Oregon Supreme Court Decisions 2020
Date: December 31, 2020
Docket Number: S067064
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Oregon Supreme Court's review centered on whether ORS 652.200(2) and ORCP 54 E(3) could be construed in a way that “will give effect” to both, in the words of the Oregon…
Date: December 31, 2020
Docket Number: S067066
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue presented for the Oregon Supreme Court's review in this case was whether ordinary first-class mail is, or can be, a “class of delivery calculated to achieve delivery within three calendar days.” Defendant was…
Date: December 31, 2020
Docket Number: S067074
Justia Opinion Summary: Relating to the Oregon Supreme Court's holding in Oregon v. Chapman, 367 Or 388 (2020), petitioner similarly contended that the Court of Appeals wrongly dismissed her petition for judicial review of an order of the Land…
Date: December 24, 2020
Docket Number: S067105
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Oregon Supreme Court in this matter was whether defendant Isidro Flores Ramos' conviction should be reversed in light of Ramos v. Louisiana, 140 S Ct 1390 (2020), which held that only a unanimous…
Date: December 24, 2020
Docket Number: S067493
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Oregon Supreme Court in this matter was whether defendant Michael Dilallo's conviction should be reversed in light of Ramos v. Louisiana, 140 S Ct 1390 (2020), which held that only a unanimous jury…
Date: December 24, 2020
Docket Number: S067557
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Oregon Supreme Court in this matter was whether defendant Zackery Chorney-Phillips' conviction should be reversed in light of Ramos v. Louisiana, 140 S Ct 1390 (2020), which held that only a…
Date: December 24, 2020
Docket Number: S067569
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Oregon Supreme Court in this matter was whether defendant Peter Ciraulo's conviction should be reversed in light of Ramos v. Louisiana, 140 S Ct 1390 (2020), which held that only a unanimous jury can…
Date: December 24, 2020
Docket Number: S067611
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Oregon Supreme Court in this matter was whether defendant Charles Kincheloe's conviction should be reversed in light of Ramos v. Louisiana, 140 S Ct 1390 (2020), which held that only a unanimous jury…
Date: December 10, 2020
Docket Number: S065478
Justia Opinion Summary: The appeal before the Oregon Supreme Court in this case was an attorney fee dispute arising out of an administrative rules challenge. Petitioners successfully challenged rules adopted by the Energy Facility Siting…
Date: November 19, 2020
Docket Number: S067225
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Gerardo Morales was indicted on various sex crime charges and, after the trial court set bail, defendant’s mother paid $20,000 as security for defendant’s release prior to trial. The notice defendant’s mother…
Date: October 29, 2020
Docket Number: S066598
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Micus Ward was convicted of aggravated and felony murder. After being arrested for that crime, and before being appointed counsel, defendant was twice interrogated while in custody. The trial court suppressed…
Date: October 22, 2020
Docket Number: S066564
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, two young Oregonians, concerned about the effects of climate change and their guardians, filed suit against the Governor and the State of Oregon (collectively, the State), contending the State was required to…
Date: October 15, 2020
Docket Number: S066941
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Albany & Eastern Railroad Company (AERC) petitioned the Oregon Supreme Court for reconsideration of its decision in Albany & Eastern Railroad Co. v. Martell, 469 P3d 748 (2020). In the previous case, the…
Date: October 8, 2020
Docket Number: S066576
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs in this case had submitted Initiative Petition 2016-005 (IP 5) to the Oregon Secretary of State so that it could be certified in time for the 2016 ballot. Section (1) of IP 5 provided that the people “call for…
Date: October 1, 2020
Docket Number: S067002
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Ernie Perez pled guilty in 2005 to two aggravated murders that he had committed at the age of fourteen. In 2016, he filed a petition for post-conviction relief raising constitutional claims premised on the…
Date: September 24, 2020
Docket Number: S067690
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Eric Nisley was elected to the office of Wasco County District Attorney and began serving a four-year term in January 2017. After respondent’s election, the Oregon State Bar charged him with several…
