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Matthew D. Kaplan

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The death of 27-year-old S.B. was the tragic final chapter of a man allowed to “fall through the cracks” repeatedly. The man’s situation included many institutional failures, but one of the biggest was the inadequate mental health care he allegedly received while behind bars in Douglas County. Inmates and detainees are constitutionally entitled to appropriate health care while incarcerated, and a failure to receive that care can represent a violation of that person’s civil rights. If you have lost a loved one in this way or have questions about appropriate standards of care and jail inmates and detainees, be sure you get the reliable information you need by talking to an experienced Oregon jail neglect lawyer.

S.B. died seven weeks after he entered the Roseburg jail. On February 28, 2024, law enforcement officers encountered the man at a coffee shop repeatedly “asking customers if they wanted to ‘box’ and acting strangely.” A day later, police found the man wandering in traffic on a Douglas County highway. Despite the man’s mental health crisis, police arrested him for disorderly conduct.

When the man entered the Roseburg jail, he weighed 235 pounds. By the time deputies entered the man’s cell on April 18 to transport him to his court-ordered psychiatric treatment, he was down to 139 pounds, having lost more than 40% of his body weight.

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Proper maintenance, inspection, and repair of commercial trucks are vital to ensuring the safety of truckers and all those who share the road with them. An improperly maintained truck is at an elevated risk of breaking down and causing an accident and, as the data shows, truck accidents cause thousands of deaths annually… usually to someone other than the trucker. If you have lost a loved one in a commercial truck crash, the civil court system may allow you to seek justice through a liability action against one or more parties. An experienced Oregon truck accident lawyer can help you look at your circumstances, assess your options, and choose the best path forward.

Truck maintenance was a potential issue in a recent multi-vehicle crash in Lane County. The operator of a Kenworth log truck experienced a “catastrophic engine failure” as he passed through the Knowles Creek Tunnel along Highway 126. The trucker cautiously passed through the tunnel and brought his vehicle to a stop along the side of the highway’s westbound lane. Unfortunately, the trucker’s broken engine had left behind a “200-yard-long” oil spill.

A westbound driver behind the truck hit the oil slick then hit the truck, but managed to move off the highway. The next westbound driver, however, slid not into the log truck but into the oncoming lane. That vehicle and an eastbound Chevrolet HHR slammed head-on. The driver of the Chevrolet died at the scene. The other driver suffered serious injuries.

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Running between the Columbia River and the Willamette Valley, Oregon State Route 47 offers many scenic views and interesting destinations, including numerous nearby volcanoes… and the World’s Tallest Barber Pole. The road also is home to many serious and fatal vehicle accidents. From drivers going too fast to commercial trucks operating unsafely, the reasons for serious and fatal crashes on this road are many but often involve negligent conduct by someone other than the person (people) who were severely injured or died. If your family has been touched by a catastrophic or fatal accident that occurred because someone else was not meeting their safety obligations under the law, your family may be able to obtain justice through a civil litigation action. An experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer can help guide you through this process which is often complex, intricate, and extensive.

A crash that occurred last weekend further underscores this reality. On Sunday night, emergency responders were called to an accident scene in Forest Grove. The collision was serious enough that one injured person was life-flighted to a nearby hospital and authorities closed the road to traffic.

Only two weeks earlier, the scene was Yamhill County. That crash, according to police, occurred after a southbound driver “missed a curve” and crashed into a pickup truck. The impact injured two children riding in the pickup truck. The drivers were less fortunate, with one enduring severe injury and the other suffering fatal harm.

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Any worker dying in a workplace accident is a tragedy. What makes many of these tragedies so profoundly frustrating is that after-the-fact investigations reveal that the worker’s death was entirely preventable. Many workers lose their lives on the job when, with better training, better supervision, and better safety protections, their accidents could have been avoided entirely. Sometimes, these cases involve failures not only by the employer but by third parties, as well. When that happens, the worker’s family may be entitled to seek justice using an industrial accident lawsuit. For answers to your questions about this type of civil action, you should speak to an Oregon industrial accident lawyer experienced in litigating these sorts of cases.

A recent worker death was the latest example of a preventable accident, according to a state agency investigation. In early March 2024, a 32-year-old employee working at a paper mill in Camas, Washington died when a machine crushed him. A police report filed after the man died revealed that the worker “was working alone on a machine that had reportedly been having issues earlier in the day when the incident occurred.”

Not only had the machine had problems earlier in the day, but it also experienced issues during the man’s shift. According to a news release from the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, the man “called four times in one hour to ask for help troubleshooting” the machine. Still, he was left alone with the machine. Other employees only checked the station after boxes began backing up on the conveyor belt. By then, the machine’s metal arms had already crushed the man to death.

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Parents and other caregivers strive daily to keep their children as safe as possible. Sometimes they fail to do so, not because of any mistake they made, but because a product they relied upon did not function as it should have. When that happens and a child suffers significant harm, the manufacturer should be held to account for putting an unsafe product on the market. If your child has been hurt by a defective product, a knowledgeable Oregon child injury lawyer can provide you with essential information, advice, and advocacy to guide you through the process of seeking justice through civil litigation.

One place where a child is most exposed to potential death or serious injury is riding in a car, truck, or SUV. Advances in car seat manufacturing have made kids safer than previous generations. Nevertheless, potential problems still arise that may place children at unreasonable risks when they ride down the road. Child car seats, like any product, are an item where the development of new technology sometimes comes with new flaws and new hazards. Evenflo recently developed a car seat that rotates on its base, allowing a caregiver the opportunity to place the child in the seat while the child faces outward, and then rotate the seat into the proper position for travel.

