Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

April 23, 2010

Clackamas Dog Attack Hero Receives National Recognition

An area man has received a national award for saving a neighbor from a vicious Oregon dog attack. According to a recent article in The Oregonian, Chuck Monnier of Molalla rescued 23 year old Christopher Friesen from a serious attack by two loose dogs early on Christmas morning 2008. He has now been honored with a Carnegie Medal, “one of 22 awarded across the country this year by the Carnegie Hero Fund,” the newspaper reports.

Monnier told The Oregonian he heard Friesen’s cries for help and began to call 911 before deciding the situation could not wait. Handing the telephone to his wife he rushed outside, grabbed a shovel and used it to drive the attacking Clackamas dogs away. The Oregon dog attack left Friesen with serious injuries to his head, left calf, the back of his right knee and his left arm.

According to the newspaper, the Molalla police located the dogs the following day. The animals were “placed in quarantine. After an investigation, the dogs were euthanized and their owner was cited for maintaining a dangerous dog.”

April 21, 2010

Salem Wrongful Death Suit Filed in Federal Court

by Matthew D. Kaplan

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.”

April 19, 2010

Portland Bicyclists Attend Shrine’s Dedication

by Matthew D. Kaplan

About 50 people, including Portland’s mayor, gathered last week to mark the unveiling of a unique spot: a shrine dedicated to Portland bicyclists by St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, along with the introduction by the church of a formal ‘bicycle liturgy’, according to a recent article in The Oregonian.

Central to the shrine is a ‘ghost bike’ covered in flowers and dedicated to the memory of a young Portland cyclist who was struck by a car and died in an Oregon bicycle accident in 2007. Mayor Sam Adams told those attending the service that “out of the great tragedy of (Tracey) Sparlings death emerged the city’s bike boxes, designed to prevent more right-hook turns like the one that killed” her, the newspaper reported. According to the church publication Episcopal Life, Sparlings was struck and killed by a cement truck which failed to see her while turning. The driver of the truck was not prosecuted.

The event was a reminder that even in Portland – often regarded as one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country – riders often find themselves endangered by drivers who are not keeping an eye out for cyclists.

April 16, 2010

Oregon Scout Sexual Abuse Verdict May Have National Impact

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A leading expert on child sexual abuse says a Portland court’s verdict holding the Boy Scouts liable for the Oregon child sexual abuse of one of their scouts in the 1980s has the potential to set loose a flood of litigation, similar to what the Catholic Church has experienced in recent years, according to a recent report in The Oregonian.

That analysis comes in the wake of a $1.4 million Oregon jury verdict against the Boy Scouts of America and their local affiliate, the Cascade Pacific Council. The victim, now 38, was molested by a scoutmaster in 1983 and 1984, according to a report in USA Today. In an interview with The Oregonian the victim said he had come forward after so many years because he only recently realized how seriously the mental trauma of the molestation had affected his later life. Changes to Oregon’s sexual abuse laws enacted last year have extended the period of time after an incident of abuse in which an alleged victim can bring suit.

A statement posted on the Boy Scouts of America’s website described the organization as both “gravely disappointed” in the verdict and “saddened by what happened to the plaintiff,” The Oregonian reported. The Scouts now face a second phase of the trial in which punitive damages will be considered. The victim is seeking $25 million.

April 14, 2010

Oregon truck accident injures family of four

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Four members of a Canadian family were injured in a serious Oregon truck accident last week when what police describe as a “large truck” crossed the median on I-5 near Eugene and collided with an oncoming car, according to a report by local TV station KMTR.

According to the Eugene Register-Guard, the truck, which police describe as “rental style”, was headed south on I-5 at the time of the accident. The truck’s 73-year old driver reportedly strayed across the interstate’s grassy median before colliding with the Canadian family’s northbound pick-up truck. All four family members were taken to area hospitals. None of their injuries are thought to be life-threatening. The southbound truck’s driver was more seriously injured. According to the Register-Guard she was airlifted to hospital, after being pulled from her vehicle by fire department personnel.

Eugene injury accidents such as this can be difficult and costly affairs for the victims and their extended families. Bills for medical treatment, rehabilitative services and even counseling can flood in at a time when accident victims, or loved ones forced to leave work to care for them, are further burdened with emotional distress and the possible loss of wages or salaries.

