Accident and Injury Law Blog

In what can only be described as an awful decision, the Oregon Supreme Court yesterday rejected a claim challenging a five-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice lawsuits involving minors. In the challenge, Oregon medical malpractice lawyers contended that Oregon's constitution - not to mention common sense - prohibited the application of the five year statute of limitations in medical malpractice case.

Actually, I should not say the Oregon Supreme Court decision is awful because I have absolutely no idea whether the medical malpractice statute of limitations is constitutional. But I know that the law is awful. Hopefully the Oregon legislature will look hard at the question of whether you should be able to lose your rights while you are a minor, particuarly in birth injury cases.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Medical Malpractice , Oregon

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Oregon's high court ruled unanimously yesterday that the mere possibility of injury is not enough to make a negligence claim against cigarette makers. Plaintiffs’ class action lawsuit on behalf of 400,000 Oregonians wanted medical monitoring for smokers to test for tobacco related disease.

It is difficult to argue with the court’s ruling in this case. While certainly the risk of disease from tobacco creates a greater risk for users, a mere threat of future harm probably should not be the basis for a claim in the tobacco cases. He or and court did not address this question, but I think it boils down to the question of whether the harm is expected to be imminent and how likely the harm is to occur. Certainly, you would think that the court would take a different posture in, for example, the Medtronic cases where the risk was more imminent.

But that explanation does not quite explain it because 400,000 people are dying a year from smoking and far less will die from Medtronic’s alleged negligence. I think a larger factor in the Oregon courts conclusion is that all of us believe on some level that smokers are also culpable by assuming the risks that they had incurred.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Oregon , Product Liability

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The TortsProf Blog reports that state legislatures in Colorado and Oregon are considering increases to their caps on noneconomic damages. Colorado is currently debating a bill that would raise the cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases from a measly $300,000 to a less measly, but still ridiculously low, $450,000. The bill was voted out of committee on Monday and will now be sent to the Senate floor for debate. The details are here.

Oregon is wrestling with a last year’s Oregon Supreme Court ruling that caps on damages payable by the state was unconstitutional as applied. The task force has been set up in Oregon to study the issue of raising the cap on noneconomic damages.

In the history of caps on noneconomic damages, the door has swung only one way - toward adding caps or decreasing the amount of the cap. Hopefully, this news for the clients of personal injury lawyers, that the door will begin to swing in the other direction.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Car Accidents , Colorado , Medical Malpractice , Nursing Home Abuse , Oregon , Product Liability , Truck Accidents

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Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

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