Oregon Supreme Court Decisions 2016
Date: December 30, 2016
Docket Number: S063163
Justia Opinion Summary: Four consolidated property tax appeals returned to the Oregon Supreme Court following remand to the Oregon Tax Court. In "Village I," the Supreme Court addressed whether the Tax Court had erred by denying…
Date: December 22, 2016
Docket Number: S063738
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs are brothers, aged eight and twelve, were crossing a street in a crosswalk with the walk signal with their seven-year-old younger brother. Defendant negligently drove his pickup truck through the crosswalk,…
Date: December 22, 2016
Docket Number: S063870
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Karlyn Eklof was convicted for aggravated murder, for which she received a life sentence without the possibility of parole. He filed this successive action for postconviction relief to appeal the Court of…
Date: December 15, 2016
Docket Number: S062978
Justia Opinion Summary: The Department of Human Services was required by law to recover Medicaid payments from those assets in which the Medicaid recipient had an interest at the time of death. In 2008, the department amended its administrative…
Date: December 8, 2016
Docket Number: S063823
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Oregon Supreme Courts review centered on a liability insurer’s duty to defend an insured against a civil action. "Ordinarily, courts decide whether an insurer had a duty to defend by…
Date: December 8, 2016
Docket Number: S063921
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff purchased an insurance policy from defendant that provided coverage for his house, other structures on his property, personal property, and loss of use for up to 12 months. The policy also included “extended…
Date: December 8, 2016
Docket Number: S064348
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners sought review of the Attorney General’s certified ballot title for Initiative Petition (IP) 1 (2018), contending that the “yes” and “no” result statements and the summary did not comply with the requirements…
Date: November 25, 2016
Docket Number: S063612
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Scott Gerhardt was convicted of strangling his wife. At sentencing, the trial court awarded the victim restitution for attorney fees that she incurred to enforce a no-contact order that the court had previously…
Date: November 25, 2016
Docket Number: S063725
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed this action claiming, among other things, that a quorum of the Lane County commissioners had violated ORS 192.630(2) by engaging in a series of private communications to decide whether to comply with a…
Date: November 17, 2016
Docket Number: S063486
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sought a prescriptive easement over an existing road that crossed defendants’ property. The dispute in this case was whether plaintiff satisfied the requirement to prove “adverse use.” The trial court found…
Date: November 17, 2016
Docket Number: S063856
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Lane Jesse was indicted in April 2011 on one count of first-degree sexual abuse, based on an allegation that he knowingly subjected his daughter M to sexual contact. The issue on appeal to the Oregon Supreme…
Date: November 3, 2016
Docket Number: S063648
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a Washington corporation and casino operator, brought an action in Oregon against the city of Portland under the Oregon Uniform Declaratory Judgment Act, seeking a declaration that certain practices the city…
Date: October 27, 2016
Docket Number: S061452
Justia Opinion Summary: In the underlying litigation to this appeal, claimants were petitioners or represented petitioners who challenged legislation passed in 2013 that changed the pension benefits paid to certain members of the Public…
Date: October 20, 2016
Docket Number: S063743
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Jacob Barrett committed aggravated murder in Oregon and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Pursuant to the Interstate Corrections Compact (ICC), Oregon transferred petitioner to an institution in…
Date: October 20, 2016
Docket Number: S063763
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Marvin Taylor was an Oregon inmate who was convicted, sentenced, and incarcerated in Oregon, but confined in Colorado pursuant to the Western Interstate Corrections Compact (WICC). Petitioner appeals from a…
Date: October 13, 2016
Docket Number: S063426
Justia Opinion Summary: The State charged defendant Denny Ghim and his wife with 17 counts of criminal mistreatment, first-degree theft, and aggravated first-degree theft. Midway through trial, defendant’s wife filed a motion in limine to…
Date: October 6, 2016
Docket Number: S063426
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2012, an inter-agency drug interdiction team (comprised of U.S. Postal Service inspectors and local law enforcement) was deployed to examine packages at a USPS air cargo center near Portland International Airport. An…
Date: September 22, 2016
Docket Number: S062691
Justia Opinion Summary: American Family Mutual Insurance Company (AFM) sought review of a Court of Appeals decision upholding the trial court's judgment in a garnishment proceeding requiring AFM to pay a judgment that plaintiffs FountainCourt…
Date: September 22, 2016
Docket Number: S063096
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Brian Chandler was convicted of two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. On appeal of that conviction, defendant argued the trial court erred by admitting a videotaped pretrial interrogation of defendant by…
Date: September 22, 2016
Docket Number: S063260
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Robert Boyd's girlfriend was found dead on the street, the victim of a severe beating. Witnesses saw her on the ground and saw defendant running away from the scene. A few minutes later, police arrested…