April 11, 2010

Distracted Driver Gets 4 Years for Fatal Accident

by Matthew D. Kaplan

With Oregon distracted driving on the minds of many motorists as the state’s new ban on the use of hand-held cellphones and texting by drivers takes effect, a court case in California last week became the latest important legal decision to remind everyone how serious an issue this is.

According to the Associated Press, a 42 year old California man has been sentenced to four years in prison following a car accident in which he struck and killed a pedestrian. Martin Kuehl was texting as he drove through the southern California city of Newport Beach in August 2008. According to the AP, “prosecutors argued that he had an unobstructed view of the crosswalk” where he struck and killed the pedestrian, but “failed to slow down or break in any way.”

Interestingly, the accident took place one month before California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation banning texting behind the wheel throughout the state. That fact is an important reminder that the consequences of Portland distracted driving can go far beyond those directly related to the Oregon distracted driving law.

April 7, 2010

Silverton Accidental Death Prompts Investigation

by Matthew D. Kaplan

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.

April 5, 2010

Feds Move to Tighten Distracted Driving Rules

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The New York Times reported recently on efforts by the federal Department of Transportation to tighten rules governing distracted driving in Oregon and elsewhere in the nation. According to the newspaper, the department wants to make a temporary ban on texting by long-haul truckers permanent. Safety advocates, however, say those rules do not go far enough.

According to the Times, the real concern among highway safety groups focuses on the in-cab computers that have become standard equipment in much of the nation’s trucking fleet. “We want the department to continue down this road of looking at the devices that are highly distracting and take action to curb those as well,” the paper quoted Judith Stone, president of Advocates for Highway Safety, saying.

The department is currently gearing up to take public comments about making the texting rule permanent, but is reported to be receptive to input on a broader ban. Onboard computers are a common sight in the cabs of large trucks. These often combine the features of commercial GPS units with links to dispatchers at a trucking or shipping company’s headquarters.

March 31, 2010

Traumatic Brain Injuries are Target of New NHL Rule

by Matthew D. Kaplan

An appropriate piece of news with which to wrap up National Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness Month: with a speed few observers expected the National Hockey League has instituted new rules against hits to the head. The NHL Players Association, the final official body that needed to sign off on the rule change, gave its approval late last week. That accomplished, the changes taking effect immediately. The measure, which I wrote about earlier this month, is specifically designed to reduce the risk of traumatic brain injuries, and comes in the wake of several high profile incidents involving serious head injuries to players.

NCAA hockey has long banned hits to the head. Such a rule has been discussed on-and-off in the NHL for years, but had never seemed to gain much momentum (there was, in particular, a strong traditionalist faction in the League which opposed any move to lessen the sport’s roughness). Impetus for the new move appears to have come from a combination of two things. First, the Olympics – where hits to the head have long been banned. The Games may have shifted the conversation because they displayed, for fans and League officials alike, a consistently high level of rough play despite the ban on hits to the head. Second, immediately after the games the NHL was shocked by a rash of high-profile head injuries in the space of a few weeks.

All this month I have worked to highlight the dangers of Oregon traumatic brain injuries and the dire consequences that can follow for victims and their loved ones alike. While the media have recently emphasized the dangers of sports-related traumatic brain injuries, it is worth remembering that auto accidents are, by far, the most common causes of traumatic brain injuries in Oregon and nationwide.

March 29, 2010

Alleged Portland Drunk Driver Injures Four

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Police say a suspected drunk driver in Tigard, near Portland, caused a three-vehicle Oregon car accident late last week that injured four people, one of them seriously. According to The Oregonian, the accident occurred “on the Pacific Highway overpass, just north of Johnson Street” late at night, and closed the effected roadway throughout the following morning.

Local media, quoting police and Oregon DOT investigators, say a southbound vehicle crossed the highway’s center line and hit a north-bound pick-up truck. A north-bound SUV was also caught up in the unfolding Oregon auto accident. All three drivers, as well as a passenger in the SUV, were injured in the incident, according to The Oregonian, with the driver of the pick-up being listed in the most serious condition of the four.

Oregon auto accidents, especially those involving Portland or Beaverton drunk drivers, can be costly and emotionally traumatic for months or years after the fact. The government is well-positioned to punish Oregon drunk drivers with criminal sanctions, but these do little or nothing to address the pain and suffering of Oregon drunk driving car accident victims.