Currently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating that car seat after receiving nearly 20 complaints about it. The agency indicated in its investigation summary that the product “appears not to comply with a number of” requirements. The summary also said the agency was “aware of at least six crash incidents in the field during which the [seat’s] shell… reportedly separated from its detachable base.” In other words, the seat broke free from its base while it was still supposed to be locked.

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Construction workers face many hazards on the job. Some are inevitable, but too many dangers – and serious or fatal accidents – arise because someone (or some entity) failed to do what they were required to do. Because major construction projects typically involve a variety of entities, including general contractors, subcontractors, and more, the blame for your construction accident may fall on someone other than your employer. That means that, with the advice and counsel of an experienced Oregon industrial accident lawyer, you can potentially recover vital compensation through the civil justice system.

When it comes to construction dangers, four areas stand out: falls, electrocution, cave-ins during trenching or excavation, and “struck-by” accidents. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, roughly ¾ of “struck-by” injuries involve heavy equipment like trucks and cranes. OSHA’s data also shows that approximately 25% of fatal “struck by vehicle” accidents involve construction workers, more than any other profession.

A local accident from late May was yet another example of those dangers. On May 30, a forklift rolled on top of S.D., an ironworker working on the massive “modernization” project at a century-old high school in Northeast Portland, pinning and crushing her. The worker died two days later.

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The laws of physics tell us, among other things, that the force an object exerts equals its mass times its acceleration. That equation reminds us that faster-moving vehicles (and large, heavy vehicles) exert the most force in collisions. Those crashes often are the most damaging. If you’ve lost a loved one in a highway crash, your family likely has many needs that potentially involve the justice system. As you seek to hold wrongdoers accountable and obtain vital compensation that your family needs, an experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer can provide crucial advice and representation as you seek to accomplish these essential objectives.

In the past two weeks, Interstate Highway 5 in Oregon has been the site of multiple fatal crashes. The more recent of the pair illustrates some important truths about highway crashes.

Last week, a stretch of I-5 located about 25 miles south of Portland was the site of a multi-vehicle collision. According to the state police, the driver of a Volkswagen compact sedan slammed into the rear of a Dodge pickup truck “at highway speeds.” The driver of a Nissan sedan then hit the truck, as well. This pair of high-speed crashes sent the northbound truck spinning into the southbound lanes, hitting a Ford pickup truck.

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Roughly halfway between Portland and Boise is the steepest highway grade in all of Oregon. The area is so challenging to travel that the Oregon Department of Transport published an advisory sheet specifically dedicated to educating semi truckers about safely handling the dangerous stretch of Interstate 84. Known as Emigrant Hill (but often better known as Cabbage Hill), it has been the site of countless serious and fatal accidents in recent years. Too many of these accidents occur because a driver (or drivers) did not navigate the road with the degree of care the law demands. When that is the case, those injured (or the families of those killed) may be entitled to seek justice through civil action. If you have endured serious harm (or lost a loved one) in a Cabbage Hill crash, you owe it to yourself to consult an experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer about your rights and your legal options.

In June, Cabbage Hill was the site of yet another fatal accident. The driver of a pickup truck collided with the rear end of a semi-truck on westbound I-84 as they descended the hill’s steep grade. According to the Eugene Daily News, the semi was traveling very slowly and had its hazard lights on when the pickup crashed into its back end. The rear driver, a woman from Irrigon, died in the collision.

The facts that the news reported seem to point towards errant driving by the deceased woman, but the facts in this news report inevitably are not the only ones. For example, evidence that a big rig’s hazard lights were not functioning properly could alter the analysis of responsibility for the crash.

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Last week, a 31-year-old woman died inside Multnomah County’s jail in Downtown Portland. The seven-month stint without a jail death was an improvement from 2023 when 10 inmates/detainees died inside the county’s lockups. Even so, too many people are dying behind bars due to preventable reasons. Sometimes it is a lack of mental illness care, a failure to limit access to dangerous drugs, or untreated (or improperly treated) alcohol or drug withdrawal. When these deaths are the result of a failure to provide reasonably appropriate medical care and treatment, they may represent a violation of that person’s constitutional rights. For reliable answers about civil actions based on this type of constitutional rights violation, turn to an Oregon civil rights lawyer with experience handling cases involving jail deaths.

Although the reports that the news media have published so far provide only sparse details, the basic factual pattern of the most recent death is a very familiar one. Multnomah County Sheriff’s officers arrested the woman on Tuesday, July 22, charging her with criminal mischief and reckless burning. According to a Willamette Week report, her decade-long history of “run-ins with police” were “often the result of poverty or mental illness.”

Less than 72 hours after her July 22 arrest, the woman was found unresponsive inside her jail cell. Paramedics failed to revive her.

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According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, research estimates say as much as 47% of jobs “could be automated in the future.” Human workers are (and will continue to be) exposed to certain dangers that result from sharing a workspace with robots. When you are hurt (or a loved one is killed) at work because a machine did not perform as it should, your family may be entitled to hold certain entities accountable through a civil action based on negligence in the way they designed, manufactured, programmed, tested, and inspected their machines. These kinds of lawsuits require very specific legal knowledge, so it is wise to consult with an experienced Oregon industrial accident lawyer about your situation.

Nine years ago this month, a fatal workplace accident went “viral” on social media after a robot at an automotive plant grabbed a worker and crushed him against a metal plate. (Sadly, the story’s virality was less about the important issue (workplace safety,) and more about the reporter’s name, a near-match with the fictional heroine in a famous movie about killer robots.)

Robot-related worker injuries and deaths remain a problem. Last November, a robot at a vegetable packing plant in South Korea crushed a worker to death after the machine grabbed him and pressed him against a conveyor belt.

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50 SW Pine St 3rd Floor Portland, OR 97204 Telephone: (503) 226-3844 Fax: (503) 943-6670 Email: matthew@mdkaplanlaw.com
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