Date: September 22, 2016
Docket Number: S063387
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Dennis Davidson was convicted of two counts of public indecency for exposing himself at a public park; because he had two prior felony convictions for public indecency, and the trial court found no ground for…
Date: September 22, 2016
Docket Number: S063607
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant petitioned for review of a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, imposed for a conviction for first-degree sexual abuse. Defendant argued that, as applied to his circumstances, the…
Date: September 15, 2016
Docket Number: S063430
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2009, plaintiff American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, Inc. (ACLU), made a request under the Oregon Public Records law to inspect and copy certain documents of the Civilian Review Board of the City of Eugene…
Date: September 15, 2016
Docket Number: S063440
Justia Opinion Summary: The trial court found defendant Robert Makin guilty of first-degree child neglect, as well as other offenses. On appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed defendant’s first-degree child neglect convictions without…
Date: September 15, 2016
Docket Number: S063542
Justia Opinion Summary: Habitat for Humanity of the Mid-Willamette Valley was a nonprofit corporation. Part of Habitat's mission (as reflected in its articles of incorporation) is that it acquires vacant lots and builds affordable housing on…
Date: August 11, 2016
Docket Number: S063000
Justia Opinion Summary: This consolidated appeal concerned six civil actions against an ambulance company for permitting a paramedic in its employ to sexually abuse women while they were patients. The claims were alleged under ORS 124.100(5),…
Date: August 11, 2016
Docket Number: S063216
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Robert Davis threatened and assaulted two people outside of a store, and two uniformed officers were dispatched to the area. When the officers arrived, one of them saw defendant walking away from a group of…
Date: August 4, 2016
Docket Number: S062977
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was an employee of a subcontractor working on a construction jobsite. Plaintiff fell while framing the third floor of a townhome that was under construction. In this action, plaintiff brought claims for relief…
Date: August 4, 2016
Docket Number: S063020
Justia Opinion Summary: After considering SAIF Corporation's medical evidence, the Workers’ Compensation Board (board) found that the evidence did not satisfy SAIF’s burden of persuasion and entered an order finding that claimant Roger…
Date: August 4, 2016
Docket Number: S063048
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Oregon Supreme Court's review called for a review of ORS 197.772(3): if a local historic designation is imposed on a property and that property is then conveyed to another owner, may…
Date: July 21, 2016
Docket Number: S063061
Justia Opinion Summary: Washington resident Stuart Etter was an aircraft dispatcher for Horizon Air Industries, Inc. who worked almost entirely in Portland. To work as a dispatcher, however, he had to spend five hours each year riding along in…
Date: July 21, 2016
Docket Number: S063197
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Caryn Nascimento was convicted of theft and computer crime for using a computer terminal at work, which was linked to the Oregon State Lottery, to print and steal lottery tickets. She appealed the conviction…
Date: July 21, 2016
Docket Number: S063442
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, the personal representative of the estate of Martha Delgado, alleged in her complaint that Delgado, a foreign exchange student staying in this country under the supervision of defendants Rotary International…
Date: July 14, 2016
Docket Number: S061294
Justia Opinion Summary: The Oregon Tax Court set aside a determination by the Department of Revenue (the department) that taxpayer DIRECTV’s property in Oregon was subject to central assessment under ORS 308.505 to 308.665. The department…
Date: July 14, 2016
Docket Number: S063549
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners were a group of miners who operated small suction dredges in Oregon waterways. They challenged the lawfulness of an order of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) adopting a general five-year permit…
Date: July 14, 2016
Docket Number: S063707
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was injured in an automobile accident and filed a claim for underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits with defendant Country Preferred Insurance. The insurer submitted a letter that satisfied the attorney fee safe…
Date: June 30, 2016
Docket Number: S062342
Justia Opinion Summary: Oakmont LLC owned an apartment complex built in 1996. Oakmont appealed the assessed value for the 2009-10 tax year for that complex on the ground that structural damages resulting from construction defects had…
Date: June 30, 2016
Docket Number: S062829
Justia Opinion Summary: The taxpayer who owned the convention center in Bend also owned a hotel across the street. The convention center and the hotel were held in different property tax accounts. For the 2008-09 tax year, Taxpayer’s appraisal…
Date: June 30, 2016
Docket Number: S063202
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Rasool Islam Islam shoplifted 15 pairs of jeans from a Macy’s retail department store and was convicted of one count of theft in the second degree. The prosecutor sought restitution for Macy’s economic damages…
Date: June 30, 2016
Docket Number: S063526
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with first-degree rape of the victim, a friend who had spent the night on defendant’s couch after an evening of drinking. The victim contacted the police following the incident, and Detective Myers…
