Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

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Oregon is the state with the largest number of logging businesses. (Washington is #5.) That fact alone should tell you that drivers on Oregon’s highways and byways often share the road with large logging trucks and trailers. These businesses require specially trained drivers and carefully maintained vehicles to ensure safety. That’s because when a logging truck crash happens, the results are often fatal. When a lack of proper attention to safety leads to deadly results, it is wise to contact an experienced Oregon wrongful death lawyer about your situation and needs.

A few years ago, Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) published a study analyzing logging truck crashes. The study found that, during the years assessed, logging truck crashes nationwide were up 33% and fatal ones up 41%.

As a prolific logging state, Oregon is home to many logging truck accidents. Sometimes, these crashes involve errors by other drivers, like turning in front of a logging truck or losing control in bad weather and sliding into a logging truck’s lane. Many times, though, these crashes result from issues related to the logging truck or truck driver, such as when a logging truck loses its load onto the roadway or the driver loses control of the truck.

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When you’re seriously injured — or a loved one is killed — in an auto accident caused by someone’s negligence or recklessness, the legal system allows you to pursue restorative justice. What that means may vary depending on the specific facts of the crash. Was the at-fault driver merely negligent or was extreme recklessness involved? Are you entitled to seek punitive damages or simply pursue compensation for your economic and non-economic harm? If punitive damages are a potential option, should you ask for them or forego this claim? For answers to these and other essential questions, seek out advice from an experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer.

These questions (and their answers) are more relevant than ever as, in many parts of our post-COVID world, road-related injuries and deaths have shot up from the levels seen during the 2010s. In Nevada, for example, 385 people died in road-related injuries in 2021, a 15-year high, according to the New York Times. 2022 was nearly as deadly, with 382 fatal injuries.

According to the Times report, a surgery professor in Las Vegas knows why. Based on the data the professor reviewed, “drivers were speeding more, on highways and on surface streets, and plowing through intersections with an alarming frequency.” On top of that, fewer people were using seat belts and more people were driving while intoxicated.

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Portland and the surrounding area welcomed the start of fall a few weeks ago, and the change of seasons brought temperatures in the 40s. Not long ago, though, Portland sweltered under triple-digit temperatures. As uncomfortable and challenging as extreme heat can be for most of us, it is vastly more dangerous for workers who work outside or in non-climate-controlled settings. These jobs can be not only dangerous but also fatal. Sometimes, a worker’s heat-related workplace injury or death may be the result of multiple people or entities failing to do their jobs — and that includes people or entities beyond just the worker’s employer. When that happens, an experienced Oregon industrial accident lawyer can help you take the appropriate legal steps.

When temperatures reached 100+ back in August, KGW8 took the opportunity to remind readers of the heat-related workplace protections that are now in place in Oregon.

Back in 2021, multiple workers died during a June heat wave where temperatures reached the mid 110’s. In the wake of those deaths, the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) created new administrative rules to protect workers from the heat. The rules apply to “any workplace where extreme heat caused by weather can expose workers to heat-related illnesses.”

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Thousands of motorcyclists die each year on American roads and highways. Many times, these crashes are the result of a car, truck, or SUV driver who failed to maintain a proper lookout and executed a left turn that directly led to the fatal crash. When that happens and you lose a loved one as a result, the law allows you to seek justice for your loss. Retaining an experienced Oregon motorcycle accident lawyer can provide your family crucial advantages as you undertake that legal process.

A recent fatal motorcycle accident in Lincoln County follows a factual pattern that tragically is all too familiar. A 27-year-old man from Toledo was traveling northbound on Highway 101 about 15 miles south of Newport.

According to the Oregon State Police’s preliminary investigation, as the motorcyclist passed through the intersection of Highway 101 and North Bayview Road, the driver of a Dodge Ram pickup truck turned left onto northbound 101 from Bayview Road. The motorcyclist was unable to avoid an impact and crashed into the truck. The motorcycle caught fire and the motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene.

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At a Portland City Hall rally earlier this month, a group of bicyclists sought not to accomplish a solely bicycle-oriented policy goal. Instead, the bicyclists focused on a larger objective: reducing the high number of traffic deaths in the city and making Portland’s roads safer for everyone, including drivers, passengers, pedestrians, motorcyclists, and bicyclists. The bicycle accident lawyers at Kaplan Law LLC understand the incalculable human toll that traffic fatalities represent, and support policies that will make our area’s streets and highways safer for all.

According to KGW8’s coverage, the rally included signs honoring the lives of each person killed in vehicle incidents in Portland this year. As of the date of the rally, Portland had already logged 46 fatalities, a pace that could allow the city to surpass last year’s total of 63 deaths.

The protest was organized by BikeLoud PDX. A member of that group told KGW8 that the changes they desired were reasonable and modest goals. Those objectives included enhanced enforcement of speed limits, an increase in the number of traffic cameras (particularly on “high-crash corridors,”) additional infrastructure investment, and campaigns against impaired driving targeted at “bars, restaurants, [and] liquor stores.”

