Articles Posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents

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A lawsuit in which you need to hold accountable one or more private entities or individuals is complex enough, including many potentially difficult hurdles. You face challenges related to the facts, the law, and the rules of procedure. A lawsuit where you need to hold a governmental entity accountable is even more complex, as it comes with its own special set of rules. Failure to follow these rules with precision can result in losing your opportunity to get justice entirely. Rather than face that risk, you should reach out to a skilled Oregon attorney who is familiar with Oregon Tort Claim matters.

Many cases may involve a combination of private and public actors who were negligent. This was the case in a catastrophic crash from 2020.

The accident, which occurred in South Salem, left one teenage girl dead. Police reports and evidence from the crash site revealed that the driver of the girl’s vehicle was speeding and ran a stop sign in the moments before the two-vehicle collision occurred.

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Motorcyclists and bicyclists are among the most at-risk of all those who share Oregon’s roadways. Because motorcyclists and bicyclists are physically exposed in ways that passenger vehicle occupants are not, crashes are more likely to cause serious or even fatal harm. While accidents often result from good-faith judgment errors, some drivers act with bad intentions, including those fueled by road rage. If a driver hurt you while you rode your motorcycle — whether that driver was driving negligently or recklessly — you may be entitled to obtain essential compensation via the civil justice system. In any scenario, but especially if your case involves exceptional circumstances like a road-rage driver, you should retain the services of an experienced Oregon motorcycle accident lawyer to ensure your rights are protected.

Video footage the Beaverton Police Department released in May shows how quickly a disagreement on the road can go from a verbal dispute to a life-threatening crash when a road-rage driver uses his vehicle as a weapon.

In the video from Beaverton, two vehicles — one minivan and one motorcycle — travel side-by-side on westbound Highway 26 between Highway 217 and Cedar Hills Boulevard. The motorcyclist appeared to yell, point, or gesture toward the Kia van. The van driver’s response was shocking and inappropriate.

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Traveling by bicycle offers bicyclists many benefits. It is a great way to stay healthy, to take in our area’s beautiful scenery, and to reduce one’s pollution output. Unfortunately, recent headlines paint a dangerous picture for bicyclists in and around Portland. Speeding drivers, inattentive/distracted drivers, intoxicated drivers, and other negligent drivers are dangerous to everyone who shares the road, but a wreck that impacts a bicyclist often involves serious or fatal injuries. Because a catastrophic or fatal accident often involves many steps like insurance claims, civil lawsuits, or both, it is well worth your while to retain a skilled Oregon bicycle accident lawyer who can help you understand your rights and all your options for getting justice.

One of those recent bicycle accidents occurred in Southeast Portland. OregonLive reported that a vehicle driver and a bicyclist crashed near the intersection of SE 145th Avenue and SE Powell Boulevard at around 7:00 pm on July 13. The bicyclist died from his injuries on July 14.

According to the report, the vehicle driver, who was shoeless, had “bloodshot eyes and smelled like alcohol.” The driver also allegedly “appeared to be struggling to walk in a straight line or talk.”

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A common truth posits that motor vehicles and alcohol do not mix. That theory is never more true than when the driver is someone under the age of 21. In many cases where an underage driver has crashed a vehicle due to their intoxication, they obtained their alcoholic beverages from someone else, whether that someone is a private server or a commercial establishment. When a social host or a bartender fails to check IDs or otherwise take proper steps to prevent serving minors, they may face severe consequences. A business might lose its liquor license. And, if an intoxicated minor injures (or kills) someone else in a vehicle crash, the facts of the case may present an issue of potential liability on the part of those who served the alcohol. If you have questions about pursuing a dram shop or social host case, be sure to contact a knowledgeable Oregon dram shop lawyer to receive sound, reliable advice about your situation.

A fatal accident just outside Portland was allegedly an example of mixing minors, alcohol, and “dangerous” vehicles.

The crash occurred on Sauvie Island, located approximately 10 miles northwest of downtown Portland. According to the police, an 18-year-old male crashed a Polaris utility terrain vehicle shortly after midnight on May 18. The Oregonian reported that the crash killed the vehicle’s other passenger, a 17-year-old girl.

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A common expression related to grief posits that “no parent should have to bury a child… it is not the natural order of things.” Unfortunately, this happens thousands of times every year. According to the National Institutes of Health, vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in children and adolescents, accounting for 20% of all deaths. If you have encountered this kind of tragic loss, you may need to take legal action. If you do have such a need, your case will benefit from having representation provided by an experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer.

One of those fatal accidents occurred this month in Clatsop County.

The collision occurred along Highway 101 just south of its intersection with Highway 26. A southbound pickup truck entered the northbound lanes and crashed head-on into a northbound Honda SUV. The truck continued forward in the wrong lane, eventually hitting a Nissan SUV head-on.

