at his trial, “admitted he had consumed at least 12 beers that day.” His daughter, mercifully, “suffered only minor injuries,” according to The Oregonian.

In addition to Oregon drunk driving Middleton was convicted of manslaughter, second-degree assault and three counts of reckless endangering, The Oregonian reports. The manslaughter charge stems from the death of Andrew Church, a motorcyclist whom Middleton struck head on when he drifted over the centerline as he and his daughter drove along US-30 in Astoria last May.

It is difficult to know what to say about a crash that takes a man’s life even as it endangers the perpetrator’s own child. Suffice it to say that resolving issues like these and bringing some feeling of justice and closure to victims are one of the main roles our courts – civil and criminal alike – serve in cases such as this.

An Oregon car crash attorney can work with victims and their families, especially those who may feel that criminal courts alone have been unable to see justice properly done in wrenching Oregon drunk driving cases.

The Daily Astorian: Jury convicts driver who had a dozen beers, killed motorcyclist

The Oregonian: Clatsop County jury convicts Portland man on drunk driving, manslaughter charges

An innovative program at a high school in Yamhill recently brought together students and local safety officials to demonstrate the dangers of Oregon drunk driving, according to an account in the Yamhill Valley News-Register.

The program, known as SKID (Stopping Kids Intoxicated Driving) was developed in 1998 by the Sheriff’s Office in Washington County, west of Portland. It encourages students to work with local police and fire officials, the sheriff’s office, state police and a local funeral home to demonstrate Oregon drunk driving car crash scenarios that are, in the paper’s words, “highly realistic but not real.”

The demonstration described by the newspaper was designed to simulate the effects of drunk driving and drug use in the imagined aftermath of prom night. In addition to the students assigned to simulate impaired driving, others were texting in the car, some of them riding without wearing seat belts. Those details were designed to emphasize to teens the importance not just of not driving while impaired, but also of not choosing to ride along with an impaired driver.

The paper reports that “all of the emergency services personnel volunteered their time to make the program possible. They would rather teach teens to make the right choices, State Police Trooper Bridget Taylor explained, than to investigate the aftermath.” Some of the student actors’ families were also present – an experience they described as disconcerting granted the realistic post-accident carnage utilizing large amounts of fake blood and real emergency vehicles.

Programs like this play an important role in cutting down on Oregon drunk driving. Our state’s dram shop laws, designed to hold those who sell or serve alcohol responsible for their actions, can only go so far. Any Portland drunk driving attorney would agree with the emergency personnel quoted above that it is far better to convince teens and young adults that drinking and driving do not mix in the first place than to be forced to deal with its tragic consequences later, via the legal system.

Yamhill Valley News-Register: Mock crash raises awareness

Oregon parents of a 12-year old boy killed in a go-kart accident in Washington state have filed a Washington wrongful death suit against Benton County, the city of Richland (where the accident occurred) “and several other people and organizations whose negligence (the parents) claim contributed to their son’s death,” the Tacoma News-Tribune reports.

Kenneth McKinster died in 2008 “when his kart slid off the track while he was trying to navigate a hairpin turn during a weekend racing event,” the paper reports. His parents believe the kart itself was poorly designed, and was later improperly maintained by the Tri-City Kart Club and by the city and county which, at the time, owned the track itself. According to area TV station KEVW the case is expected to be heard in court before the end of the year.

Go-karts are motorized vehicles capable of traveling at fairly high speeds but including very few of the safety devices we all take for granted in ordinary cars. That places a special responsibility on the owners and operators of go-karts and similar vehicles when it comes to safety. Injuries to children here in Oregon and Washington can easily occur, as this case tragically demonstrates.

Parents should be able to assume when taking their children to a commercial go-kart facility both that the vehicles are properly maintained and that local authorities are enforcing all relevant safety regulations.

If your child or another family member has been injured in a go-karting accident it is important to seek the advice of an experienced Washington and Oregon personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. Incidents involving Washington or Oregon injuries to minors or those leading to an Oregon or Washington child’s wrongful death can be especially jarring for families, and require specialized legal attention.

KEVW: Oregon couple files wrongful death lawsuit against Richland

Tacoma News-Tribune: Parents of boy killed at Richland track file suit

Police are investigating the circumstances of an Oregon car crash involving two pick-up trucks and a semi-trailer that left one of the pick-up drivers dead, according to The Oregonian.

