Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

July 7, 2010

Lobbyists Drop Effort to Fight Distracted Driving Legislation

In what may be a sign of changing national attitudes, a push by Washington lobbyists to roll back distracted driving legislation by changing the terms of debate appears to have, as the New York Times puts it, “fallen apart.” This can only be seen as good news by everyone who believes that the new Oregon distracted driving law is an important public safety measure.

The Oregon distracted driving law, which went into effect January 1 of this year, bans most drivers from talking on or texting from a handheld cellphone while driving. There are some limited exceptions for emergencies and people in certain occupations but, broadly speaking, the goal is to get Oregon drivers to put down cellphones.

Apparently it is exactly this intention at which the DC lobbyists were taking aim. As the Times reports, the now-defunct “Drive Coalition” was a lobbyist-driven effort to round up clients among cellphone and auto companies. The Times reports that the group planned oppose measures like the Oregon distracted driving statute and instead “to push the idea of broader laws that would focus on car distractions in general.” The group backed off after an angry press conference Wednesday by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood who, the paper reports, decried “an effort he said was a threat to driver safety.”

July 5, 2010

La Grande Car Accident Raises Insurance Issues

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A 69 year old Salem man died Thursday in an Oregon car accident just as the holiday weekend was getting underway. According to The Oregonian, Rodney Kamppi was headed for a Fourth of July camping trip with his daughter, son-in-law and the younger couple’s two daughters when the driver, Kamppi’s son-in-law, lost control of vehicle near La Grande.

The family was traveling in an SUV, and was towing a large camper. According to the newspaper, quoting an Oregon state trooper, “the SUV flipped over, separated from the trailer and slid about 100 feet down an embankment before hitting a tree.” Kamppi died at the scene of the accident, the newspaper reports, despite the best efforts of two nurses who were passing by and stopped to offer assistance, including CPR. The remaining members of the family were taken to a local hospital. The OSP told The Oregonian that all occupants of the SUV were wearing safety belts.

In the wake of accidents like this one it is an unfortunate fact that grieving and injured families often require the assistance of an Oregon personal injury lawyer in what becomes a fight to receive all of the insurance benefits to which they may be entitled.

July 2, 2010

Beaverton Car Crash Kills Two

by Matthew D. Kaplan

An Oregon car crash Wednesday left two people dead in Beaverton, highlighting in the most tragic way possible the need for caution behind the wheel as we head into this holiday weekend.

According to The Oregonian, the Washington County car accident took place at mid-afternoon on South Murray Boulevard. The driver “barely stopped for the red light” before making a right turn and then speeding up. The abrupt acceleration caused “the car to fishtail across both lanes, jump the curb and crash into” a concrete wall, the paper reports. A 54-year old man riding in the passenger seat was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. The driver, a 61 year old woman, was airlifted to a Portland hospital following the Oregon car accident, but died a few hours later.

Television station KGW quotes police investigating the accident saying both that speed “appears to have been” one cause of the Oregon single car accident, and that alcohol use may also have played a role.

June 30, 2010

New Study Shows Distracted Driving Is Not Just a Teen Problem

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A study published earlier this month by the Pew Internet & American Life Project documents what many of us probably knew in our hearts: distracted driving is more than just a teen problem. Following up the Project’s 2009 study of teens and distracted driving, the new report finds that “one in four American adults say they have texted while driving”. In fact, the proportion for adults who acknowledge having engaged in this especially dangerous activity – 27% – is basically the same as the percentage of teens – 26% – who acknowledge doing so.

Perhaps more shocking is the fact that 17% of all adults acknowledge having been so distracted “while talking or texting that they have physically bumped into another person or object” while behind the wheel.

As I have noted in a number of previous posts on Portland distracted driving, Oregon is one of a growing number of states that are attempting to crack down on the practice through legislation. With a small number of exceptions, Oregon distracted driving became illegal throughout the state at the beginning of this year. In a society where, according to the study, 82% of Americans over age 18 now own a cellphone and 58% of them text, distracted driving is likely to continue growing as an issue.

June 28, 2010

Oregon Abuse Suit Can Go Forward: Supreme Court

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A Supreme Court decision issued today allows an Oregon sexual abuse lawsuit against the Vatican to go forward, raising the possibility that the Catholic Church may have to defend itself in Oregon courts against allegations that it covered up repeated abuse by a priest.

The Oregon child abuse case, officially known as Holy See v John Doe, was brought by an alleged abuse victim. It turns on the actions of Father Andrew Ronan, an Irishman who the church moved from his native country to Chicago and later to Portland as abuse accusations followed him from place to place from the 1950s through the 1980s, according to Associated Press. Ronan died in 1992. The suit’s plaintiff is seeking damages from the church, as Ronan’s employer, for abuse he suffered as a teenager in 1965.

The Vatican, in turn, claims that as a sovereign state it is shielded from such liability under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act – a law that prevents individuals from suing foreign countries except in a few, relatively narrow, circumstances. On Monday the Supreme Court turned down the Vatican’s appeal, letting lower court rulings in favor of the plaintiff stand. Those earlier rulings held that the Vatican’s sovereign immunity was not absolute and that the church “could be sued in a U.S. court on certain grounds,” according to the Washington Post.

