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Matthew D. Kaplan

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Workers, including those who work around dangerous and volatile chemicals and equipment, are entitled to a safe workplace. Too often, though, their workplaces are not safe. When that lack of safety is the result of negligence and that negligence leads to serious injury or death, the injured worker (or the worker’s surviving family) may be entitled to hold those negligent parties accountable through a civil lawsuit. These lawsuits are often complex and nuanced, requiring the unique skills and knowledge of an experienced Oregon industrial accident lawyer.

One such workplace type is one that uses vessels whose contents are under pressure. On Nov. 12, 2025, friends, family, and coworkers marked the one-year anniversary of the massive tank explosion that killed two workers at a manufacturing facility that produced cosmetic and food colorings.

Back in mid-November 2024, investigators from the Chemical Safety Board swiftly pinpointed the cause of the explosion. A container — cooking vessel number 6 — blew up.

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It is often said that drinking and driving do not mix. That is never more true when the driver involved is an inexperienced teenager. A teen who consumes alcohol and then drives with passengers in their vehicle places the safety of those passengers in grave danger, a harsh reality that a recent crash in Southern Oregon reinforces. If you have endured serious harm as a result of a teenage impaired driver, you have a right to seek accountability. Reach out to a knowledgeable Oregon auto accident lawyer to discuss how you can go about getting the just compensation you need.

According to the Oregon State Police, the driver in the Southern Oregon wreck was a 17-year-old who was driving along Oregon 140 in Jackson County. The driver failed to navigate a curve and lost control of his pickup truck. The truck crashed through the guardrail and then rolled into a nearby creek. The driver and an 18-year-old passenger died at the scene. The state police reported that neither person was wearing a seatbelt, and they think “impairment and speed” were factors in the crash.

Two other 17-year-old passengers suffered critical injuries.

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Parents of babies understandably desire to provide their child with a full array of “creature comforts,” from bassinets to automated baby swings, jumpers, exersaucers, and more, designed to cover every activity, from play to sleep. Parents place a great deal of trust in the manufacturers of their child’s products, as an unsafe product can pose a risk of serious injury or death. Federal agencies, such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission, work diligently to identify hazardous products, but do not always spot all dangerous products. When your child has encountered harm as a result of an unsafe product, you should contact a knowledgeable Oregon child injury lawyer about the appropriate next steps.

In the last two months, the CPSC has issued numerous recalls for various “baby lounger” products. Many of these products are sold on sites like Amazon and Shein and originate in China. The loungers have design issues that make for “an unsafe sleeping environment for infants,” which creates a risk of serious injury or even death.

One of the most recent recalls involves the “Belivium Baby Lounger,” a Chinese-made product sold on Amazon for between $25 and $50. In its recall notice, which the CPSC issued roughly two weeks ago, the agency cited numerous shortcomings that made the products unsafe for use. These flaws relate back to the CPSC’s mandatory standards for infant sleep products, which the agency has published in the Code of Federal Regulations.

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Attorneys spend copious ink (and digital bandwidth) encouraging readers to consult legal counsel if they have been hurt in a vehicle crash. This advice is not self-serving — many researchers have surveyed the subject, and the results consistently show that injury victims with legal representation fare better (both in terms of success versus defeat and the amounts recovered) than self-represented victims. If you have been seriously hurt in an accident, one of your first steps should be to contact an experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer.

On TV, cases often turn on some sudden in-court revelation. In real life, the seeds of success (or failure) can be sown long before trial during the pre-trial investigation process.

Take, for example, an incident that occurred last month about 20 miles south of Portland. On the afternoon of September 26, a multi-vehicle crash closed the northbound lanes of Interstate 5. The collision claimed a total of seven vehicles. At the time that FOX 12 reported on the accident, the Oregon State Police disclosed that some of the vehicles’ occupants were injured, but did not say how many or how severe their injuries were.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that more than 39,000 people died in traffic accidents in 2024. That represents an improvement from 2023, when nearly 41,000 people died on the roads in this country. Nevertheless, highways and roadways in Oregon and across the U.S. remain dangerous, as the many collisions, injuries, and deaths attest. If you have suffered a serious injury or lost a loved one in a motor vehicle accident, there may be many people or entities whose negligence led to your harm, from other drivers to governmental entities responsible for the maintenance and repair of the road where the crash occurred. To find out more regarding holding negligent parties accountable, you should talk to an experienced Oregon motor vehicle accident lawyer.

Counties like Multnomah and Washington typically rank at the top in terms of the most crashes and deaths each year, based on raw numbers. That does not necessarily tell the whole story, however, as they are also among Oregon’s most populous counties. Recently, Stacker delved into this data and ranked Oregon’s counties not simply by tallying the number of deaths, but by assigning a fatality rate based on dividing the number of deaths by the county’s total population.

The county at the top of the list was Harney County. Harney is a large, sparsely populated county in southeast Oregon. Although it logged only six deaths, that number, given the county’s low population (less than 7,500), was enough to make its fatality rate (80.5 per 100,000 people) nearly double that of the #2 county, Malheur.

