Auto insurance coverage can be a huge benefit when your insurer performs as it should. Unfortunately, court dockets and opinions are full of instances where insurance companies refused to do what they should, either in violation of the contract they signed or in violation of the law. When you have…
Getting everything that you’re owed after you’ve been seriously injured (or a loved one has been killed) in a vehicle accident can involve a long list of battles. Some of those battles may involve taking on your own auto insurer when they seek to avoid paying what they should. Whether…
I have said it many times before, but it bears repeating: insurance companies are businesses, not charities. Careful attention to the fine print is important. An obvious example of this is car insurance. All drivers need to carry it, and the law lays out in great detail what that insurance…
A two-vehicle accident involving a Portland police officer earlier this month merits special attention because of what it can teach us about civil options beyond workman’s comp available to people injured on the job. The Oregonian reports that “a Portland police officer and another driver were seriously hurt” in a…
Nearly four years ago I first wrote about the obscure, but critically important, issue of “subrogation.” This legal doctrine allows insurance companies to reimburse themselves out of settlements their clients receive for covered injuries. The incident I wrote about back in 2015 was a classic example of the problem. A…
An article published a few days ago in The Oregonian offers a good opportunity for us to examine the problems with Oregon’s systems for dealing with uninsured and underinsured motorists. The newspaper reports that “a 29-year-old driver who lost control of his car and hit several parked vehicles, causing traumatic…
A recent article in The Oregonian outlined what has become a depressingly common story: the abrupt disappearance of Saudi Arabian students facing criminal charges here in Oregon. The newspaper reports that it “has found criminal cases involving at least five Saudi nationals who vanished before they faced trial or completed…
This summer saw some of the largest and most dangerous wildfires ever recorded here in the West. The fall has brought two of the most destructive hurricanes in modern US history to South Carolina and Florida. So, it is with a kind of grim resignation that I return to the…
A recent article in the Los Angeles Times (see link below) details the struggles that many people in northern California have faced in the wake of devastating fires that swept through the area late last year. Thousands of homes were destroyed in counties across the state. As the newspaper reports,…
People throughout the Southeast are struggling to put their lives back together after the damage caused by hurricanes Harvey and Irma over the last few weeks. More trouble, however, is on the way. Most immediately this takes the form of Hurricane Maria. This latest storm is already hitting a number…