Date: June 16, 2016
Docket Number: S062387
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Amanda Newcomb was convicted of second-degree animal neglect after she failed to adequately feed her dog, Juno, resulting in his malnourishment. Before trial, defendant moved to suppress blood test results…
Date: June 16, 2016
Docket Number: S062909
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant William Althouse was convicted in 2011 of felony public indecency after previously having been convicted of three other felony sex crimes. Pursuant to ORS 137.719(1), the trial court sentenced him to life…
Date: June 16, 2016
Docket Number: S062922
Justia Opinion Summary: The question in this case was whether an injured worker had to provide actual notice of secondary employment in connection with a workers' compensation claims process or whether the employer’s preexisting knowledge of…
Date: June 16, 2016
Docket Number: S062925
Justia Opinion Summary: This case required the Oregon Supreme Court's interpretation of ORS 12.135(1)(a). ORS 12.135(1)(a) provided that an action arising from the “construction, alteration or repair of any improvement to real property” must be…
Date: June 16, 2016
Docket Number: S063222
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal arose from a legal malpractice and negligent misrepresentation case where the trial court judgment granted a directed a verdict in favor of defendant Jack Platten. In an earlier lawsuit, defendant had…
Date: May 26, 2016
Docket Number: S062816
Justia Opinion Summary: The City of Eugene sued to collect from Comcast of Oregon II, Inc. (Comcast) a license fee that the city, acting under a municipal ordinance, imposes on companies providing “telecommunications services” over the city’s…
Date: May 26, 2016
Docket Number: S062939
Justia Opinion Summary: This was an action brought by an injured construction worker and his wife. A defective board broke. Plaintiffs Kevin Rains and Mitzi Rains obtained a judgment based on claims of strict products liability and loss of…
Date: May 26, 2016
Docket Number: S063111
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved a challenge to a juvenile court’s decision to waive its jurisdiction over a 13-year-old boy who was alleged to have committed aggravated murder. Under the relevant statutes, ORS 419C.352 and ORS…
Date: May 26, 2016
Docket Number: S063319
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Tyler Turner contended that defendant Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) had contributed to a motor vehicle accident by negligently failing to correct hazardous conditions at the highway intersection…
Date: May 26, 2016
Docket Number: S063735
Justia Opinion Summary: The Attorney General prepared and filed a modified ballot title following remand from the Supreme Court. In its second trip to the Oregon Supreme Court, two petitioners challenged the modified title. IP 62 applies to…
Date: May 5, 2016
Docket Number: S059155
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose out of a December 2008 bombing of a bank in Woodburn. After a life-threatening phone call was made to an adjacent bank, and an employee was told that the lives of employees in both banks were at risk, law…
Date: May 5, 2016
Docket Number: S059156
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose out of a December 2008 bombing of a bank in Woodburn. After a life-threatening phone call was made to an adjacent bank, and an employee was told that the lives of employees in both banks were at risk, law…
Date: May 5, 2016
Docket Number: S061992
Justia Opinion Summary: The question this case presented for the Oregon Supreme Court's review was whether a statute limiting a state employee’s tort liability violated either the remedy clause of Article I, section 10, of the Oregon…
Date: May 5, 2016
Docket Number: S062535
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs Rockwood Water People’s Utility District (Rockwood PUD), Northwest Natural Gas Company (NW Natural) and Portland General Electric Company (PGE) sought review of a Court of Appeals decision to uphold the…
Date: May 5, 2016
Docket Number: S062799
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant took a pickup truckload of scrap metal items from the metal recycling bin of a Washington County microchip manufacturing plant and was subsequently charged with third-degree theft. At the close of the state’s…
Date: April 21, 2016
Docket Number: S062571
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Oregon Supreme Court's review concerned the extent to which a social host of a gathering at which alcohol is consumed is liable for injuries that occur during the party. The…
Date: April 21, 2016
Docket Number: S063209
Justia Opinion Summary: Leonard and Judith Peverieri and Peverieri Investments, LLC (landlords) appealed a trial court’s judgment confirming an arbitration award in favor of Couch Investments, LLC (tenant). Landlords argued that the arbitrator…
Date: April 21, 2016
Docket Number: S063863
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners sought review of the Attorney General’s certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 61 (2016) (IP 61), arguing that the ballot title did not satisfy the requirements of ORS 250.035. IP 61 implicated the…
Date: April 14, 2016
Docket Number: S062493
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant John Sines came to the attention of law enforcement after his housekeeper anonymously called the child protective services division of the Department of Human Services (DHS) and said that she suspected that…
Date: April 14, 2016
Docket Number: S062903
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose out of a tragic helicopter crash in a remote part of Peru, which resulted in the deaths of everyone on board. Plaintiffs brought wrongful death actions in Oregon against Evergreen Helicopters, Inc.…
