Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

May 23, 2012

Wrongful Death Suit Targets Oregon Company for Alaska Fatalities

A lawsuit filed in Alaska by the grieving families of five fishermen targets an Oregon company for alleged wrongful death according to a report published yesterday in the Anchorage Daily News. Two of the five victims were also from Oregon, according to the newspaper.

The newspaper, quoting Alaska state troopers, reports that the five men drowned earlier this month when their “overloaded skiff swamped… in rough seas” near Cook Inlet, Alaska. The men were harvesting clams for the company. The suit says that the company “failed to train the men to pilot their aluminum skiff and neglected to provide proper safety equipment such as survival suits and two-way radios.” Notably, the newspaper says that when the men’s bodies were recovered only one of the five was wearing a life jacket. It adds that “the wrongful death suit claims the workers needed survival suits, not life vests, to survive in the Inlet,” referring to the cold seas off Alaska’s coast.

Tellingly, the paper reports that another worker told investigating troopers that he believed the boat was overloaded, particularly granted the windy conditions prevalent in the area, and refused to get aboard. Among the charges made in the suit is the claim that Clackamas-based Pacific Seafood did not give its workers sufficient training in “water-safety rules, emergency life-saving lessons or how many pounds of clams the skiff could safely carry.”

May 20, 2012

Portland Bike Accident Victim Dies

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Tragedy struck the Oregon bicycling community this week when a 28-year-old woman died after a Portland bicycle accident in which she was hit by a semi-truck. According to The Oregonian, the Portland truck accident took place last Wednesday evening as “the truck was making a right turn from Madison onto Third Avenue “ when it hit the cyclist, “who was traveling eastbound on Madison,” the newspaper reports.

The cyclist was transported to an area hospital following the accident, but died of her injuries the next day. The newspaper also reports that both police and the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office are investigating the fatal Oregon bike accident.

Accidents like these are the saddest sort of reminder how important road safety is for cyclists and drivers alike. The circumstances of this accident are also telling. A vehicle, especially a large one, is arguably most dangerous to cyclists when it is making a right turn. Drivers are keenly aware of traffic around them when turning left, because this generally involves crossing a stream of oncoming traffic. Right turns, however, are all too easy to think of as essentially ‘safe.’

May 18, 2012

Portland Car and Bus Crash Hospitalizes Two

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The Oregonian reports that a Portland auto accident involving a car and a Tri-Met bus recently sent two people to the hospital with what authorities described as “minor injuries.”

Citing a spokesperson for the Portland-area bus service, the newspaper reports that the accident recently occurred “at Southeast 7th Avenue and Southeast Taylor Street. She said the vehicle, carrying three people, is believed to have been traveling at a high speed when the driver failed to stop and struck the bus on its left side.”

Both of the injured people transported to hospital were traveling in the car. The bus driver was not injured and the bus, which was traveling to a Tri-Met garage at the time of the Oregon car and bus accident, was carrying no passengers. That last fact is fortunate: it is likely that the lack of passengers minimized the potential damage from the Portland car crash.

May 14, 2012

Oregon Child Safety: Some Good News

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A recent report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers some refreshingly good news concerning Oregon child safety and Oregon injuries to children. As summarized by the Associated Press, the report indicates that, nationwide, “accidents are killing far fewer children and teenagers than in the past.”

The even better news for us here in the Pacific Northwest was that Oregon was among the states reporting the greatest declines in injuries and deaths among young people.

As the news agency reports, across the United States “the death rate for youths age 19 and younger dropped about 30 percent from 2000 to 2009. The number of deaths dropped too, from about 12,400 to about 9,100.” Much of the drop in fatalities can be attributed to an especially dramatic 41 percent fall-off in traffic-related deaths. “The CDC didn’t analyze exactly what caused that decline, but officials believe it was helped by measures like graduated drivers’ licenses and use of child safety and booster seats,” the article, as republished by Roseburg TV station KPIC, notes.

May 7, 2012

Clackamas Child’s Death Spotlights Child Safety Issues

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Last month’s death of a toddler in Boring, Oregon, in Clackamas County, highlights in the most tragic way possible the importance of both safety awareness when adults are operating potentially dangerous equipment around children, and the need for manufacturers to consider safety in the design of their products.

According to The Oregonian, an 18-month-old girl died last month in Boring “when her father… accidently ran over the girl as he was parking his tractor.” The injured Oregon child was evacuated by helicopter to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center but died a short time later.

According to the newspaper “police are not pursuing criminal charges against the father.” This horrific tragedy, however, contains several important lessons for us all. First, and most importantly, it is a reminder of how crucial it is for all adults to be aware of their environment at all times, but especially when operating machinery that has the potential to kill or injure a child. Farm equipment and lawnmowers spring immediately to mind when considering these issues – but they apply to many other household goods as well. There have been instances over the years of small children getting caught in washing machines or dryers. Refrigerators, especially older ones that may no longer be operational, also pose significant risks.

