In December 2014 the Oregon Supreme Court found the “liability release” printed on the back side of a lift ticket unenforceable. Bagley v. Mt. Hood Bachelor 356 Or 543 (December, 2014). Keep in mind, prior to Bagley ski resorts were already immune from injury claims caused by the “inherent risk of skiing” that are “reasonably…

“Ridesharing” services like Uber and Lyft are not about sharing. Make no mistake about it, Uber and Lyft are money making enterprises also commonly known as “businesses”. If you were injured in an auto accident as a passenger in a ridesharing vehicle or hit by a ride sharing car, you may be wondering what insurance applies,…

Oregon lawmakers recently passed Senate Bill 411 which provides Oregon motorists additional medical benefits and additional underinsured medical benefits. But, there is a catch. These additional coverages only apply to auto insurance policies issued or renewed in 2016 or later. If your policy was issued before then, contact your insurer or agent to request auto…

This is the fifth post in my blog series: Personal Injury Claim Value: Key Variables. This fourth post addresses injury value key variable #5: Juror Bias. Every human has his or her preferences—some a held at the conscious level, some buried unconsciously. Jurors are affected by current events, personal experience and experiences of family members…

This is the fourth post in my blog series: Personal Injury Claim Value: Key Variables. This fourth post addresses injury value key variable #4: Where you are (the location of the court hearing your case 4. Where you are Where the injury incident occurred or where the defendant resides, are both proper venues for trial. Plaintiff as the filer of…

This is the third post in my blog series: Personal Injury Claim Value: Key Variables. This third post addresses injury value key variable #3: Defendant’s Fault Decision makers are motivated to right wrongs brought about by very bad conduct. Injuries caused by a simple mistake (negligence), not so much. Jurors in a minor car accident injury…

This is the second post in my weekly blog series: Personal Injury Claim Value: Key Variables. This second post addresses injury value key variable #2: The Injury. a. Understandable Injury Decision makers, especially jurors, find difficulty compensating for invisible and hard to understand injuries. A broken bone may yield greater recovery than more serious soft…

This is the first post in my weekly blog series: Personal Injury Claim Value: Key Variables. During the past 25 years I have quantified claims big and small – as a large loss claims analyst (1996-2000), an insurance defense attorney (1990-1996) and since 2000 as a plaintiff personal injury attorney. I dedicate the series to…

Lately, the city of Portland has faced troubling statistics involving traffic reports. We are ranked as the 9th city with the worst congestion in the US, have some of the worst drivers, and for the past two years our fatal accident rate has escalated. 2015 saw a sharp uptick in traffic fatalities, with 37 traffic…

Rizklaw welcomes Alex Pletch as our 2015 summer law clerk! Alex is the third Rizklaw team member educated at Lewis & Clark Law School. Alex resumes school in the fall and will be providing support for summer trials.