A class action lawsuit filed in Salem is taking aim at a perhaps surprising target. According to area television station KDRV the lawsuit alleges that a major insurance company has been “fraudulently denying claims after car crashes.” The target? USAA, a banking and insurance giant that deals exclusively with current…
A recent announcement that insurance giant Allstate is buying the Esurance and Answer Financial brands from the smaller, less well-known, White Mountains Insurance Group raises several troubling questions. According to an Associated Press article, Allstate expects to pay about $1 billion for the two brands. The acquisition will allow Allstate…
Fox News used to run a regular segment called “stupid criminals.” If it were still on the air the subject of today’s Oregon drunk driving blog would definitely be a candidate. According to The Oregonian, Aaron Arrell killed a woman in an Oregon fatal hit-and-run accident in March, and was…
Legislators in Salem hope to close what has emerged as a significant loophole in Oregon’s year-and-a-half-old distracted driving law. As almost everyone knows by now, talking on a cellphone while behind the wheel is illegal in Oregon unless one is using a hands-free device. As The Oregonian details, however, many…
After a year marked by bad news – fatal crashes; official reports indicating that safety needs to be improved – it is refreshing to encounter a story about Tri-Met that makes you feel good. According to The Oregonian, a Tri-Met train driver’s quick thinking saved the life of a woman…
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…
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…
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…
A trial now underway in Washington is raising serious questions about railway safety. According to TV station KGW, the Longview, Washington trial focuses not only on safety policies at the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company, but on how carefully those policies are enforced. The Washington rail crash trial stems…
A Portland man faces the serious charge of second-degree assault after an alleged attack on a Portland bike rider that resulted in an Oregon bicycle accident, according to The Oregonian. The incident took place early Tuesday morning as Joe Santos, a Portland police sergeant, was riding his bike to work…