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According to the Insurance Information Institute, more than one in every 10 fatal accidents involves a head-on collision scenario, taking thousands of lives each year. While head-on crashes occur for a variety of reasons — from speeding to impaired driving to unsafe passing — almost all have one thing in common: a driver who engaged in one or more dangerous actions that resulted in their vehicle ending up going the wrong way into oncoming traffic. If you have experienced serious harm — or lost a loved one — because a driver drove negligently and caused a head-on crash, you likely will need to take multiple actions to obtain a recovery. These may include insurance claims, civil lawsuits, and more. To get the recovery you and your family need, you should take the time to consult and retain an experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer.

A rural stretch of Highway 26 in Clatsop County was the scene of one of these severe accidents in the morning hours of April 29. According to Oregonlive.com, police responded shortly after sunrise to find a head-on collision between two Ford F-350 pickup trucks.

According to the report, the driver of the westbound truck was trying to pass “multiple commercial vehicles” when he crashed into an eastbound pickup. The impact threw the first truck into one of the big rigs.

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One of roughly every 80 auto accidents involves a driver who crashed due to a medical emergency. The vast majority of these involved people who experienced “seizures, blackouts, or diabetic reactions,” according to the data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. When you are hurt in a crash involving an at-fault driver with medical problems, the defense may try to use that medical condition to avoid liability. Countering that may require a variety of steps. An experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer can advise you on what actions can help strengthen your case.

Deschutes County was the site of one of those accidents earlier this month. According to the Bend Police, a 61-year-old man driving southbound on the Bend Parkway “had a medical event” that caused his pickup truck to veer into the northbound lanes. There, the truck crashed head-on into a Toyota van.

The force of the collision partially ejected the van driver from her vehicle. Central Oregon Daily reported that both drivers were hurt and that the woman suffered life-threatening harm. The police cited the truck driver for careless driving, which caused an accident. The police did not disclose the nature of the medical event that afflicted the truck driver.

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Last week, this blog looked at a recent Multnomah County lawsuit involving a Domino’s pizza delivery driver and a fatally injured pedestrian. The case is a reminder that, compared to a few decades ago, pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers, and passengers today face a wide array of potentially unsafe delivery drivers. Rather than just FedEx, UPS, and pizza delivery, now there is also Amazon, Uber Eats, DoorDash, and many more. If you are seriously injured (or a loved one killed) by a delivery driver who drove negligently, it is crucial to understand the unique challenges you may face. To better understand your case’s strengths and possible challenges, talk to a knowledgeable Oregon motor vehicle accident lawyer with experience handling these types of matters.

In the case of the pedestrian in Southeast Portland, the driver was a Domino’s delivery person. The driver, however, did not work directly for Domino’s. Like many chain restaurants, Domino’s employs a franchise business model. The driver worked for a Portland LLC that owned the Domino’s restaurant franchise on Southeast 82nd Avenue. That meant the pedestrian’s estate filed claims against Domino’s, the LLC franchisee, and the driver.

Other employers whose businesses involve delivery also employ multifaceted business models. FedEx is one delivery service where a driver’s status can be complex. Some FedEx drivers are employees, but the company also relies on numerous independent contractors for package delivery.

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Many drivers engage in negligence behind the wheel because they are in a hurry, and some of the most time-crunched drivers on the road are food delivery drivers. The pressure to make timely deliveries drives some to engage in unsafe practices, such as speeding. When they do, they place everyone sharing the road at risk, especially pedestrians. If you were hurt on foot because a delivery driver was in too much of a hurry and driving unsafely, you might encounter a need to pursue insurance claims, civil litigation, or both. A skilled Oregon pedestrian accident lawyer can often be instrumental in getting a just outcome after your accident.

According to a recent lawsuit launched in state court here in Portland, that was precisely what happened in a fatal accident three years ago.

In late January 2022, a driver struck and killed a 56-year-old pedestrian at the intersection of 101st Avenue and Division Street in Southeast Portland. Allegedly, the pedestrian was crossing Division to reach a bus stop when the driver, who was delivering food for Domino’s Pizza, crashed into him. According to the lawsuit the pedestrian’s estate filed, a 41-year-old delivery driver, M.H., was “rushing to deliver a pizza” and was speeding when he collided with the pedestrian.

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An outbreak of wintry weather led to a massive chain-reaction crash in eastern Multnomah County last month. Frequently, multi-vehicle crashes, while they may involve natural phenomena like ice, snow, rain, fog, wind, and smoke, are not situations where “Mother Nature” alone is to blame. Often, the problems- and the injuries or deaths that result- are caused (or at least made worse) by drivers driving negligently. If you have endured serious harm or have lost a loved one in an accident like this, finding out who was responsible can be an immensely complicated and daunting process. Rather than tackle such an undertaking alone, call an experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer to get the legal representation you need.

The recent Multnomah County accident involved at least eight collisions and ended with 100+ vehicles trapped on westbound Interstate 84 near Multnomah Falls. The crash left between 20 and 30 vehicles damaged, and numerous people suffered harm, but at the time of FOX 12’s reporting, authorities had recorded no serious or fatal injuries.

“Near whiteout” snow conditions and slick, icy roads were prominent factors in the accident.

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