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Pedestrian accidents are unique in certain ways. Unlike vehicle-versus-vehicle accidents, many vehicle-versus-pedestrian accidents leave little or no physical evidence at the scene. There may be a complete absence of skid marks or broken glass. In fact, the vehicle may endure no significant damage of any kind. That is one reason why retaining the right Oregon pedestrian accident lawyer to handle your case is so important. Once you’ve retained counsel, if that kind of proof isn’t available, your attorney can immediately get started pursuing other forms of evidence to make your case, like security camera footage, cell phone recordings, or other video/photographic evidence of the crash.

Recent news reports show that pedestrians are facing greater risks on Portland roads than ever before. City records revealed that 16 pedestrians died in 2019 and 18 in 2020. Last year, though, that number shot up to 28.

Shortly after midnight yesterday, another vehicle accident claimed the life of a pedestrian here in Portland. The incident represented the 44th traffic death in Portland this year. Of those 44, 14 have been pedestrians, according to OregonLive.com.

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When workplaces lack appropriate worker safety protections, serious and sometimes life-changing (or even fatal) accidents are too often the result. Sometimes, you, as an injured worker, may be entitled to restorative relief through an industrial accident lawsuit. These cases can be highly complex, making representation from a knowledgeable Oregon industrial accident lawyer especially valuable.

One factor that can help workers to receive safer workplaces is the threat of OSHA fines from the state. The fines the State of Oregon hands out to employers operating unsafe workplaces have historically been among the lowest in the country, even when the safety violations were obvious and substantial. For example, one construction worker in West Linn died in an accident caused by a heavy-duty loader with no working brakes or horn. Despite finding that the safety violations carried a “high probability of death and that ‘with reasonable diligence, (the) employer could have known that the loader’s brakes and horn were not operating properly’,” Oregon OSHA fined the excavation company only $5,400.

Those fines will be increasing going forward. Earlier this month, the Oregon legislature passed a bill that forces Oregon OSHA to lift its minimum fine amounts to mirror the minimum fines federal OSHA requires. According to The Oregonian, that means raising minimum fines by more than 1,000% in some circumstances.

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A commercial truck can weigh anywhere from 17.5-40 tons (35,000-80,000 pounds.) When you compare that to passenger vehicles, which weigh only about 1-3 tons (2,000-6,000 pounds,) it is easy to see how an accident involving a big rig can do massive — and often fatal — damage. If you’re hurt — or a loved one killed — in a commercial truck accident, there may be multiple parties with potential liability, ranging from truck drivers to trucking companies to a host of insurance companies. Complex civil cases like these often are ones where a skilled Oregon truck accident lawyer can be especially helpful.

A Willamette Valley crash was one of the most recent examples of just how devastating the results can be when a trucker operates his vehicle unsafely. Due to the complexities and amount (and severity) of the injuries involved, this case will likely take years to conclude and for families to get closure.

The trucker was traveling on Interstate 5 between Albany and Salem and, according to prosecutors, “had been weaving on and off the road” as he headed northbound. As he approached the Santiam River Rest Area, he allegedly veered onto the east shoulder of the highway and slammed into a Ford Econoline passenger van, crushing it between the trucker’s rig and a parked semi. The Oregonian reported that seven van passengers died. In addition, four more van passengers were transported to a hospital via ambulance.

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A motorcycle ride offers many benefits, including the release of endorphins (a/k/a “happy” hormones.) Unfortunately, riding a motorcycle carries some drawbacks, including a substantially higher risk of severe injury or death if you’re involved in a crash. That means that the harm your crash inflicts may permanently alter the trajectory of your life and/or those of your loved ones. If you have been seriously hurt (or a loved one killed) while aboard a motorcycle, you need the services of a knowledgeable Oregon motorcycle accident lawyer to ensure you receive restorative justice.

Less than a week into 2023, a motorcyclist in neighboring Clark County, Washington, lost their life. According to a KOIN report, investigators believed that the driver of a sedan in Vancouver “was turning southbound… from a parking lot when it collided with the motorcycle.”

A few weeks later, another motorcyclist died near Portland. This time, the site was Washington County. The crash involved a motorcycle and one other vehicle on an overpass to Highway 26 in Beaverton.

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As the number of pedestrians killed on Portland’s streets continues to mount, we’re reminded that fatal pedestrian accidents can occur for many reasons. Sometimes a pedestrian makes an unwise and unsafe decision to cross a street. A lot of times, though, these tragedies are the result of negligence on the part of others. If you’ve lost a loved one because of unsafe road conditions or a vehicle driver’s unsafe driving, then your family needs the aid of a Portland pedestrian accident lawyer who can help to hold those responsible accountable for their actions (or inaction) and get you the recovery you need.

In just a two-day span last week, Southeast Portland saw a pair of fatal accidents involving pedestrians. The more recent one occurred around 10:15 pm on January 24 when a 2007 Mitsubishi SUV collided with a 59-year-old man. The accident took place on Southeast Powell Boulevard at Foster Road.

Powell Boulevard is notoriously dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists, with multiple fatal accidents occurring along the road, as this blog has covered on numerous occasions.

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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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