The accident took place last week in Dallas, west of Salem. According to the newspaper, a pick-up driven by a 58-year-old Grand Ronde man drifted across the centerline mid-evening on Oregon Route 22. The pick-up and semi-trailer collided, killing the pick-up’s driver. According to the Salem Statesman-Journal, another pick-up following behind the big rig was unable to take evasive action and rear-ended the larger truck.

The driver of the semi was injured in the Central Oregon truck accident and was taken to a local hospital. His injuries were not reported to be serious. The driver of the second pick-up was uninjured, the paper reported. Oregon 22 was closed for several hours while the Oregon State Patrol and local police launched their investigations of the accident.

There are many reasons why the driver may have drifted across the center line – all of which bear thorough investigation in the wake of this Salem car and truck crash. Whatever the investigation may eventually uncover it is important for survivors and their families in this and similar accidents to pay close attention to investigators’ work both to see what blame, if any, the police assign to one or more parties. In the wake of that decision – whatever it may be – the victims’ next important task is to ask themselves whether law enforcement’s resolution of the case satisfies their own sense of, and need for, justice.

Many people do not realize that the decision to cite or not cite someone in the wake of an Oregon motor vehicle accident is based on criteria that can differ significantly from those a court would use to assess a claim or reckless driving or negligence. The fact that no one was written up at an accident scene does not end the question of responsibility. Victims and their families are well-advised to seek the advice of a Salem or Portland car and truck accident lawyer in the wake of an accident like this one. Experienced legal advice is often the first step on the road to justice.

The Oregonian: Man dies in three-vehicle collision on Oregon 22 west of Dallas

Salem Statesman-Journal: Highway 22 crash kills man

A story from Northern California offers a vivid reminder for us here in Oregon that drunk driving can lead to all kinds of trouble above and beyond car crashes. According to a recent account in the Red Bluff Daily News, a man is now in prison after what appears to have been an alcohol-fueled road rage incident on Interstate 5.

The paper reports that the alleged incident unfolded after a 21-year-old driver passed a car on the right. That vehicle was driven by 66-year-old Warren Hawkins. The younger driver reportedly went around Hawkins after driving behind him for some time in the fast lane where Hawkins was reportedly traveling several miles per hour below the speed limit.

Hawkins allegedly responded by first pulling alongside the younger man “yelling and making hand gestures,” and then attempting to side-swipe him twice. He then moved back behind the 21-year-old’s vehicle so that he could ram it – again, twice. The paper reports that Hawkins next followed his alleged victim when he exited the interstate, making a u-turn in an intersection and then coming “back the wrong way… before swerving left to complete a circle” around the younger man. The out-of-control driver was reportedly shouting “death threats out an open window” when police arrived on the scene.

On one level it is hard to say anything about this other than…wow. By the time the incident was over drunk driving was the least of Hawkins’ concerns. According to the Daily News, he has also been charged with “assault with a deadly weapon and making terrorist threats.”

Taking the longer view, the incident is a reminder for Oregonians of just how much damage a drunk driver can actually do. When out of control drivers in Portland, or elsewhere, become a menace to everyone on the road our courts play an important role in ensuring that justice is done. The damage done by drivers like Hawkins often is not fully addressed by license suspensions or even time in jail. An Oregon drunk driving attorney can help victims use our court system to achieve the justice they deserve in the wake of incidents like this one.

Red Bluff Daily News: Road rage lands Cottonwood man in custody

A poignant reminder of the long-term effects of concussions on football players cane over the weekend when Terry Bradshaw revealed in a blog post that “he is suffering from deficits in short-term memory and impairments in his hand-eye coordination,” according to the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper reports that the former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, a long-time NFL commentator on television, attributes his ever-worsening problems to “at least six concussions” sustained during his NFL career.

Bradshaw, of course, played in the 1970s and it might be argued that today’s players are better-trained and use better equipment than their predecessors. Two minutes watching NFL films from that era, however, will show any viewer that while today’s equipment may be better, today’s players are bigger, stronger, play the game faster and hit much, much harder than those of a generation ago.

