“If the other guy was at fault in the accident, why should my insurance company pay for my medical bills and wage loss?” Good question! In Oregon as in many other states, a decision was made to provide medical insurance for everyone involved in a car accident regardless of who was at fault. Requiring the…
Richard Rizk is the Far West Ski Association’s 2010 Safety Person of the Year. He developed a winter safety speaker awareness series which addressed winter driving, terrain park safety, ski risks and the law, and ski patrol advice. Richard also contributed significantly to development of the Northwest Ski Club Council’s “PIE”. (Prepared Informed Ecological) campaign…
The following information is important if you were injured in an automobile accident while pregnant. The rule discussed below also applies for other personal injury claims suffered while pregnant. Oregon Courts recognize a special claim of pain and suffering claim for fear of miscarriage. Fehely v. Senders 170 Or 457, 135P.2d 283 (1943). Fehely involved a plaintiff who…
Most states do not allow pain and suffering damages for property losses. Oregon is an exception. In Edwards v Talent Irrigation District, 280 Or. 307, 309, 570 P.2d 1169 (1977), defendant’s negligent acts caused water from their irrigation ditch to flood the plaintiff’s property. The court awarded the plaintiff damages for “mental anguish” as a result of…
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) added distracted driving to its 2013 “most wanted list,” and 35 states have passed laws banning cellphone use while driving. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 16 percent of all distracted driving crashes involve drivers under the age of 20. If you or a loved one has been…
You were in an auto accident. You have insurance. So you are covered…right? Well, maybe. Auto insurance policies contain multiple coverages. Each coverage serves a specific purpose. If your accident involves more than two vehicles, high damages or two vehicles insured by the same company, sorting out insurer roles can be tricky. This problem is…
It’s not fair!! When it comes to claims, what happened in an accident matters less than what is documented… Insurers are more accepting of injury claims which are well documented in medical chart notes. Why? Because real time documentation is strong evidence of what really happened and because insurers know folks are most truthful when…
You paid thousands in insurance premiums and have presented few, in any, claims until now. As a loyal customer you innocently believed that if someday you made a claim, it would be promptly and fairly resolved. Wrong! Instead of quick claim resolution, you were delayed, denied and treated like a petty criminal. Instead of prompt claim…
It happens in different ways. Jim should be alive. He waited for the crosswalk light and began walking across. About half way through a drunk driver ran him down, sped off and left him for dead. Sally just finished tuning her road bike. Excited to meet friends later on, Sally happily pedaled in a bike lane…
In Crawford v. Metropolitan Government, the U.S. Supreme Court in January, 2009 unanimously declared that federal law protects workers from retaliation, even when the worker did not personally complain about discrimination on the job. Ms. Crawford asserted she was fired after cooperating with a sexual harassment investigation. Writing for the majority, Justice David Souter favored a…