Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

June 29, 2011

Portland Industrial Accident Injures One

Early reports that an Oregon industrial accident in North Portland left a worker critically injured have proven to be premature, according to The Oregonian. The newspaper, quoting an emergency services spokesman, reported that it was originally believed an explosion at SiC Processing had left a worker there with life-threatening injuries.

Several hours later it became clear that the victim was expected to make a “full and rapid recovery,” the paper reports.

The fact that the worker’s injuries were not as serious as was originally thought is a relief. But as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigates what the paper reports was a hydrogen blast a number of potential legal questions need to be considered.

June 23, 2011

Tualatin Crash leads to Oregon Drunk Driving Conviction

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A 25-year-old Oregon woman has been sentenced to a fine and a diversion program and also had her license suspended after pleading guilty to Oregon drunk driving, according to The Oregonian.

The short article, published earlier this month, is a useful reminder both of the serious consequences of Oregon drunk driving and the tough sanctions that even a first offense can entail. The article does not detail how Lauren Thomas came to be driving drunk when she caused an Oregon car crash in I-5 in Tualatin, but notes that she “drifted out of a lane of traffic and crashed into a flatbed pickup.” The truck’s driver was not injured in the accident.

Thomas, the paper reports, must attend treatment sessions and has lost her driving license for 90 days. She will also have to pay a fine and during this period “cannot consume or possess alcohol, or enter bars or liquor stores.” She will also have to read a book on the consequences of drunk driving and submit a report on it to the presiding judge in her case.

June 21, 2011

Oregon Plane Crash Kills Three

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Aviation officials are investigating the circumstances of a plane crash that killed three people in Eastern Oregon earlier this month. The small plane was traveling from Dallesport, Washington to Cody, Wyoming when it crashed southeast of Ukiah, according to The Oregonian.

According to television station KPTV, the aircraft carried a pilot and two passengers – two men from Klickitat, Washington and a woman from Hermiston, Oregon. The station reported that the US Forest Service was cutting a makeshift road into the remote area of the crash to facilitate investigations by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Small plane crashes almost always leave a number of questions in their wake. One must ask, of course, about the weather. But those mourning a loved one in the aftermath of an Oregon small plane crash also need to ask sometimes difficult questions concerning the pilot’s health, alertness level and training. The aircraft itself also bears close scrutiny. Was it properly built and maintained? If the aircraft was being used for business or professional purposes these questions could become especially important in considering whether the specifics of a particular Oregon plane crash meet the standard for an Oregon industrial accident.

June 18, 2011

Innovative Program Combats Teen Drunk Driving

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Chalk one up for Orange County, California in the quest for innovative ways to combat drunk driving. According to a recent article in the Orange County Register a recent student assembly in the San Clemente High School gym featured “an actual court session and sentencing of a DUI defendant.”

The paper reports that the County Superior Court session was moved to the school for part of one day as a way of emphasizing the seriousness of drunk driving and its consequences. Placing the session in the school allows anti-drunk driving activists to demonstrate this directly to teens – a group who have traditionally both been at extremely high risk for drunk driving injuries and fatalities while also being unusually difficult to reach in effective ways.

A session later in the day at the same school featured “an Orange County deputy district attorney (discussing) family consequences from a teen DUI or DUI-related crash.”

June 15, 2011

Oregon Hospital Error Figures Raise Medical Malpractice Questions

by Matthew D. Kaplan

It is one of the things we all most fear – and over which we have the least control – when entering the hospital: preventable errors. Recently, Portland’s main newspaper has been reporting on an equally disturbing problem related to preventable errors and Oregon medical malpractice: the fact that because some of the reporting hospitals do regarding their mistakes seems to be coming up short. As a result, there is not as much data available to doctors and medical administrators as there should be. That, in turn, may mean that some hospital errors are going unaddressed because word of them is not making its way through the state health system.

The issue was brought to light by a recent article in The Oregonian. The paper noted that “at least 34 patients died as a result of preventable mistakes in Oregon hospitals last year.” The real issue, however, is that fully one-third of Oregon’s hospitals “chose not to report a single error in 2010.” As the paper notes, “this strains credulity.”

Hospital reporting is an issue I’ve addressed before – and one that should command a lot more public attention than it does. It is, of course, natural that few people like to acknowledge error, but when reporting data could lead to better procedures and, eventually, a drop in Oregon hospital deaths we have entered a realm where pride has no place.

June 10, 2011

Oregon Class Action Suit Targets Major Insurer

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A class action lawsuit filed in Salem is taking aim at a perhaps surprising target. According to area television station KDRV the lawsuit alleges that a major insurance company has been “fraudulently denying claims after car crashes.”

