Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

September 22, 2015

Chamber’s ‘Survey’ Misses the Point of Our Justice System

Last week the United States Chamber of Commerce released its annual “Lawsuit Climate Survey” – a report the Chamber has published since 2002. The Survey is worth examining because its conclusions can tell us a lot about both the Chamber as an organization and about big business’ priorities and views of our justice system.

According to the website Public Justice, the Chamber’s “report summarizes the answers of a ‘nationally representative sample of 1,203 in-house general counsel, senior litigators or attorneys, and other senior executives who are knowledgeable about litigation matters at companies with annual revenues over $100 million.’” It is, in short, a survey designed to gauge the views of big business toward our courts, and to rank those courts in terms of their favorability toward large companies and their legal agendas.

According to Public Justice, the Chamber finds that state courts are generally more favorable toward companies than federal courts, and that they have become steadily more business-friendly over the last decade, albeit at a slow pace. “In 2003, Corporate America’s lawyers gave the state courts a score of 50.7; in 2015 they gave them a score of 61.7,” the website reports. In assigning letter-grades to states based on the ‘business-friendly’ record of their courts 52% of all state courts were awarded either an ‘A’ or a ‘B’.

September 10, 2015

Portland Ranks Low for Driver Safety

by Matthew D. Kaplan

No one likes to believe that he or she is a bad driver. So it has to come as a surprise to many of us here in Portland that collectively we are some of the most collision-prone drivers in the country, according to a study by the Allstate Insurance Company recently analyzed by The Oregonian.

According to the newspaper “claims filed with the company found Portlanders are involved in a collision on average every 6.9 years – about 45 percent more than the national average of 10 years.” The paper adds: “That puts Portland squarely in the hall of shame, with a rank of 183 out of the 200 largest US cities.”

To make matters worse: “As recently as 2006, Portland stacked up reasonably… well, ranking at No. 89 on the list of 200 cities.” The newspaper adds that the news is a bit better for the metro area as a whole. Vancouver’s rating, while still below the national average, is significantly better than Portland’s with crashes coming, on average, every 8.8 years. Eugene, where drivers average 10.3 years between collisions, ranked No. 26 in the study.

September 7, 2015

Pause on Labor Day to think about Oregon Workplace Deaths

by Matthew D. Kaplan

An article published recently by The Oregonian on workplace deaths makes sober reading on this Labor Day Monday. It notes that “altogether 41 men and 5 women died from workplace accidents and injuries” in our state last year. “The number includes both Oregon and out-of-state residents who perished within the state’s borders, but excludes at least 28 others who died on the job from suicide, heart attack, stroke or other natural causes unrelated to their work.”

As the newspaper notes, the rate of workplace deaths both in Oregon and in the country as a whole has declined dramatically over the last three decades. Moreover, while Oregon’s workplace death rate of 2.9 per 100,000 workers is lower than the national average of 3.3 per 100,000 it is noticeably higher than the rates in neighboring California (2.4) and Washington State (1.7).

One can speculate why this might be the case. As I have often documented on this blog, Oregon has an unusually large number of people who work in relatively dangerous occupations – such as logging and truck driving. Whatever its cause, the fact that our state’s workplace fatality rate is unusually high by regional standards is a clear cause for concern.

September 4, 2015

A Labor Day Reminder: Boating Safety

by Matthew D. Kaplan

As many of us prepare to head out of town for the long holiday weekend, the Oregon Marine Board is doing its best to issue essential reminders about the importance of boating safety during what The Oregonian describes as “one of the top three boating weekends of the year.”

As the Marine Board notes, according to The Oregonian, many of its suggestions might easily be characterized s simple common sense. Yet when one considers that “so far this year, 12 people have lost their lives in recreational boating incidents, half of which involve drugs and alcohol” it can be argued that seemingly obvious reminders remain very important. Citing the Marine Board the article notes that Boating Under the Influence of Intoxicants (BUII) is a crime in Oregon and that “violators have been fined up to $7500, can lose boating privileges for up to three years and even serve jail time.”

Many of the other suggestions offered in the article are equally crucial, and too often ignored: know as much as you can about the lake, river or stream where you plan to have fun. “Water levels in the state are very low,” the Marine Board notes, and that means vacationers this long weekend need to be especially careful and look out for rocks and other potential obstacles. It is also important to be aware of safety rules regarding things like life jackets and having a sound-making device (such as a whistle) on board at all times (the Marine Board suggests attaching it to your life jacket) and the need for “all boaters operating boats over 10 horsepower” to have a valid Boater Education Card in their possession.

August 31, 2015

New CDC Report Focuses Attention on Oregon Bicycle Safety

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A report released earlier this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlights both the health benefits of cycling and the potential risks. As the report notes, “only about 1% of trips across all modes of transportation” are made by bicycle here in the United States, but the number of deaths associated with cycling remains disproportionately high – and in some places much higher than in others.

The report examines nearly 30,000 cyclist deaths on American roads over a 38 year period – 1975 to 2012 – and leads with some good news: “annual cyclist fatalities declined from a high of 955 in 1975 to 717 in 2012” with the proportion of cyclist deaths among all motor vehicle-involved fatalities dropping from 2.3 to 1.4 percent from 1975 to 2003. In the decade since, however, the figure has risen back to 2.2 percent – meaning that proportionately we are pretty much where we started 40 years ago.