June 27, 2010

Oregon Product Liability Ruling from Supreme Court Reverses Large Award

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The Oregon Supreme Court sided with cigarette giant Philip Morris last week in refusing to reinstate a $100 million punitive damage ruling issued by a lower court in 2002. That earlier ruling was overturned by a state appellate court in 2006.

It is important to note that one part of the Oregon product liability and wrongful death case still stands: the original Oregon jury award of more than $164,500 in “economic losses, pain and suffering” is not affected by the ruling regarding punitive damages, according to The Oregonian. Moreover, the Supreme Court ruling does not mean that the case is finished or that punitive damages have been disallowed: merely that the issue of Oregon punitive damages must be reargued before a lower court.

The case concerns a Salem woman who died in 1999 after decades of regular smoking. According to The Oregonian, she switched to low-tar cigarettes in 1976, after a dozen years of smoking, believing that low tar cigarettes would be less problematic for her health. Oregon personal injury attorneys representing the woman’s family argued that Philip Morris possessed study data showing that smokers of low-tar cigarettes tended to inhale longer and more deeply, thus negating the alleged benefits of the product. The company, however, did not disclose this information to consumers.

June 25, 2010

Wide-ranging Crib Recall Raises Oregon Injury, Liability Issues

by Matthew D. Kaplan

An enormous recall effort effecting over 2 million baby cribs distributed under the brands of seven different companies was announced this week. The recall action raises issues of liability and responsibility that many Oregon parents would do well to think about in the coming days and weeks.

The recall applies specifically to so-called ‘side-drop’ cribs, in which one of the crib’s long sides is hinged to allow parents easier access to the baby. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the sides of the cribs in question can come loose and drop unexpectedly, creating the danger of trapping children’s heads as they fall. The Associated Press reports that no deaths have been linked to the cribs, but that “at least 16” instances of entrapment have been documented, including one that led to the hospitalization of a child.

The CPSC’s website warns parents not to try to repair the cribs themselves and notes that “new mandatory standards to make cribs safer” are being prepared by the agency. These are expected to be formally issued before the end of this year. The Commission’s website offers links to the manufacturers of the recalled cribs, through which consumers can obtain information on the specific recall procedures for different brands.

June 23, 2010

Oregon Car Crash Involves Man Fleeing Police

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A 19 year old Sunriver man is in jail following a weekend Oregon car crash in which he is alleged to have intentionally rammed a police car, according to the Bend Bulletin. The newspaper reports that the final crash came after the alleged perpetrator skipped out on a restaurant check in one establishment, stole beer from another and finally led police on a three-mile high-speed car chase.

The paper reports the suspect intentionally rammed a police car that was trying to get him to stop. The suspect is now in the Klamath County jail following the Oregon car crash. The Bulletin reports that he is being held pending $45,000 bond. The crash occurred on Highway 97 near Bend, according to The Oregonian.

It goes without saying that most of the legal problems this suspect will now face are criminal in nature. The incident, however, is a reminder that Oregon robberies and Oregon car chases that result in car crashes can also create civil liability – issues of fairness and justice which the criminal courts are not necessarily able to address.

June 22, 2010

Oregon Hospital Death Raises Multiple Legal Issues

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The death last year of a patient at the Oregon State Hospital has led to reprimands for five hospital employees. According to the Salem Statesman-Journal a state official and “hospital leaders” decided that reprimands were a sufficient punishment for the five employees. The legal system, however, has yet to have its final say on this serious situation. Oregon wrongful death and Oregon medical neglect lawsuits remain a possibility.

The reprimands were occasioned by the death last fall of 42 year old Moises Perez. Perez died of coronary artery disease, according to The Oregonian, but “lay in his room across from the nurses station for several hours before his body was discovered.”

The paper reports that three nurses and two aides have now had letters of reprimand placed in their personnel files following an investigation by the OSH’s human resources department. The reprimands are not accompanied by any loss of pay or suspension from work. The Oregonian reports that one of the nurses failed to make monthly nursing summaries on Perez’s chart from June until the patient’s death in October. One of the aides was disciplined for failing to alert nurses when Perez did not “show up to take his 3:30pm medications” on the day of his death. A separate investigation of a doctor, being carried out by a medical board, is still under way.

June 20, 2010

Oregon Truck Crash Kills Washington Woman

by Matthew D. Kaplan

An Oregon car crash this weekend involving a motorist from Washington and a tractor-trailer left the out-of-state driver dead, according to both the Associated Press and The Oregonian. The crash occurred in St. Helens, west of Columbia City and northwest of Portland.

Investigators told The Oregonian they believe the victim, a 44 year old woman from the Seattle area, crossed the center line of US 30 as she was heading north around midday Friday. She collided with an oncoming commercial truck hauling two empty trailers and headed south on the same road. Though airlifted to a Portland area hospital following the Oregon car-truck accident the woman later died.

Oregon truck crashes can be among the most serious of Portland auto accidents. The relative sizes of ordinary cars and large trucks leaves drivers especially vulnerable in the event of an Oregon car and truck accident. In the St. Helens crash, for example, the driver of the truck was uninjured, according to The Oregonian.