Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

With the holidays now behind us this is a good moment to pause to examine the Oregon drunk driving and Washington drunk driving statistics reported over the Christmas and New Year’s weekends. DUII/DUI crash and arrest numbers are always a sad reminder of the importance of not overindulging when one goes out to celebrate, and of the crucial role our courts play in ensuring personal accountability.

According to radio station KBND, the Oregon State Police reported “one death and 28 DUII arrests on Oregon’s roads and highways.” The comparable figures for the New Year’s period on Oregon roads were 53 arrests and two crashes resulting in three fatalities, according to a report published in The Oregonian. To our north, in Washington, troopers “arrested 161 drivers suspected of being impaired by drugs or alcohol during the Christmas holiday weekend,” according to the Tri-City Herald.

In both states the Christmas figures represent notable decreases compared with the comparable period a year earlier. The Oregon New Year’s figures, however, were up by approximately 25% over the previous year and show a 55% increase compared to two years ago.

The connection between drunk driving and holiday weekends (especially New Year’s Eve) is as unfortunate as it is predictable and seems to endure despite decades of public service campaigns designed to raise awareness and stigmatize the practice.

After the holidays are over it is an equally unfortunate fact of life that our courts often must become involved, as reckless drivers are held to account for their actions and victims seek to obtain justice, often with the assistance of a Washington or Oregon drunk driving victims’ attorney. In addition to the personal responsibility drivers must take for their actions it is also important to consider Oregon’s dram shop laws, under which those who sell alcohol to people who clearly ought not to be drinking can also be held accountable for the consequences of their actions. It would be better if none of us ever had to consider situations like these, but granted that we all must, it is reassuring to know that attorneys and our courts are here to see that justice is served.

Tri-City Herald: Washington State Patrol arrests 161 across state for DUI during holiday

KBND.com: 1 death on Oregon roads over holiday

The Oregonian: Oregon State Police report 47 intoxicated driving arrests over New Year’s holiday

A 29-year-old Oregon City woman died recently as a result of a two-car Oregon drunk driving accident, according to a report in The Oregonian.

The crash occurred just before 2 am on state route 213 in Oregon City, the newspaper reports, quoting a spokesperson with the Oregon State Police Portland Command. “Police said Jennifer Miller, 29, of Oregon City, drove eastbound on the highway and ran a red light, crashing into a southbound Dodge pickup… Miller was declared dead at the scene, police said,” according to the newspaper. A passenger traveling in her car suffered injuries the paper describes as “serious.”

The pick-up truck’s driver was not injured in the Portland-area car crash, and was reported to be cooperating with police. Though The Oregonian’s report on the crash does not seek to assign blame, it does note that the pickup’s driver “had a green signal at the time of the crash.”

The exact role of alcohol in the accident remains unclear. The newspaper quotes police sources saying that alcohol was “a contributing factor” in the accident, but does not say which of the two drivers had been drinking.

The potential complexities of a case like this are among the best reasons why anyone who becomes the victim of an Oregon drunk driving accident should speak with an Oregon drunk driving accident lawyer as soon as possible after an incident occurs. Oregon dram shop law places some of the burden for drunk driving accidents on irresponsible bars, restaurants and alcohol retailers who sell intoxicants to people – notably drivers – who should not be drinking at all. Sorting out the specifics of the law and how they relate to your particular case is the first step.

The Oregonian: One woman killed in car crash on Oregon 213 in Oregon City

A civil suit filed earlier this month here in Portland is an excellent illustration of Oregon dram shop law and the ways it seeks to protect the public at large and accident victims in particular. According to The Oregonian, the husband of a woman who died in a Portland drunk driving accident last February is suing not only the alleged drunk driver but also two bars which, he claims, served the driver “while he was visibly intoxicated.”

The newspaper goes on to add that “the complaint accuses the bars of negligence for allowing him to drive, failing to determine whether he planned to drive and failing to alert authorities.”

This is practically the definition of a claim under the Oregon dram shop law – a statute that says a bar or alcohol retailer can be held legally responsibly for the damage done by a patron who clearly should not have been served in the first place.

This case is particularly tragic since it resulted in death. According to the newspaper, 32-year-old Tessa Conradi died when the defendant “crashed into her Kia Sportage near the intersection of Northeast Cully Boulevard and Northeast Portland Highway.” The suspect left the scene of the accident but was apprehended by police shortly thereafter. The driver, Jesse Lee Ream, “pleaded guilty last month to first degree manslaughter in the fatal crash. He also entered no contest pleas to drunken driving, failure to perform duties of a driver and other charges in connection with the crash,” The Oregonian reports.