Date: September 3, 2020
Docket Number: S066636
Justia Opinion Summary: While defendant Francis Weaver was awaiting trial for murder, the state entered into a plea agreement with one of his codefendants, Michael Orren - a potential witness in defendant’s case. The plea agreement required…
Date: September 3, 2020
Docket Number: S066939
Justia Opinion Summary: In Senate Bill (SB) 226 (2019), enacted as Oregon Laws 2019, chapter 545, sections 1 to 5, the Oregon Legislature sought to retroactively cure defects in a 2016 local election in which voters approved disincorporating…
Date: August 28, 2020
Docket Number: S066377
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Gene Summerfield, worked for defendant Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC), in its warehouse. In his complaint plaintiff alleged that he and other African-Americans had been subjected to racial…
Date: August 28, 2020
Docket Number: S066955
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Austin Haltom was convicted of second-degree sexual abuse, defined in ORS 163.425(1)(a). In Oregon v. Simonov, 368 P3d 11 (2016), in the context of analyzing ORS 164.135(1)(a), the statute criminalized using a…
Date: August 6, 2020
Docket Number: S066933
Justia Opinion Summary: The Oregon legislature made various changes to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) by enacting amendments set out in SB 1049, Or Laws 2019, ch 355. Petitioners were PERS members challenging two of those…
Date: July 23, 2020
Docket Number: S066941
Justia Opinion Summary: Following a bench trial, the trial court determined that the residents of a small neighborhood (or their predecessors) who since 1942, used a railroad crossing on a private roadway to access their homes, had established…
Date: July 16, 2020
Docket Number: S066746
Justia Opinion Summary: After claimant Danny Arvidson received an award of permanent total disability, insurer Liberty Northwest Insurance Corporation requested a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ) to review the award. The ALJ…
Date: July 9, 2020
Docket Number: S066098
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff had the right-of-way and was walking across a crosswalk in downtown Portland when defendant’s garbage truck struck him. By the time the truck stopped, plaintiff’s leg was under the truck and attached to his…
Date: July 9, 2020
Docket Number: S066676
Justia Opinion Summary: The dispute in this case arose from an Environmental Quality Commission order, which concluded that petitioners were persons “controlling” an inactive landfill site and imposed liability on them for failing to per- form…
Date: July 2, 2020
Docket Number: S066569
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Oregon Supreme Court's review centered on a final order of the Oregon State Board of Nursing (the board) and the meaning of the term “time limitations” in ORS 183.645(1). That…
Date: July 2, 2020
Docket Number: S066919
Justia Opinion Summary: During defendant Isaiah Payne's trial for third-degree sexual abuse, the complainant denied including a racial description of defendant in her statement to police and accused defense counsel of trying to make her look…
Date: July 2, 2020
Docket Number: S067555
Justia Opinion Summary: By Legislative Referendum (LR) 401 (2020), the Oregon legislature asked voters to approve or reject a constitutional amendment that would permit the legislature, local governments, and the people through the initiative…
Date: June 18, 2020
Docket Number: S066752
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner M.A.B. applied for a Family Abuse Prevention Act (FAPA) protective order against respondent on October 9, 2017. Respondent and petitioner were married in 2014. Together, they had a son, J, who was born in…
Date: June 12, 2020
Docket Number: S067736
Justia Opinion Summary: The Oregon Governor issued executive orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020. Because the virus spread through close personal contact and through the air, some of the orders have restricted the size…
Date: June 4, 2020
Docket Number: S066872
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Olan Williams was charged with two counts of first-degree sodomy. The jury was instructed that it could return a nonunanimous guilty verdict. Defendant did not object. The jury acquitted defendant of one count…
Date: June 4, 2020
Docket Number: S067084
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Adrian Ulery was charged with two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, and he exercised his right to trial by jury. He did not object to the jury being instructed that it could return a nonunanimous guilty…
Date: May 21, 2020
Docket Number: S066206