Bradshaw’s revelations of the ongoing effects of brain injuries come at a time when the league is trying to improve its less-than-stellar record of caring for players once their careers are over. It also, as the paper notes, arrives at a time when team officials and players in the worlds of football and hockey are increasingly aware of the damage lesser hits can cause. The Times cites a doctor at UCLA who mentions the cumulative effects of multiple less-than-concussion-level hits – an issue that the NHL has recently begun paying particular attention to.

The lives and long-term health of professional athletes are important not only for their impact on those individuals’ health and the well-being of their families, but because of the signals they send to young athletes.

As a Portland sports injury lawyer, it is especially heartening to see both professional sports and society at large paying more attention to these issues. As I have said before, the legal system is there to help victims an their families obtain justice in the wake of an Oregon brain or spinal cord injury – but when athletes and their families are forced to go to court to protect their rights that is an unfortunate sign that the system has failed in broader, more important ways.

Los Angeles Times: Football concussions catching up with Terry Bradshaw, he says

Following up a story I wrote about in February, The Oregonian reports that federal regulators have cleared Portland Adventist Medical Center of wrongdoing in a high-profile case in which a man died of a heart attack in the hospital’s parking lot.

As regular readers will recall, 61-year-old Birgilio Marin-Fuentes suffered a heart attack as he drove into Adventist’s parking facility on February 10. He crashed his car into a wall, but lay in the vehicle unnoticed for more than 20 minutes despite the presence of surveillance cameras in the facility and the fact that the emergency room door was only a short distance away.

Police eventually arrived to help the stricken man. There is some dispute over how the hospital acted at this point. Some accounts say a police officer who ran to the emergency room was rebuffed by desk staff there and told the emergency needed to be telephoned in before hospital staff could respond – despite the emergency being on their own property. Hospital spokespersons have rejected that version of events. Martin-Fuentes died shortly after being moved inside the hospital building.

A federal investigation has now cleared the hospital of wrongdoing, but it is important to understand that this relatively narrow decision does not necessarily close the case in legal terms. According to The Oregonian, the federal review, conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services, found that no federal laws were violated. That review, however, was relatively narrow. Specifically, it addressed the 1986 law that “requires all Medicare participating hospitals with emergency departments to treat any critically ill patients on their premises, including parking lots,” the newspaper notes.

In this potential case of Oregon medical malpractice, however, the hospital’s responsibility may extend beyond a narrow reading of federal law. While it is true that Adventist eventually offered care to the accident victim the manner of their response – particularly the alleged overly technical attention to procedures designed to alert the hospital to accident victims across town as opposed to in their own parking garage – raises issues of both ethics and civil law. Put simply, the fact that Adventist violated no federal law, narrowly defined, does not mean that they may not still be responsible for a wrongful hospital death or case or Oregon medical malpractice on their property. A Portland hospital death and medical malpractice attorney can advise family members caught in unthinkable situations like this one of the best way to obtain justice when a narrow reading of federal criminal laws does not adequately address the harm suffered by victims and their families.

The Oregonian: Federal regulators clear Portland Adventist Medical Center in parking lot emergency

Oregon Public Broadcasting: Adventist passes review in parking lot death

On March 30 a case was argued before the US Supreme Court that has the potential to impact the use of nearly every generic prescription drug sold in America. The court heard oral arguments in a case involving generic drug manufacturers and their contention that they should be held to less strict labeling laws – and receive greater immunity from lawsuits – than the manufacturers of brand-name medications. This case has clear, significant implications for personal injury and medical malpractice law here in Oregon. The court’s final decision, expected in the late spring or early summer, will bear close scrutiny

According to a detailed account of the case on the website of the American Association for Justice, generic drug makers are arguing that a federal law requiring them to use the same labels as their brand-name rivals prohibits them from strengthening warnings to consumers and also, in effect, prohibits consumers injured by generic drugs from suing the manufacturers over labeling issues. They are making this claim, AAJ notes, despite a court brief filed by one of the congressmen who write the law saying that his, and Congress’, intent was nothing like what the drug makers claim.

