Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

March 16, 2011

Helmet Manufacturers Address Risks of Traumatic Brain Injuries

An important article published in the New York Times last week indicates that the manufacturers of football helmets are moving to address problems in the way their products are used – a move that could benefit many young athletes in a time when traumatic brain injuries stemming from football and other rough sports are an issue of increasing concern.

According to the newspaper, “the National Athletic Equipment Reconditioners Association (Naera) announced (last) Thursday that is would no longer accept helmets more than 10 years old.” As the paper notes, many schools regularly send football helmets in for reconditioning, but concerns have been rising that as the products age it can become difficult if not impossible to bring the gear back to a point where it meets appropriate safety standards. Under current standards, the paper notes, so long as the equipment met applicable safety standards when it was new “helmets of any age and condition can be worn, despite concerns over how the stiffening of foam and the degrading of the polycarbonate shell can leave a player more susceptible to concussions.”

Though the article does not say this, it appears that football helmet manufacturers and reconditioners may be taking a cue from the ski industry. For several decades the manufacturers of ski bindings have indemnified their products for a finite period of years (usually 10 or 12). Once that period expires, skiers quickly discover that few ski techs will agree to make even minor adjustments to the bindings. A cynic might say the companies are forcing skiers to purchase new equipment on a regular basis, but the policy also ensures that the vast majority of skiers are using relatively up-to-date equipment – an important consideration in such a potentially dangerous sport.

March 11, 2011

Fatal Oregon Truck Accident Kills Driver

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A truck driver from California died last week in an Oregon truck accident on I-84 near Rufus, east of Portland, according to The Oregonian.

The victim, identified by police as Lino Domingo Lopez-Hernandez, died as a result of an unusual chain of events that began with a blowout on his own vehicle. Sorting out any resulting Oregon personal injury or wrongful death claims that may eventually arise from the accident is likely to be a complex business.

According to the newspaper, the accident began to unfold shortly after midnight last Thursday as Lopez-Hernandez was driving his big-rig west on I-84. The truck lost two tires and an axel for reasons that remain unclear. Lopez-Hernandez immediately pulled over. He was walking along the side of the road looking for the missing pieces of his truck when a pick-up, also traveling in the westbound lane, hit the truck debris, hurling it into Lopez-Hernandez. “The flying debris sent him over a guardrail and about 200 feet down an embankment, where authorities found his body,” The Oregonian reports.

March 9, 2011

Oregon Drunk Driving Case Raises Dram Shop Questions

by Matthew D. Kaplan

As reported by The Oregonian, the circumstances surrounding a recent two-car Coastal Oregon car accident on Highway 101 raise a number of potential legal issues, including whether the victims may be in a position to press an Oregon dram shop case.

The newspaper, quoting police sources, reports that the accident took place when an Oldsmobile traveling north on US-101 crossed the center line and hit a southbound pick-up truck. “The impact of the crash tore the Oldsmobile in half, with the two sections coming to rest on opposite sides of the highway,” the paper notes. All three people involved in the crash – the driver of the Oldsmobile and the driver and a passenger in the pick-up – were seriously injured.

Police told The Oregonian that alcohol was a factor in the crash, though the exact nature of its involvement is still under investigation.

March 6, 2011

Southern Oregon Dog Attack Seriously Injures Boy

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A Central Point boy is hospitalized with dire injuries following an Oregon dog attack late last month, according to an area newspaper and television station. The Columbian reports that the nine year old “was attacked by three large pit bulls at his father’s home in Central Point.” He is reported to be in “fair” condition at the Rogue Valley Medical Center.

The exact circumstances of the attack are unclear from the available media accounts. Area TV station KPTV reports, however, that the animals were captured in the wake of the Oregon dog attack and “will be held in quarantine by animal control officers… to check for rabies and other problems that might have led to the attack.”

Because the incident involves a serious Oregon child injury the authorities are expected to take special care with their investigation. According to KPTV the “pit bulls appeared to have torn off a large chunk of the nine year old boy’s scalp.”

March 3, 2011

Oregon Distracted Driving Targeted in Schools

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Schools in Wallowa, in the far east of Oregon, are targeting distracted driving by going directly to the source: placing students in a car equipped with virtual reality technology to convince them of exactly how real the danger is.

According to the Wallowa County Chieftain roughly 50 of the people put through the simulator on a single day at an area high school wound up being ‘victims’ of Oregon distracted driving or Oregon drunk driving accidents. The paper quotes the “impaired driving awareness instructor” who ran the event saying that in the real world “eighty percent of accidents are due to driver distraction” (a statistic which obviously goes far beyond cellphones to encompass ‘legal’ distractions – such as the radio or CD player or dealing with kids in the back seat).

The project, the paper reports, is organized by “UNITE, a Michigan-based organization that sends three teams around the nation for similar demonstrations at high schools and colleges.” The set-up involves placing students in a stationary car while wearing virtual reality goggles. Both the car and the goggles are connected to a computer. To simulate phone-related distractions and texting students use their own cellphones. Drunk driving is simulated by having the computer acknowledge a students’ actions in the car with the appropriate delay for varying levels of intoxication.

