Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

January 26, 2012

Traumatic Brain Injuries At Issue in NFL Court Case

In a Miami courtroom today, a panel of federal judges are scheduled to hear arguments in a case with implications for athletes here in Oregon suffering from traumatic brain injuries. According to the Associated Press, the judges are “considering whether to consolidate lawsuits filed around the country by more than 300 former NFL players seeking damages for concussions they suffered.” The list of defendants includes some players, such as Tony Dorsett and Jim McMahon, who were once among the game’s biggest stars.

With the NFL fully engaged in the annual hype surrounding the Super Bowl the timing is, perhaps, unfortunate for the league. It serves, however, as an important reminder of risks of the game, even as it seems likely to revive the bad publicity the league has received for what some former players, attorneys and doctors describe as its lack of attention to long-term mental health issues. Granted the example that professional players set for other football players, and aspiring players, at every level the implications of the suit are significant. The growing public realization here in Oregon and elsewhere of the seriousness of traumatic brain injuries is surely not something the NFL wants to remind fans of in the run up to February 5’s clash between the Giants and the Patriots.

As ESPN notes, the number of players filing or joining traumatic brain injury suits has grown rapidly in recent months. The suits have been filed across the country, and today’s hearing in Miami deals with the narrow legal issue of whether all of these cases should be consolidated and go forward as a single legal action. The NFL denies charges that it failed to protect the players both during and after their careers. The players counter with painful personal stories all too familiar to any Oregon brain injury victim or their family: memory loss and more serious conditions including, as reported by ESPN, “headaches, dizziness and dementia.”

January 24, 2012

Oregon Distracted Driving Loophole Closed

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The New Year brought with it quiet news of an important development in the battle against Oregon distracted driving. Beginning this month, Oregon drivers stopped by police for using a handset while driving will no longer be able to avoid the two-year-old Oregon distracted driving law’s penalties by claiming that they were making a work-related call.

The language of the original bill passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor allowed an exception for use of a handheld cellphone by an Oregon driver if the call in question “is necessary for the person’s job,” as the Los Angeles Times writes. This was arguably intended to be a way to protect police and other emergency services personnel whose jobs often require the use of a cellphone or hand-held radio.

In practice, however, it developed into a glaring loophole. As the Gresham Outlook noted in a recent editorial, the work exception “was that annoying escape route for ticketed drivers who used the ‘I was on a work call’ defense to get out of paying fines.”

January 22, 2012

Oregon Medical Malpractice Leads to Woman’s Death

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The death of a patient who was also reportedly a close friend and employee of the accused doctor has left “a Northeast Portland physician (facing) administrative charges” and the possible loss of her medical license, according to a recent article published by The Oregonian.

The newspaper reports that the doctor has been charged with “gross or repeated negligence” connected to a December 2010 procedure in which her misadministration of a local anesthetic caused the patient to suffer a seizure and lose consciousness. The patient died four days later. The doctor, who now stands accused of Oregon medical malpractice, told the investigating board that “the surgery was to remove a lesion, (but) she told her patient’s son it was an attempted ‘tummy tuck’ to remove unwanted fat.”

The report by the medical board cited a number of significant issues, including inadequate evaluation by the doctor prior to surgery, the presence of insufficient back-up resources in case something went wrong and failure “to recognize symptoms of the drug overdose” once they became apparent.

January 16, 2012

Bike Helmet Recall Alert

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a voluntary recall of “Little Tricky” kids bike helmets. See the link below for the original CPSC news release, including pictures of the helmets themselves. Parents should immediately double-check their kids’ helmets to ensure that the children are not using the affected products.

The agency news release says that the helmets “do not comply with CPSC safety standards for impact resistance.” That means that in the event of an Oregon bicycle accident the helmets might fail to offer the required protection. “Customers could suffer impact head injuries in a fall,” the CPSC warns.

According to the CPSC the helmets have been on sale since 2006. The company’s “Triple Eight” and “Sector 9” size “S/M” (for “small/medium”) models are affected by the recall. The government is urging parents to ensure that their children stop using the helmets immediately, and to return the helmets to the manufacturer for a full refund.

January 10, 2012

Oregon Wrongful Death Suit Filed After disabled Man Dies in Prison

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The mother of a man who died after receiving a mysterious injection while in police custody has filed a civil rights lawsuit in response to what she believes was her son’s wrongful death, according to a recent article in The Oregonian (citing the Salem Statesman-Journal).

The newspaper reports that the Lane County woman blames her son’s death on “deliberate indifference” on the part of prison officials. The 22-year-old died in May 2010 less than two weeks before his prison term was to end. He died, however, only a few hours after receiving a shot of what the suit describes as an “undetermined drug or toxin.”

According to the newspaper, the Oregon wrongful death suit alleges that in addition to administering the mysterious shot, officials ignored instructions concerning the victim’s medications and the fact that he had been diagnosed with a form of autism. The suit alleges that officers guarding the victim did not make the required regular checks of his cell, even after he attempted suicide roughly a month prior to his death. They also allegedly failed to administer necessary medications at the proper times, despite a memo from the “federal Bureau of Prisons” informing officials that the victim “had mental concerns.”