At issue is a piece of legislation known as “Hatch-Waxman” that requires “a generic label to match that of its associated brand-name drug.” Lawyers for the plaintiffs, two women injured by a generic prescription drug for stomach conditions, described the case as turning on the manufacturers’ belief that “in the face of considerable information that the warnings on their products were inadequate” generic drug manufacturers did nothing to protect consumers, and feel they should suffer no consequences for that decision. The case is especially important since, as AAJ reports, “70 percent of all prescriptions in the United States are filled with generic drugs and that, of the drugs that have both a generic and a brand-name available, more than 90 percent of the prescriptions are filled with generics.”

The article notes that the plaintiffs’ attorneys say even the manufacturers concede that they could have phoned the Food and Drug Administration to ask for a ruling mandating stronger warning labels (for generics and brand-names alike) but failed to do so. AAJ reports that during oral arguments several of the justices on the Supreme Court seemed to find the manufacturers’ claims implausible at best. “Do you think Congress really intended to create a market in which consumers can only sue brand-name products?” Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked.

However it is resolved, this case is an important reminder of the role personal injury lawyers here in Oregon and elsewhere play in helping to protect consumers from corporations that use loopholes in complex laws to improve their bottom lines at the expense of public health or safety.

American Association for Justice – Trial News: Supreme Court takes up preemption in generic drug case

A surprising – and heartening – article in the sports section of the New York Times last week revealed that heightened awareness of the serious nature of sports-related concussions and other traumatic brain injuries has turned up in an unexpected forum: video games.

The paper reports that “Madden NFL 12, the coming version of the eerily true-to-life NFL video game played by millions of gamers, will be realistic enough not only to show players receiving concussions, but also to show any player who sustains one being sidelined for the rest of the game – no exceptions.”

Considering the extent of the criticism being weathered by the real-life NFL over head injury issues and the long term health of the league’s players, this development can only be called striking. The article quotes John Madden himself saying that the change in the game’s format was driven partly by the desire for ever-greater realism, but also from a belief that children need to understand how serious a matter concussions can be. “We want that message to be strong,” Madden told the Times.

With parents more focused than ever on safety in school sports this is an important development. Here in Oregon we have seen a rise in concern over head and spinal cord injuries, particularly among football players. As Madden highlights in his interview, children develop their attitudes toward the game – and how it should be played – at an early age. Anything that helps reinforce a message of on-field safety should be welcomed.

In the final analysis, it should be schools and coaches, parents and players who serve as the main defense against Oregon head injuries on the athletic field. When the issue reaches the office of a Portland personal injury lawyer that is a sign, frankly, that the rest of the system has failed. Lawyers and courts play an important role in ensuring that justice is done, but their responsibilities come into play only to right wrongs that arise elsewhere.

New York Times: Madden Puts Concussions in New Light in His Game

Oregonians could learn some lessons about the dangers of drunk driving accidents from an incident unfolding to our south, in Northern California.

A 64-year-old retired La Selva Beach man is facing serious charges after what media reports describe as a classic drunk driving hit-and-run accident. The Santa Cruz Sentinel, quoting police sources, says the alleged perpetrator “was driving a 2006 Camry south on State Park Drive approaching the Highway 1 off ramp just before 2 p.m.” last Sunday when he hit a 12-year-old boy in a crosswalk.

The paper reports that the driver fled, but witnesses at the scene “helped identify him” leading to his arrest just over an hour later. The good news is that the child does not appear to have been seriously injured.

Here in Oregon we, like many other Americans, often fall into the trap of thinking of drunk driving as primarily a young person’s problem. It was, after all, barely a generation ago that curbing drunk driving among teens was cited as the main motivator behind the nationwide campaign to raise the drinking age to 21. Accidents like this one, however, should serve as a reminder that the problem of drinking and driving – and of bars and stores that violate the Oregon dram shop law by selling or serving alcohol to obviously intoxicated people – is not confined to teens and 20-somethings.

It should not take drunk driving injuries to Oregon children to remind us how important these issues are. The California driver in question is now facing serious charges (though the newspaper reports that he was released from custody after his initial arrest pending further legal proceedings), as should anyone foolish enough to get behind the wheel while impaired. Victims and their families should know that our legal system is here to help them and defend their rights. Contacting an Oregon drunk driving injury lawyer can be an essential first step in seeing that justice is done.

Santa Cruz Sentinel via The Silicon Valley Mercury News: La Selva Beach man arrested after child is hit in crosswalk