Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

A recent investigative report in The Oregonian has raised new questions about the murder-suicide rampage of an off-duty Clackamas County sheriff’s deputy earlier this year. According to the paper, its revelations may expose the county to an Oregon wrongful death lawsuit.

The paper looked into the circumstances leading up to the deadly evening last February when Jeffrey Grahn stormed into a Portland nightclub where he killed his wife and shot two of her friends before turning the gun on himself. The potential of a Portland wrongful death claim now arises because of memos obtained by the paper using a public records request.

According to the paper, these show that the Clackamas County sheriff’s office departed from its normal protocol in urging the Portland police to ““hold off” on contacting the district attorney’s office” last year after an investigation raised troubling questions about Grahn and his behavior. When allegations of domestic violence and other troubling behavior by Grahn first emerged in 2009, the paper reports, the Sheriff’s office brought in the Portland police – a standard procedure when the law enforcement agency needs to investigate one of its own. According to the paper, however, the newly released memos show that the Sheriff’s office later intervened to stop the Portland police from taking their concerns about Grahn to prosecutors.

Relatives of an elderly Canby couple who died after their vacation home caught fire are seeking $3 million in damages as part of a Multnomah County wrongful death lawsuit, according to an article published earlier this week in The Oregonian.

The newspaper reports that the suit targets the companies that installed a propane stove and its accompanying gas lines in Clinton and Kenda Schultz’s vacation house in Sumpter, near Baker City in Eastern Oregon. The couple died in September 2008 when their cabin caught fire.

According to the newspaper, the suit alleges that the companies that installed the stove and its related piping failed “to obtain permits, notify building inspectors… or have the work inspected for its integrity. The suit claims that the Valley Metal employee who installed the stove and interior piping was 18 and didn’t have a required license from the Oregon State Fire Marshal.”

An Oregon wrongful death lawsuit has been filed in federal court in the wake of last year’s death of a 30 year old Salem man who had been subdued by police officers using tasers. The family of Gregory Rold is seeking $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $4.5 million in punitive damages from the City of Salem, four of its police officers and 10 other municipal employees, according to the Salem Statesman-Journal.

According to the Statesman-Journal, Rold died last May after being taken into custody by the Salem police following a trespassing complaint. When he resisted arrest, police subdued Rold with batons and the taser, according to the newspaper. Shortly after being taken into custody, however, Rold stopped breathing. Paramedics took him to a Salem hospital where he was pronounced dead. A Marion County Grand Jury later cleared the officers involved of wrongdoing, ruling that “police officers were justified in using physical force to arrest Rold,” the newspaper reported. A state medical examiner ruled the death accidental.

In an article distributed by Courthouse News Service, Rold’s mother says her son was schizophrenic, and that officers used the tasers on him for a full 2 minutes and later knelt on him as he lay face-down. According to the Statesman-Journal, the family’s Oregon wrongful death lawsuit “claims that Rold’s civil rights were violated, that police officers were negligent in causing Rold’s death and excessive force was used against Rold.”

Oregon State Police are working with officials from the Marion County Medical Examiner’s office to investigate an Oregon accidental death in Silver Falls State Park, near Silverton and Salem.

According to the Salem-News, a 22 year old man died last week when he “fell Saturday afternoon from an edge overlooking the Drake Falls area” of the park. The paper quotes the OSP saying state troopers and EMTs were summoned to the park immediately after the accident, but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are also looking for what the paper describes as “an unknown hiker” who may have witnessed the Oregon fatal accident.

Any Oregon fatal accident raises questions about liability. Just because a death is an accident does not mean that, as a matter of law, no one is legally responsible. Indeed, seeking legal advice is always a good idea in the wake of a Portland accidental death. An Oregon personal injury lawyer can advise accident victims and their families on the details of Oregon’s wrongful death laws, and help determine whether a particular accident leaves justice waiting to be served.

Clackamas County officials have reached a settlement in the Sandy wrongful death suit filed by the family of Fouad Kaady, who was shot by Clackamas County police in 2005 while “unarmed, naked, burned and bleeding” according to The Oregonian.

According to the newspaper, settlement of the high profile Oregon wrongful death case involved no admission of wrongdoing on the part of police. County officials are quoted describing their decision to settle as “a purely business decision made by the insurance carrier”. Local media reports indicate Kaady’s family settled out-of-court for $1 million in an effort to spare themselves the trauma of a trial.

The events leading to Kaady’s September 2005 death began when a gas can exploded in his car, causing him to suffer severe burns over much of his body. He may also have sustained a traumatic head injury as a result of the car accident tied to the gas can’s explosion. Officers responding to reports of a naked man in the Sandy area tried to subdue Kaady when they found him. They are reported to have hit him with two taser blasts to little effect. He was shot seven times after climbing onto the roof of a police car. Witnesses described him as unarmed and non-life threatening, but police and county officials have steadfastly defended their actions.

An Oregon wrongful death lawsuit filed by a mother from Keizer earlier this year looks more timely than ever now that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has warned consumers to avoid baby slings. The Keizer wrongful death lawsuit was reported by The Oregonian.

According to CBS News the CPSC issued its baby sling warning after examining 20 years of data on the safety of baby slings. “The CPSC identified and is investigating at least 14 deaths associated with sling-style carriers, including three in 2009,” according to the network. The Keizer incident, which occurred last year, is presumably one of those referenced in the study.

As CBS notes, baby slings are very popular with new parents and the market for the products has been growing in recent years. The CPSC, however, has concluded that “slings can pose two different types of suffocation hazards for babies.” They can press against an infant’s nose and mouth “suffocating a baby within a minute or two,” the agency says. Alternately, “where a sling keeps the infant in a curled position bending the chin toward the chest, the airways can be restricted, limiting the oxygen supply. The baby will not be able to cry for help and can slowly suffocate,” a CPSC news release states.

The death of a North Carolina teenager shortly after he returned home from football practice has led his parents to file a wrongful death lawsuit. At a time when Oregon is focusing more attention on head injuries stemming from student athletics this tragedy on the other side of the country is a reminder that concussions and traumatic brain injuries are not the only things parents – particularly the parents of student-athletes – need to worry about.

According to the Durham Herald-Sun the 17 year old high school football player called 911 from home after experiencing stomach cramps following practice. A paramedic and a fourth-year medical student examined him “and advised him to continue to drink fluids.” The two rescue workers then left him alone. The teenager died a short time later. The incident, which took place in August 2008, has now led to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the boy’s parents against the paramedic, county emergency services and the county government. The official cause of death has not been released, according to the Herald-Sun.

It would be wrong to discount the enormously important, and sometimes dangerous, jobs that paramedics and other emergency responders perform every day. This story is also, however, a reminder that when serious mistakes, or negligence, occur it is important that those responsible be held to account.

An Oregon state report has raised questions about the conduct of state officials prior to the death of a Eugene teenager.

15 year old Jeanette Maples was killed December 9, according to an Associated Press report republished by TV station KMTR. Her parents have been charged with aggravated murder (they have pleaded not guilty). In the wake of the incident state officials began investigating whether their agencies failed to act in a timely manner that might have prevented the teen’s death. This week’s report by the Oregon Department of Human Services is critical of the state agency’s conduct. AP reports the document says Maples’ case “was not adequately investigated or referred for assessment despite four separate calls alleging abuse and neglect over four years.”

Though Maples’ parents are already facing criminal charges in connection with her death, the report raises the possible of additional legal sanctions against the state or its officials if they are found negligent in connection with an Oregon wrongful death.