January 7, 2012

Oregon and Washington Drunk Driving Arrests and Deaths From the 2011 Holiday Season

by Matthew D. Kaplan

With the holidays now behind us this is a good moment to pause to examine the Oregon drunk driving and Washington drunk driving statistics reported over the Christmas and New Year’s weekends. DUII/DUI crash and arrest numbers are always a sad reminder of the importance of not overindulging when one goes out to celebrate, and of the crucial role our courts play in ensuring personal accountability.

According to radio station KBND, the Oregon State Police reported “one death and 28 DUII arrests on Oregon’s roads and highways.” The comparable figures for the New Year’s period on Oregon roads were 53 arrests and two crashes resulting in three fatalities, according to a report published in The Oregonian. To our north, in Washington, troopers “arrested 161 drivers suspected of being impaired by drugs or alcohol during the Christmas holiday weekend,” according to the Tri-City Herald.

In both states the Christmas figures represent notable decreases compared with the comparable period a year earlier. The Oregon New Year’s figures, however, were up by approximately 25% over the previous year and show a 55% increase compared to two years ago.

December 30, 2011

Oregon Truck Accident Settlement Shows Power of Courts for Justice

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A few days ago I wrote about the importance of access to our courts and the myth that Oregon personal injury lawsuits are frivolous actions designed to clog up the legal system and undercut the business community. A case settled earlier this month in the southern part of our state illustrates my point perfectly. Through a settlement announced just before Christmas a severely injured motorist has used the legal system to achieve accountability from those responsible for his suffering and, in the process, to see justice done.

According to an account by the Associated Press, the victim of a horrific Oregon car-truck accident a year ago in Central Point will receive a $1.4 million payment to account for the injuries and trauma he suffered when “a trailer detached from the rig that was pulling it and slammed into his Chevy Silverado, flattening it and trapping him inside.”

Trapped in the wreckage for an hour-and-a-half the pick-up’s driver was badly injured. Upon finally reaching a hospital “he was treated for a broken neck, spinal fluid leakage… and (multiple) fractures… as well as nerve damage in his right arm and wrist,” the news agency reports. His suit against the truck driver and the driver’s employer alleged that the truck was operating recklessly at the time of the Oregon truck crash and that the vehicle had not been properly maintained.

December 27, 2011

Fighting For Court Access for Everyone

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A few weeks ago I alerted readers to the new movie Hot Coffee and the vital message it has for all of us as Americans. It is important that we educate ourselves concerning attempts by powerful corporations to curtail access to our courts. Now, the American Association for Justice has done us all a service by taking on one of the most powerful organs of corporate America, the United States Chamber of Commerce.

As a recent article on AAJ’s website lays out, though the C of C complains loudly and often about excessive lawsuits which are supposedly clogging our courts, “the U.S. Chamber is actually one of the most aggressive litigators in Washington D.C., entering lawsuits at a rate of twice weekly.” At the same time, however, the Chamber, through its Institute for Legal Reform, lobbies heavily “for legislation that would close the courthouse doors on anyone who would attempt to hold negligent corporations accountable.”

As every Portland personal injury attorney can attest, the barriers corporate America puts in the way of ordinary citizens seeking to confront powerful companies whom they believe have wronged them are formidable. Contrary to popular belief, getting to court is not easy. Winning in court is even harder, especially when one is faced with powerful and deep-pocketed corporate adversaries. As the article notes, the Chamber’s ILR branch “has the sole mission of making it more difficult for individuals harmed by negligent corporations to access the civil justice system.” The article contains a link to two detailed AAJ reports documenting the Chamber and ILR’s activities.

December 22, 2011

Oregon Train Accident Spotlights Safety Issues at Crossings

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A fatal accident earlier this month at an Eastern Oregon railroad crossing where collisions involving trains and vehicles have occurred in the past raises serious questions about corporate responsibility and road/rail safety.

According to Oregon Public Broadcasting (citing an article that originally appeared in the East Oregonian), a 63-year-old county worker died earlier this month “when a train struck a road grader on Canal Road south of Hermiston” in the Eastern part of the state. The worker was using the grader to spread gravel along one side of the tracks at the time of the accident. According to OPB “the train dragged the grader about 100 feet before it stopped.” The grader operator died at the scene of the Oregon train and car accident.

What makes this tragedy especially noteworthy are facts indicating it was ultimately preventable. As the article explains, at the crossing in question “motorists cannot see trains coming from the west until they emerge around a nearby curve. The crossing is uncontrolled, meaning it does not have traffic control arms.”

December 19, 2011

Product Liability Ruling is a Reminder for Oregonians of the Important Role of Courts and Attorneys

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The circumstances surrounding a product liability penalty announced this week by the Consumer Product Safety Commission go a long way toward explaining why both government oversight and the remedies offered by our courts are so important when defective or dangerous products find their way to market.

According to the Sacramento Bee, and an announcement on the agency’s website, the Consumer Product Safety Commission “has reached a settlement with E&B Giftware LLC of Yonkers, N.Y., resolving CPSC staff allegations that E&B failed to report a defect with its fitness balls.” The agency reports that the company has been hit with a $550,000 civil penalty as a result of its failure to act promptly on legitimate product safety issues.

A statement published on the CPSC website notes that E&B sold three million fitness balls between 2000 and 2009, despite, over that period, “47 reports of the fitness balls unexpectedly bursting when overinflated by consumers, resulting in injuries, including a fracture and bruises.” The agency notes that the balls were recalled by the company in 2009, but that more recent investigations have shown that the manufacturer was aware of some of the potential problems for a significant period of time prior to agreeing to the recall.