March 1, 2011

Nursing Home Death Reminds Us of Need for Vigilance

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A California nursing home has been ordered to pay the largest fines allowed under state law following the death of a patient. For us here in Oregon this nursing home neglect and abuse case, though it comes from out-of-state, serves as a powerful reminder of the important role courts and regulators play in keeping watch over those charged with helping vulnerable seniors.

According to a report in the Orange County Register the case stems from the death of 93-year-old Donald Bodkin, who, the paper reports, “died in September from an undetected ruptured intestinal ulcer and infection.” Bodkin was not a long-time resident of the home but, rather, had checked in only a few weeks earlier for a temporary stay while recovering from hip surgery.

The paper reports that the state believes the home did not assess Bodkin’s condition properly, failed to tell his doctor once the symptoms became obvious and ignored warnings from both family members and an occupational therapist “that he was lethargic and in pain.” The nursing home has expressed regret for Bodkin’s death but said in a statement that it does not believe the actions of any of its staff “caused or contributed to this unfortunate event.”

February 27, 2011

Portland Burn Survivors Meet to Share Strength in the Wake of Tragedy

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A recent profile in The Oregonian details the struggles, and mutual support, of Portland burn victims, offering a reminder of how devastating this kind of injury can be. The article focuses on Portland Burn Survivors, Inc. and a related group, Burn Concern. The latter is organized by Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, Oregon’s only hospital with a full-scale burn unit.

The paper notes that the prospects for Oregon burn victims have changed substantially over the last generation. “Until about 30 years ago, survival of a bad burn meant constant pain and medical complications that usually led to swift death,” the article states. Advances in medical technology have increased survival rates, and made life after a burn more tolerable for many in physical terms, but have done little to alter the stigma society often attaches to those dealing with a disfiguring injury.

Burns, of course, can happen for any number of reasons. The survivors profiled by The Oregonian received their injuries in vastly different ways – ranging from a camping accident to a car crash. One was severely injured as a 13 year old by an outdoor garbage fire.

February 24, 2011

Salem Car Crash Hospitalizes Three

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A six-car pile up blocked traffic on Interstate 5 last week and police say a blown tire may have been what set the incident in motion, according to The Oregonian. The dangerous Oregon car accident involved a vehicle jumping the median into on-coming traffic.

The newspaper, quoting Oregon State Police sources, reports that an SUV was traveling north on I-5 at mid-afternoon when the driver “lost control at about 2:30 p.m., crossing a grass median and slamming into an oncoming car just north of Portland Road NE.”

The attribution of the accident to a blow-out remained speculative at the time the paper went to press. The results of the accident were not: the SUV hit one oncoming car head-on. Four other vehicles swerving to avoid the main collision wound up hitting each other. Surprisingly, for so large an accident, only three people from the six vehicles were hospitalized, and only one of those injuries was reported to be serious, according to the newspaper.

February 22, 2011

Case of Injured Child Raises Liability Questions in Theme Parks

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A Florida lawsuit concerning a serious burn suffered by a four year old boy while visiting Disney World raises questions every parent should be concerned about regarding safety and possible injuries to children at theme parks and other recreational areas.

Contrary to what one might think, the case involves food safety – not the safety of amusement park rides (arguably the first thing many parents worry about when visiting a theme park). According to an account of the incident published in USA Today, the boy was severely burned while having dinner in a restaurant at Disney’s Magic Kingdom resort near Orlando “when a paper cup of scalding nacho cheese splashed on his face after he’d grabbed a food tray to keep from falling out of an unsteady chair.” A picture accompanying the newspaper report shows a small child with horrific burns disfiguring his face.

Some commentators have compared this to the famous McDonald’s hot coffee case of the mid-90s. But even if you were among those who thought the coffee case excessive it is important to understand that there are key difference between that case and this one. Aside from the obvious factor that a child is involved, it is (or ought to be) clear that customers have different expectations from different products. Coffee is intended to be consumed hot. Nachos, especially the processed kind one finds at an amusement park or a ballgame, are generally warm, at best. One does not expect the goopy cheese sauce to be cold – but no reasonable customer is expecting it to be scalding hot either.

February 20, 2011

House Bill Seeks to Curtail Oregonians Rights in Medical Malpractice Cases

by Matthew D. Kaplan

With little public notice this week the House Judiciary Committee in Washington DC sent to the floor a proposed law that, if enacted, will dramatically curtail the right of Oregonians to receive just compensation in medical malpractice lawsuits. As laid out in the official summary of the legislation (click here to read the full summary at the legislative-tracking website Thomas.gov) the so-called Help Efficient, Accessible, Low Cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act of 2011 would shorten the statute of limitations for most medical malpractice cases and make it much more difficult to win punitive damages in an Oregon medical malpractice case. Any defendant who managed to win in court despite these new rules would find that the law also places severe limits on the size of the damages a court can award.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), was first introduced late last month as HR 5 (the Senate version of the legislation, S 218, is sponsored by Nevada Republican John Ensign). It was hustled through the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month and passed out of committee on a voice vote – a stunningly fast timeline for such potentially momentous legislation.

Two of the most telling aspects of HR 5 are clauses that would shield the pharmaceutical and medical device industries from responsibility for their actions while limiting attorney’s fees in medical malpractice and medical wrongful death suits to a level that may discourage many attorneys from taking on such cases.