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A lawsuit in which you need to hold accountable one or more private entities or individuals is complex enough, including many potentially difficult hurdles. You face challenges related to the facts, the law, and the rules of procedure. A lawsuit where you need to hold a governmental entity accountable is even more complex, as it comes with its own special set of rules. Failure to follow these rules with precision can result in losing your opportunity to get justice entirely. Rather than face that risk, you should reach out to a skilled Oregon attorney who is familiar with Oregon Tort Claim matters.

Many cases may involve a combination of private and public actors who were negligent. This was the case in a catastrophic crash from 2020.

The accident, which occurred in South Salem, left one teenage girl dead. Police reports and evidence from the crash site revealed that the driver of the girl’s vehicle was speeding and ran a stop sign in the moments before the two-vehicle collision occurred.

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Dogs are integral members of many families. They provide companionship, protection, and more to their humans. Unfortunately, dogs can also be dangerous. Even if a dog is of a breed generally considered non-violent, that dog is a powerful animal and may be capable of doing serious (and sometimes fatal) damage if it attacks. That is why owning a dog, while immensely rewarding, is also a massive responsibility. A dog placed in the possession of an irresponsible owner is a potential risk to all those around it. If you have questions about domestic animal attacks and Oregon liability law, you should speak to an experienced Oregon dog bite lawyer.

A fatal case from Southwest Oregon illustrates the harm that an out-of-control dog can cause.

According to the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, a four-year-old girl died after a dog attacked her on August 16. Available details about the attack were sparse, but KOBI reported that the incident occurred at a residence in Cave Junction, approximately 30 miles southwest of Grants Pass. KOBI also indicated that the dog involved was a mix of Cane Corso, Rottweiler, and Pit bull breeds. A GoFundMe for the child’s family stated that the dog belonged to a neighbor.

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Motorcyclists and bicyclists are among the most at-risk of all those who share Oregon’s roadways. Because motorcyclists and bicyclists are physically exposed in ways that passenger vehicle occupants are not, crashes are more likely to cause serious or even fatal harm. While accidents often result from good-faith judgment errors, some drivers act with bad intentions, including those fueled by road rage. If a driver hurt you while you rode your motorcycle — whether that driver was driving negligently or recklessly — you may be entitled to obtain essential compensation via the civil justice system. In any scenario, but especially if your case involves exceptional circumstances like a road-rage driver, you should retain the services of an experienced Oregon motorcycle accident lawyer to ensure your rights are protected.

Video footage the Beaverton Police Department released in May shows how quickly a disagreement on the road can go from a verbal dispute to a life-threatening crash when a road-rage driver uses his vehicle as a weapon.

In the video from Beaverton, two vehicles — one minivan and one motorcycle — travel side-by-side on westbound Highway 26 between Highway 217 and Cedar Hills Boulevard. The motorcyclist appeared to yell, point, or gesture toward the Kia van. The van driver’s response was shocking and inappropriate.

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Traveling by bicycle offers bicyclists many benefits. It is a great way to stay healthy, to take in our area’s beautiful scenery, and to reduce one’s pollution output. Unfortunately, recent headlines paint a dangerous picture for bicyclists in and around Portland. Speeding drivers, inattentive/distracted drivers, intoxicated drivers, and other negligent drivers are dangerous to everyone who shares the road, but a wreck that impacts a bicyclist often involves serious or fatal injuries. Because a catastrophic or fatal accident often involves many steps like insurance claims, civil lawsuits, or both, it is well worth your while to retain a skilled Oregon bicycle accident lawyer who can help you understand your rights and all your options for getting justice.

One of those recent bicycle accidents occurred in Southeast Portland. OregonLive reported that a vehicle driver and a bicyclist crashed near the intersection of SE 145th Avenue and SE Powell Boulevard at around 7:00 pm on July 13. The bicyclist died from his injuries on July 14.

According to the report, the vehicle driver, who was shoeless, had “bloodshot eyes and smelled like alcohol.” The driver also allegedly “appeared to be struggling to walk in a straight line or talk.”

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A common truth posits that motor vehicles and alcohol do not mix. That theory is never more true than when the driver is someone under the age of 21. In many cases where an underage driver has crashed a vehicle due to their intoxication, they obtained their alcoholic beverages from someone else, whether that someone is a private server or a commercial establishment. When a social host or a bartender fails to check IDs or otherwise take proper steps to prevent serving minors, they may face severe consequences. A business might lose its liquor license. And, if an intoxicated minor injures (or kills) someone else in a vehicle crash, the facts of the case may present an issue of potential liability on the part of those who served the alcohol. If you have questions about pursuing a dram shop or social host case, be sure to contact a knowledgeable Oregon dram shop lawyer to receive sound, reliable advice about your situation.

A fatal accident just outside Portland was allegedly an example of mixing minors, alcohol, and “dangerous” vehicles.

The crash occurred on Sauvie Island, located approximately 10 miles northwest of downtown Portland. According to the police, an 18-year-old male crashed a Polaris utility terrain vehicle shortly after midnight on May 18. The Oregonian reported that the crash killed the vehicle’s other passenger, a 17-year-old girl.

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