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Benjamin McCormick brought this action against the State of Oregon for injuries he sustained while recreating in Lake Billy Chinook. The State moved for summary judgment, asserting that it was entitled to…
Date: May 7, 2020
Docket Number: S066254
Justia Opinion Summary: After a grand jury issued an indictment charging defendant Hanad Ali Haji with multiple offenses, the district attorney determined that the indictment could be challenged by demurrer because the basis for joining those…
Date: April 23, 2020
Docket Number: S066445
Justia Opinion Summary: In the November 2016 election, Multnomah County voters approved Measure 26-184, an amendment to the Multnomah County Home Rule Charter containing campaign finance provisions. Multnomah County then adopted new ordinances,…
Date: April 23, 2020
Docket Number: S066455
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from Portfolio Recovery’s action to recover a credit card debt from respondent Jason Sanders under a common-law claim for an "account stated." The parties filed competing motions for summary judgment -…
Date: April 23, 2020
Docket Number: S066856
Justia Opinion Summary: The original plaintiffs in this action were nine Oregon counties that sought declaratory relief, alleging that the Oregon paid sick leave law required them to spend money on a program without sufficient state…
Date: April 16, 2020
Docket Number: S066596
Justia Opinion Summary: The Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL) issued a permit, pursuant to ORS 196.825, for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (“Walmart”) to fill and remove some wetlands on private property in order to build a new store in The Dalles.…
Date: April 9, 2020
Docket Number: S067329
Justia Opinion Summary: In consolidated ballot title review cases, petitioner Hurst and petitioners Van Dusen and Steele challenged the Oregon Attorney General’s certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 50 (2020) (IP 50). If adopted, IP…
Date: March 5, 2020
Docket Number: S066504
Justia Opinion Summary: In this forcible entry and detainer (FED) action to recover possession of a residential dwelling unit, the issue presented for the Oregon Supreme Court's consideration was whether the trial court erred in allowing…
Date: March 5, 2020
Docket Number: S066654
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case is evidence discovered in a purse during an inventory of an impounded vehicle. A Hillsboro police officer observed defendant Tamara Fulmer driving a vehicle with expired registration tags. The…
Date: March 5, 2020
Docket Number: S067200
Justia Opinion Summary: In consolidated cases, petitioners sought judicial review of the Oregon Attorney General’s certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 40 (2020) (IP 40). If enacted, IP 40 would establish requirements for securing…
Date: February 21, 2020
Docket Number: S066142
Justia Opinion Summary: This interlocutory appeal involves the “unavailability as a witness” requirement under Oregon Evidence Code (OEC) 804(1), for purposes of applying an exception to the hearsay rule in a criminal case. The State served a…
Date: February 21, 2020
Docket Number: S066253
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Pedro Martinez was ‘playing with’ a gun, and asked the victim for his wallet. The victim refused. Petitioner then asked the victim to get out of his car, and the victim refused that request, too, saying "you…
Date: February 21, 2020
Docket Number: S066301
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, after defendants (tenants) were sued for collection of unpaid rent, they alleged a counterclaim for damages under ORS 90.360(2) on the ground that plaintiffs (landlords) had not maintained the premises in a…
Date: February 21, 2020
Docket Number: S067138
Date: February 20, 2020
Docket Number: S067138
Date: January 30, 2020
Docket Number: S066044
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal stemmed from plaintiff Rich Jones’ civil action to recover unpaid wages that defendant Four Corners Rod & Gun Club unlawfully withheld after the parties agreed to trade a lodging benefit for labor. Although…
Date: January 16, 2020
Docket Number: S066479
Justia Opinion Summary: The state charged defendant Joshua Andrews with two crimes: one count of fourth- degree assault, and one count of harassment. At trial, the state presented evidence that defendant drove to the victim’s place of work,…
Date: January 16, 2020
Docket Number: S066993
Justia Opinion Summary: In Friends of Columbia Gorge v. Energy Fac. Siting Coun., 365 Or 371, 446 P3d 53 (2019), the Oregon Supreme Court held that the Energy Facility Siting Council had failed to substantially comply with a procedural…
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