The decision by Conradi’s widower to pursue an Oregon dram shop case against the two bars Ream allegedly visited in the hours immediately prior to the accident is a reminder that justice does not stop with – and is not necessarily fully served by – the criminal court system. Legal and moral accountability extends beyond the drunk man behind the wheel. A Portland drunk driving victim’s lawyer with expertise in dram shop cases can assist victims and their families in making sense of the court system and obtaining the justice they need and deserve.

The Oregonian: Husband files $7.1 million civil suit against drunken driver, two bars in NE Portland crash that killed wife

Chalk one up for Orange County, California in the quest for innovative ways to combat drunk driving. According to a recent article in the Orange County Register a recent student assembly in the San Clemente High School gym featured “an actual court session and sentencing of a DUI defendant.”

The paper reports that the County Superior Court session was moved to the school for part of one day as a way of emphasizing the seriousness of drunk driving and its consequences. Placing the session in the school allows anti-drunk driving activists to demonstrate this directly to teens – a group who have traditionally both been at extremely high risk for drunk driving injuries and fatalities while also being unusually difficult to reach in effective ways.

A session later in the day at the same school featured “an Orange County deputy district attorney (discussing) family consequences from a teen DUI or DUI-related crash.”

On one level the court session and later panel discussion may seem like a bit of a stunt, but with drunk driving continuing to be an epidemic here in Oregon and elsewhere around the country our neighbors to the south ought to be applauded for their innovative attempt to get the message out.

Here in Portland it is also important that bar owners and shops selling alcohol understand that the Oregon dram shop laws can make them liable for the damage caused by an Oregon drunk driver, above and beyond the potential licensing consequences of selling to minors. A responsible Oregon drunk driving attorney can assist victims and their families in the difficult process of coping with the consequences of an Oregon teen drunk driving crash, helping to explain the legal system and its intricacies and to chart a family’s path toward achieving justice in our courts.

Orange County Register: Teen-DUI Seminar to include court session at high school

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

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

As reported by The Oregonian, the circumstances surrounding a recent two-car Coastal Oregon car accident on Highway 101 raise a number of potential legal issues, including whether the victims may be in a position to press an Oregon dram shop case.

The newspaper, quoting police sources, reports that the accident took place when an Oldsmobile traveling north on US-101 crossed the center line and hit a southbound pick-up truck. “The impact of the crash tore the Oldsmobile in half, with the two sections coming to rest on opposite sides of the highway,” the paper notes. All three people involved in the crash – the driver of the Oldsmobile and the driver and a passenger in the pick-up – were seriously injured.

Police told The Oregonian that alcohol was a factor in the crash, though the exact nature of its involvement is still under investigation.

If the driver of the Oldsmobile is shown to have been coming from a restaurant, bar or liquor store the other victims of this Central Oregon car crash may be able to make the Oregon dram shop law a key part of their fight for a just settlement in the wake of the accident. That law extends liability for a drunk driver’s actions to businesses that sold him or her alcohol despite the person’s already being intoxicated.

Portland drunk driving and dram shop cases can be an especially complex area of Oregon law. If you have been the victim of an Oregon drunk driver and believe that responsibility for the accident may extend to a business that should not have sold alcohol to the perpetrator in the first place prompt consultation with an Oregon drunk driving victim’s attorney is your best initial course of action.

The Oregonian: Alcohol believed to be factor in Highway 101 crash that injured 3

The driver of a van whose crash left his two passengers dead earlier this week has been charged with a range of offenses, including manslaughter in the first degree and Oregon drunk driving, according to The Oregonian.

The Oregon car accident occurred Tuesday morning near Seal Rock, on the Central Oregon coast. The Oregonian, quoting Oregon State Police, reports that 24-year-old Jose De Leon Colomo was driving north on US-101 when his “van failed to negotiate a left curve, traveled over an embankment, and crashed into a tree, police said. The van broke into several pieces.”

The two passengers in the van were pronounced dead at the scene of the alleged Central Oregon drunk driving crash. Colomo, the driver, was treated at an area hospital before being placed under arrest and transferred to the Lincoln County jail. In addition to drunk driving and manslaughter he has also been charged with recklessly endangering another person and reckless driving, according to The Oregonian.

