Oregon Supreme Court Decisions 2011
Date: December 30, 2011
Docket Number: S058846
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2004, Defendant Nicholas Rainoldi was convicted of first degree forgery and identity theft, and was sentenced to 24 months' probation. On the judgment, the trial judge wrote "misd. treat. on completion of probation."…
Date: December 30, 2011
Docket Number: S059046
Justia Opinion Summary: The primary question in this case was whether a workplace injury that Plaintiff Nancy Petock characterized as an aggravation or worsening of an earlier compensable injury can give rise to a new three-year period in…
Date: December 30, 2011
Docket Number: S059166
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court pertained to ORCP 44 C and whether it required Plaintiff "A.G." to deliver to Defendants Robert Guitron and Aerobic & Dancewear Shoppe, LLC, at Defendants' request, a copy of all…
Date: December 30, 2011
Docket Number: S059213
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs Ursula White, Bruce Reiter and Margaret Retz, one retired member and two active members of the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) challenged certain actions of the Public Employees Retirement Board…
Date: December 8, 2011
Docket Number: S059713
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners Fred Girod, Rod Monroe, David Schamp, Cary Johnson, Hobart Kytr and Steven Fick sought review of the Attorney General's certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 21 (2012), arguing that the ballot title…
Date: December 2, 2011
Docket Number: S059014
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury awarded the Estate of Jesse Williams (the Williams estate) compensatory damages and $79.5 million in punitive damages for Philip Morris, Inc.'s (Philip Morris) fraud and negligence leading to the smoking-related…
Date: November 23, 2011
Docket Number: S059448
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners Gail Rasmussen and Bethanne Darby sought review of the Attorney General's certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 18 (2012). If approved by the voters, Initiative Petition 18 would enact a prohibition…
Date: November 21, 2011
Docket Number: S059519
Justia Opinion Summary: This matter came to the Supreme Court on a "request" that it enforce, on its own motion, an alternative writ of mandamus that it previously issued in connection with Defendant Gary Haugen's death-warrant proceeding.…
Date: November 18, 2011
Docket Number: S059138
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Marco Montez sought review of an appellate court decision that denied him post-conviction relief. The post-conviction court had rejected Petitioner's claim that he received ineffective assistance of counsel…
Date: November 10, 2011
Docket Number: S057155
Justia Opinion Summary: Pursuant to ORS 742.061, Plaintiffs Zidell Marine Corporation petitioned to recover attorney fees that they incurred for the preparation of appeals before both the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. Defendant Lloyds of…
Date: November 10, 2011
Docket Number: S059135
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant David Swanson was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving. At trial, Defendant asked the trial court to instruct the jury on the elements of "careless" driving (a traffic violation), arguing that it is a…
Date: November 10, 2011
Docket Numbers: S059136, S059137
Justia Opinion Summary: Two cases involving ORS 135.747 were consolidated in this opinion. In the first case, the State charged Defendant Vladmir Glushko with one count of attempt to elude, one count of reckless driving and one count of driving…
Date: November 10, 2011
Docket Number: S059154
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Darrell Kasberg farmed piece of property leased from the Wheelers. The Wheelers agreed to loan Plaintiff money, using farmland he owned as collateral. When disagreements arose, the Wheelers threatened to evict…
Date: October 20, 2011
Docket Number: S058915
Justia Opinion Summary: The question before the Supreme Court in this case was whether a landowner holding a "Measure 37" waiver had a common law vested right to construct a residential subdivision that he had begun but not completed by the…
Date: October 6, 2011
Docket Number: S058881
Justia Opinion Summary: This opinion consolidated two cases brought before the Supreme Court on certified appeals from the Court of Appeals. Both cases involved the Public Employees Retirement Board's (PERB or the Board) revision or reduction…
Date: October 6, 2011
Docket Number: S058898
Justia Opinion Summary: The state charged Defendant Tyler Kurokawa-Lasciak with various drug offenses, and Defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence that the police had obtained from a warrantless search of his rental van. The state…
