Negligence Per Se

Saltzman Road in northwest Portland was closed on March 15, 2010, because of a severe car accident. The closure was extended as Washington County Sheriff’s office dispatched a crash analysis reconstruction team to aid in their criminal investigation. The Sheriff’s office suspects that one of the drivers was impaired at the time of the accident. [...]

PIP

You might have heard someone refer to Oregon, or another US state, as a “no-fault” accident state. What does that mean? No fault coverage comes into play when making a car accident claim on your auto insurance policy. Oregon law mandates personal injury protection benefits, commonly referred to as PIP benefits, in all policies. PIP [...]

Free Speech

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has again attempted to clarify the boundaries of “free speech” in Anderson v. Hermosa Beach, 08-56914, the most recent ruling in long string of federal free speech jurisprudence. The law at issue was a Hermosa Beach City Ordinance banning the operation of tattoo parlors within city limits. The constitutionality [...]

Defending Torts

The civil legal system has increasingly come under fire. It is widely believed that our tort system has become a flawed mess of un-meritorious lawsuits and greedy lawyers searching for any theory for which to bring a claim. The statement, “lawsuits are out of control,” is rarely, if ever questioned in the current environment. I [...]

Max and bus service in the downtown area came to a screeching halt

On Thursday afternoon, August 12, 2010, Max and bus service in the downtown area came to a screeching halt. Tragically, both shut downs were injury related. The system shut down was initially caused when a man apparently fell from the Vista Street bridge onto the light rail tracks. In order to transport afternoon commuters to [...]