In incidents like these survivors and their families, once they are past the initial crisis and shock of the accident, need to consider their options as they seek to see justice done and to put their lives back together. Drunk driving can often be traced to bartenders or liquor store staff who can be held accountable for their actions under Oregon’s dram shop laws. Car accidents that stem from negligence may lead to Oregon wrongful death claims.

A Portland personal injury attorney with expertise in Oregon dram shop laws, Oregon drunk driving cases and Oregon wrongful death actions can offer advice in difficult times like these, helping bereaved families consider their options as they try to put their lives back together and seek justice.

The Oregonian: Newport man charged with manslaughter after two die in van wreck

Siuslaw News: Update on 101 fatal crash: driver arrested

An August 2009 head-on car crash that left two dead in Bethany, near Beaverton, is the subject of a suit brought under Oregon’s dram shop laws, according to an article published last week in The Oregonian.

The Oregon dram shop suit has been brought by the family of Thai Hoang-Williams, who died as a result of a head-on collision with Belinda Lopez, who also died in the Oregon car crash. Lopez’s car crossed the centerline to strike Hoang-Williams’ vehicle. At the time, police blamed speed for the accident, but a private investigator hired by Hoang-Williams’ family also found that Lopez had been drinking heavily at a nearby restaurant, Chen’s Dynasty, shortly before the accident.

According to the newspaper, the Oregon wrongful death lawsuit alleges that Chen’s Dynasty shares responsibility for the accident with Lopez herself because it allegedly continued to serve her alcohol after she was drunk. This claim, according to the newspaper, is based on toxicology reports that were not released publicly at the time of the crash, but which show Lopez to have been significantly over the legal limit for blood alcohol at the time of the accident.

The case is a strong reminder of the responsibility bartenders bear, especially when they know that many of their customers arrived by car and also intend to leave that way. Bartenders and retail alcohol merchants need to understand that they, too, can be held responsible for Oregon drunk driving and the irreparable damage it can cause to families across our state.

If you, or a member of your family, have been victimized by a Portland, Beaverton, Corvallis or Bethany drunk driver it is essential that you consult with an Oregon personal injury and wrongful death attorney who is familiar with the ins-and-outs of dram shop laws. Obtaining justice can be a long and difficult road, but with the help of a Portland car crash and wrongful death lawyer you can help send a message that responsible behavior is required of vendors as well as drinkers.

The Oregonian: Family accuses Chen’s Dynasty of overserving Lake Oswego teacher before fatal crash

A Multnomah County man convicted in a drunk driving incident that seriously injured two pedestrians has already been sentenced to nearly six years in prison, but faces additional time behind bars if he refuses to cooperate with a related Oregon dram shop law case pending in civil court, according to The Oregonian.

The newspaper reports that Dallas Lawrence, now 25, struck two women after he left a bar while clearly drunk last February. His Oregon drunk driving conviction in the criminal case growing out of the incident is separate from the potential Portland dram shop law case focused on the bar that allegedly continued to serve Lawrence. That case turns on the allegation that the bar allowed Lawrence to get into his car and drive off into the night despite being so drunk that, according to The Oregonian, he “fell off his bar stool” before heading out to the parking lot.

The paper reports that Lawrence’s two victims have not yet filed suit against the bar where he spent the evening drinking. Lawrence faces an additional 2-1/2 years in prison if he does not cooperate, should a suit go forward.

Dram shop cases focus on the responsibility of bars or other alcohol vendors for the damage done by visibly intoxicated people whom they continue to serve. As The Oregonian notes, such cases “are relatively rare in Oregon, often because it’s difficult to prove in court that bar employees served a visibly intoxicated person.”

Lawrence’s case, however, would appear to offer proof that an experienced Oregon personal injury attorney well-versed in the specialized area of dram shop cases, can help accident victims get the justice they deserve. One of the women Lawrence hit was hurled 60 feet before hitting a parked car, according to The Oregonian. Conventional Portland drunk driving laws, especially those focused on criminal conduct alone, cannot make situations like these right. That is why Oregon’s dram shop laws, and the specialized Portland, Salem and Eugene lawyers who help enforce them, are so important.

The Oregonian: Portland man sentenced to six years for running down two pedestrians after night of heavy drinking