A table accompanying the CDC news release shows that over the period measured by the study fatal Oregon bicycle and car accidents have fallen by 45.9% – a figure that places our state 35^th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The greatest improvement was shown by Vermont, where fatalities dropped by more than 82%. Florida (9.7%) and Wyoming (6.7%) had the worst improvement rates.

August 29, 2015

Oregon Distracted Driving Case Leads to Criminal Conviction

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The Oregonian this week reported on a guilty plea by a 24-year-old Gresham woman in an Oregon distracted driving case that encapsulates everything that is wrong with this growing problem.

According to the newspaper, the defendant admitted to “taking cellphone video of her child when she crashed into three teens outside their high school in January.” The three 14 and 15-year-old girls “sustained skull, pelvis and knee fractures” according to the paper, as well as “a broken nose, concussion and a lost tooth, and… a torn ACL and a concussion, court documents said.”

“Investigators found a 19-second clip on (the driver’s) phone that showed her hands off the wheel just before she plowed into the teens in the crosswalk, court documents said. She appeared to be holding the phone in her left hand and making gestures with her right hand at her son sitting in the back seat. Phone records show she had also been texting before the crash,” the Oregonian writes.

August 25, 2015

Focus on Safety for Back-to-School

by Matthew D. Kaplan

SafeKids Oregon – an organization that regular readers will know I have long supported – has just published a very useful set of back-to-school tips and reminders. They are worth the attention of every Oregon parent.

The group’s website offers a useful guide focused on preventing injuries to children by teaching them how to walk safely to school. The publication, “Teaching Children to Walk Safely as They Grow and Develop” usefully offers varied advice for parents of kids in several different age groups. Key points include teaching younger children “where to cross streets and how to cross safely.” With older kids – especially kids who may have their own cellphones or other attention-absorbing electronic devices – the group notes that “attention-switching and concentration skills are essential.”

At every age the important thing is not only that skills are learned but that children have the opportunity to reinforce them. As the group notes, “children will demonstrate these skills some of the time, so continued practice is needed until they are consistent.”

August 23, 2015

Distracted Driving Cited for Rise in Traffic Deaths

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A summer marked by low gas prices has led to a jump in the number of miles Americans are driving. Unfortunately, it also appears to be leading to a significant increase in traffic deaths, according to a recent Yahoo! News article.

“The National Safety Council reported this week that traffic deaths and serious injuries in the US are on a pace to rise for the first time in nearly a decade. If the trend for the first six months of this year continues, the NSC says traffic fatalities in the nation will exceed 40,000 for the first time since 2007 and deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled will also increase,” the news service reports. The key lies in the last part of that sentence – indicating that the number of on-road deaths is not merely a function of the greater number of miles being driven. The article notes that when compared to 2007 the number of mile Americans drive has increased by 3.4% but in the first six months of 2015 alone the number of traffic fatalities has jumped by 14%.

According to the article a number of factors contribute to this – such as higher speed limits – but one might also think that the steadily improving safety gear in modern cars and trucks would, at least to some extent, mitigate that. The big thing that has changed for the worse, according to the study, is the steady rise in distracted driving in general and cellphone use in particular despite laws and educational campaigns here in Oregon and elsewhere designed to curb the practice. From a legal perspective this is especially significant since it, in turn, means that an increasingly large number of drivers are placing themselves at risk of wrongful death charges in the event of an accident.

August 17, 2015

Oregon Injuries to Children May Be Prevented by Prompt Car Seat Recall

by Matthew D. Kaplan

NBC news is reporting this weekend that Britax, a major manufacturer of child car seats, “is recalling 37 models of its car seats due to a potential safety defect that could prevent harnesses from locking.”

In a web article the news organization reports that the recall order effects models built between August 1 of last year and the end of last month. The seats in question “may have a defective harness adjuster button that stays in the ‘release’ position when the harness is tightened, rendering the seat useless.” NBC adds that up to now no injuries to children have been reported as a result of the defect.

For its part, the company’s product recall page (see link below) offers detailed information on how to locate the manufacture date and serial number on Britax car seats and then use those to determine whether or not a particular seat is included in the recall order.

August 9, 2015

Bend-area Car Crashes Put US-97 in Spotlight

by Matthew D. Kaplan

As the Bend Bulletin notes in a recent article, two recent crashes near the Central Oregon city are drawing attention to safety issues on US-97. The newspaper notes that just on Tuesday of last week two Oregon car crashes took place on the same stretch of the road highlighting an area that “has long been considered perilous for its intersections and lack of median barriers.”

The paper reports that an elderly man visiting from the Midwest was involved in a head-on crash Tuesday morning when he “tried to turn north from a private driveway on the southbound side” of the road. No one suffered life-threatening injuries in that particular Oregon car crash, but later in the day a six-year-old girl was critically hurt and seven other people suffered less serious injuries “when a Redmond woman traveling southbound crossed into the northbound lanes” in the same area of Highway 97.

Both of these accidents involved cars, but the heavy presence of semi-trucks along this stretch of road is a reminder that even more serious accidents can and do take place when larger vehicles are involved.