Date: April 7, 2016
Docket Number: S062344
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, a 12-year-old girl, A, reported that defendant Jesus Prieto-Rubio, a member of her extended family, had sexually abused her the previous day. The following day, Detective Rookhuyzen went to defendant’s home and…
Date: April 7, 2016
Docket Number: S063820
Justia Opinion Summary: Two sets of petitioners sought review of the certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 69 (2016) (IP 69). IP 69, if enacted, would have altered the rights and obligations that public employers, their employees, and…
Date: March 24, 2016
Docket Number: S062085
Justia Opinion Summary: Taxpayer Leslie Scott appealed a tax court judgment that dismissed his appeal for lack of jurisdiction. In 2012, the Department of Revenue issued notices of deficiency assessments against taxpayer relating to his…
Date: March 24, 2016
Docket Number: S063735
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners seek review of the Attorney General’s certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 62 (2016) (IP 62). IP 62 applied to public employees and public employee labor organizations. If adopted by the voters, IP…
Date: March 24, 2016
Docket Number: S063787
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners sought review of the Attorney General’s certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 51 (2016) (IP 51). IP 51 was a proposed constitutional amendment that, if adopted by the voters, would have changed…
Date: March 10, 2016
Docket Number: S059530
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of aggravated murder. He petitioned the Supreme Court for reconsideration of its prior decision in his case, arguing that the Supreme court erred in affirming the conviction, arguing: (1) the…
Date: March 10, 2016
Docket Number: S062948
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue before the Oregon Supreme Court in this matter was ORS 471.565(2), which provided an independent statutory right of action against a social host who served alcohol to a visibly intoxicated guest, who in turn…
Date: March 3, 2016
Docket Number: S062451
Justia Opinion Summary: Gerald Rowlett and his two companies, Westlake Development Company, Inc., and Westlake Development Group, LLC (plaintiffs), filed an action for malpractice against the law firm Schwabe, Williamson, and Wyatt, PC,…
Date: March 3, 2016
Docket Number: S062575
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Oregon Supreme Court's review centered on whether a defamatory statement made in an online business review was entitled to First Amendment protection. Plaintiff Carol Neumann owned…
Date: March 3, 2016
Docket Number: S063188
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States Court of Appeals certified two questions of Oregon law to the Oregon Supreme Court. This case arose when plaintiff, who was legally blind, was injured when she stepped into a hole while jogging in a…
Date: March 3, 2016
Docket Number: S063204
Justia Opinion Summary: In consolidated juvenile dependency cases, father appealed judgments changing the permanent plans for one of his children from reunification with a parent to guardianship and for another child from reunification to…
Date: March 3, 2016
Docket Number: S063282
Justia Opinion Summary: While defendant Anthony Lazarides' criminal appeal was pending before the Court of Appeals, he absconded from post-prison supervision, prompting the state to move for dismissal of his appeal. After defendant had been…
Date: March 3, 2016
Docket Number: S063675
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Cynthia Kendoll petitioned the Oregon Supreme Court for review of the Attorney General's certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 52. IP 52, if enacted, would supplement federal immigration law. Federal…
Date: March 3, 2016
Docket Number: S063766
Justia Opinion Summary: Ben Unger, LaToya Fick and Carmen Rubio petitioned the Oregon Supreme Court for review of the Attorney General's certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 65. IP 65, if enacted, would establish a “High School…
Date: March 3, 2016
Docket Number: S063788
Justia Opinion Summary: The Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability filed a formal complaint alleging that respondent Walter Miller, then a circuit court judge, had violated the Oregon Code of Judicial Conduct (Code) in connection with a…
Date: February 19, 2016
Docket Number: S062648
Justia Opinion Summary: In July 2010, defendant Roman Suppah was driving his girlfriend’s car. Deputy Sheriff Hulke stopped defendant for a traffic violation. After being stopped, defendant “told [the deputy that] his name was Harold…
Date: February 19, 2016
Docket Number: S062791
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was a general contractor that builds “spec” houses (houses built without pre-existing construction contracts in anticipation of eventual sale to the public). On May 30, 2000, defendant and plaintiff entered…
Date: February 19, 2016
Docket Number: S062942
Justia Opinion Summary: After defendant Ema Ramos set fire to her restaurant and filed a fraudulent claim with her insurance company for damage to restaurant equipment, she was convicted of second-degree arson and attempted first-degree…
Date: February 19, 2016
Docket Number: S063069
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Kade William Kirschner and his co-defendant broke into the victim’s home and, after the victim confronted them, fled. Defendant was apprehended shortly thereafter, and the police found defendant in possession…
Date: February 4, 2016
Docket Number: S063135
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Alen Simonov and his brother, Vadim, talked to their neighbor about purchasing a 1983 Datsun pickup truck. The neighbor testified that she agreed to allow the brothers to take the truck to a car wash to check…
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