The target? USAA, a banking and insurance giant that deals exclusively with current and former members of the military and their families. Because of its focus on the military community USAA has long cultivated a customer-friendly, service-oriented image far removed from that of most commercial banks and insurance companies.

The Oregon suit, however, charges the company with “using medical reports by physicians to say treatment for injuries suffered in car crashes were not medically necessary. Plaintiffs allege in their suit that the insurance medical reviewers of their cases never even talked or consulted with them.” The station’s report said USAA “declined to comment on the lawsuit.”

June 7, 2011

Portland Makes Top Ten Dog Bite Cities List

by Matthew D. Kaplan

This is not necessarily an honor we will want to advertise here in Portland, but our city made the US Postal Service’s list of top ten cities for dog bites, according to a recent article in USA Today.

Houston was number one on the list with 62 incidents of dogs biting postal employees. Portland, with 35 incidents, came in at #10. More worrying, perhaps, is a related fact. Despite all of the popular culture focus on dogs and mailmen, postal employees are not the number one category of dog bite victims in Oregon or elsewhere: children are, followed by the elderly.

Dog bite injuries to children are especially worrisome. Mail carriers have professional training in dealing with hostile animals as part of their work. The elderly, at least, know how dangerous unsupervised animals can be. Children, however, cannot be counted upon to understand the possible dangers posed by dogs. Make no mistake, those dangers are real. According to USA Today “last year, 33 people died from dog bites” nationwide.

May 31, 2011

Congress Moves to Curtail Patient Rights

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A recent column in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call highlights a potentially serious attack on patients rights here in Oregon and elsewhere, one that has received relatively little notice in the months since the new Congress convened.

The focus of the piece is HR 5. Formally titled the Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-Cost, Timely Healthcare Act (i.e. the “HEALTH Act”), it is billed as a centerpiece of Republican efforts to repeal and replace the health care reform act passed by President Barack Obama and the Democrats last year. According to the federal government’s legislative bill-tracking service, Thomas.gov, the bill is co-sponsored by about half of all the Republicans in the House. Among Oregon’s congressional delegation only Rep. Greg Walden, whose district covers much of rural eastern and central Oregon, is a co-sponsor.

The official summary says that the bill “sets conditions for lawsuits arising from health care liability claims.” In particular, it establishes a three-year statute of limitations for most health-care related injuries. In addition, the bill “limits noneconomic damages to $250,000 (and) makes each party liable only for the amount of damages directly proportional to such party’s percentage of responsibility.” It also forbids the awarding of punitive damages “in the case of products approved, cleared or licensed” by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

May 29, 2011

But is this Deal Good for Everyone?

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A recent announcement that insurance giant Allstate is buying the Esurance and Answer Financial brands from the smaller, less well-known, White Mountains Insurance Group raises several troubling questions.

According to an Associated Press article, Allstate expects to pay about $1 billion for the two brands. The acquisition will allow Allstate to broaden the offerings available under its corporate umbrella. AP cites an Allstate press release claiming “the deal will help it tap consumers who prefer certain brands along with consumers who want choices among insurance carriers.”

Leaving aside the dubious claim that one company’s marketing of its products under different names actually constitutes “choice” from a consumer’s perspective, customers might also want to consider what a company really has in mind when it makes acquisitions like this at below-market-value. Notably, White Mountain told the AP that the sale “will increase its book value by $80 per share.” Yet in trading after the deal was announced White Mountain’s stock rose by only $51 (about 15%) – indicating that the market thinks White Mountain should have gotten more money from Allstate for the deal to raise the company’s valuation as much as the White Mountain claims.

May 24, 2011

Portland Drunk Driver (Unwittingly) Helps Police Capture Him

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Fox News used to run a regular segment called “stupid criminals.” If it were still on the air the subject of today’s Oregon drunk driving blog would definitely be a candidate.

According to The Oregonian, Aaron Arrell killed a woman in an Oregon fatal hit-and-run accident in March, and was apprehended in large part because he tried to cover his tracks by having his wife phone police to report their van – the vehicle involved in the accident – stolen. “Had they not called, it may have gone unsolved,” the paper quotes a Multnomah County prosecutor saying.

When police caught up with Arrell – based largely on the description of the vehicle that his wife had given them – he tested for blood alcohol at almost twice the legal limit, according to the paper. It also emerged that he was driving on a suspended license, and had been cited twice previously for doing so in the weeks prior to the Portland drunk driving fatality.