April 29, 2012

Crane Accident Verdict Highlights Importance of Civil Courts

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Last month I wrote about a criminal trial in New York considering liability for a 2008 industrial accident in Manhattan. Two construction workers died when their crane collapsed. This week, following a 10-week trial, a New York judge dismissed all four charges against the crane’s owner, who was accused of cutting corners on safety in several ways, notably by hiring “an unqualified Chinese company to make repairs to the crane because it offered a low price and quick turnaround,” according to the New York Times.

The newspaper notes that the verdict “underscored the difficulty of proving criminal liability in construction accidents, especially when the city and others are accused of mistakes in oversight and regulation that lead to fatal episodes.”

Families of the victims expressed understandable dismay when the verdict was announced. The Times, however, reports that the case is not over. “The families still have a civil suit pending,” it reports, adding that the acquittal on criminal charges “does not effect the civil case” where, as the plaintiffs attorney noted, there is a lower burden of proof.

April 25, 2012

April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month

by Matthew D. Kaplan

I could not let the month end without taking note of the fact that April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, so designated by the US National Safety Council.

As The Oregonian and other local media have noted, police and other law enforcement officials are marking the month with stepped-up efforts at both enforcement of the state’s two-year-old distracted driving law, and at education. The paper reports that last year the “state police pulled over 3,782 drivers suspected of texting or talking on a handheld cell phone, a 7 percent increase over 2010.” It further notes that the OSP issued over 1,400 tickets and 2,350 warnings.

It’s also worth noting that this month Idaho and West Virginia became the latest states to outlaw texting while driving. That brings the total number of states banning the practice to 37, according to the ‘Family Car Guide’ website.

April 23, 2012

Oregon Child Injury is a Reminder of the Importance of Window Safety

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A few weeks ago I posted an item marking National Window Safety Week. This weekend brought a sad reminder of why this issue is so important. As The Oregonian reports, citing Tualatin Valley first responders, “a two-year-old Tigard girl was taken to an area hospital Saturday night after she fell from a second-story window at her home.”

The newspaper reports that the girl was conscious when found by emergency services personnel, but offers no other updates on her condition or the nature and extent of her injuries. The injured Oregon child was transported by ambulance to a local hospital, the paper notes.

In a further reminder of the importance of this issue – and why all adults need to be aware of open windows, or windows with inadequate screens – the newspaper goes on to note that “a 3-year-old Clackamas girl broke her elbow” in a similar recent fall. It adds that experts say 70 percent of all injuries to children from window falls happen between noon and early evening, when warm weather is apt to draw children closer to open windows.

April 20, 2012

Oregon Pedestrian and Car Accidents Can Be Avoided With Increased Awareness

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The latest newsletter from Oregon’s Department of Transportation offers a timely reminder now that spring is here: “Warmer weather and longer days naturally bring out more walkers,” it notes. “It is each individual’s responsibility to be safe – on foot or behind the wheel.”

The agency offers a dual reminder. Drivers should be aware that more people will be walking (and, though the release does not mention it, biking) with the arrival of spring and summer. That fact requires special vigilance on the part of drivers. Pedestrians, however, also need to be reminded responsibility is, so to speak, a two-way street. Situational awareness can save your life.

According to the ODOT “as of April 11, 20 pedestrians have died in vehicle related crashes” across Oregon. That number represents a 25% increase in Oregon pedestrian car crashes compared to the same time period last year. The statistic is particularly striking since, as the newsletter notes, “overall Oregon is down slightly in vehicle-related fatalities for 2012 (74 deaths so far compared to 76 at this time in 2011).”

April 17, 2012

Preventing Traumatic Brain Injuries Emerges as NHL Priority

by Matthew D. Kaplan

They are not slickly produced but, arguably, ought to be up for some sort of award. Throughout the long hockey season the NHL has not only been assessing tough penalties on players who cross the line in what was already a rough sport: the league has been going out of its way to explain its decisions as part of hockey’s efforts to reduce traumatic brain injuries and other serious injuries to players.

As the season began the league hired Brendan Shanahan, a recently retired player known for his toughness throughout a long and distinguished NHL career, as its Senior Vice President of Player Safety. Enforcing new rules governing blind-side hits, hits to the head and other dangerous maneuvers, Shanahan has spent the season handing out suspensions both for moves that would have been legal a year go and for others that were never legal, even in the rough-and-tumble world of the NHL.

What is different is that these disciplinary actions are not announced merely with press releases from the league office. Every one of these suspensions is explained by Shanahan himself in videos posted on the league’s website. In these videos Shanahan replays video of the infraction in slow motion, usually from several angles, and explains in detail the reasoning that led both to a decision to suspend a player and to the particular punishment he has meted out. There’s nothing quite like it anywhere else in professional (or college) sports.