Date: October 6, 2011
Docket Number: S059056
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners sought judicial review of a final order of the Public Employees Retirement Board (PERB). They contested the reduction of their retirement benefits as a result of PERB's efforts to recoup benefit overpayments…
Date: October 6, 2011
Docket Number: S059058
Justia Opinion Summary: ORS 105.135(3) requires a plaintiff in an action for forcible entry and detainer (FED) to serve the summons and complaint "by the end of the judicial day next following the payment of filing fees." The issue in this case…
Date: October 6, 2011
Docket Number: S059368
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners Gail Rasmussen and Bethanne Darby sought review of the Attorney General's certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 15 (2012). If enacted, Initiative Petition 15 would add a provision to the Oregon…
Date: September 22, 2011
Docket Number: S058641
Justia Opinion Summary: The State argued that the Court of Appeals erred in reversing one of the trial court's rulings excluding certain evidence. In response, Defendant Terry Davis challenged two of the trial court's other evidentiary rulings…
Date: September 22, 2011
Docket Number: S058762
Justia Opinion Summary: The issues presented to the Supreme Court in this case concerned evidentiary and pleading questions that arose in the trial of a multi-defendant negligence case. Plaintiff Clarence Lasley (the decedent's father) brought…
Date: September 22, 2011
Docket Number: S059039
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue presented to the Supreme Court in this appeal was whether a criminal defendant may, after pleading 'no contest' to a misdemeanor offense, challenge his sentence on the ground that it violates the Due Process…
Date: September 9, 2011
Docket Number: S058706
Justia Opinion Summary: This case concerned the proper application of stare decisis and required the Supreme Court to decide whether "Collins v. Farmers Ins. Co." was still good law. In "Collins," the Court held that an exclusion in a motor…
Date: September 9, 2011
Docket Number: S059065
Justia Opinion Summary: This case tested the limits of a defendant's free speech rights under Article I, 3 section 8, of the Oregon Constitution, and the his violation of a protective order. The victim was an editor with the Portland Tribune, a…
Date: September 1, 2011
Docket Number: S058311
Justia Opinion Summary: Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark sought a writ of mandamus to compel Attorney General Robert McKenna to pursue an appeal of a trial court decision in a condemnation action. Although Mr. McKenna provided…
Date: September 1, 2011
Docket Number: S058839
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Keith Drollinger, a convicted felon, brought suit against the lawyers who represented him in his attempt to obtain post-conviction relief, but shortly before the matter was scheduled for trial, withdrew.…
Date: September 1, 2011
Docket Number: S058967
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Hezakiah Baker was charged with multiple counts related to the manufacture and possession of marijuana. Before trial, Defendant moved to suppress evidence seized by Medford city police officers who, without a…
Date: August 25, 2011
Docket Number: S059045
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether a uniform criminal jury instruction on aiding and abetting correctly stated Oregon law. The charges in this case arose after Defendant Petronilo Lopez-Minjarez and his father drove…
Date: July 28, 2011
Docket Number: S058548
Justia Opinion Summary: Police obtained a warrant to search a house for stolen property. When they arrived at the house to execute the warrant, they encountered Defendant Bonnie Lou Walker. They placed her in handcuffs, read her Miranda rights,…
Date: July 28, 2011
Docket Number: S059360
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners Gail Rasmussen and Bethanne Darby sought review of the Attorney General's certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 14 (2012), arguing that the ballot title did not satisfy the requirements of state…
Date: July 28, 2011
Docket Number: S059447
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners Daniel Lavey and Anna Richter Taylor sought review of the Attorney General's certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 16 (2012), arguing that the ballot title did not satisfy the requirements of state…
Date: July 8, 2011
Docket Number: S058572
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Farmers Insurance Company of Oregon, Mid-Century Insurance Company and Truck Insurance Exchange (Farmers) petitioned the Supreme Court to reconsider an opinion that affirmed a trial court's judgment against it…
Date: July 8, 2011
Docket Numbers: S058554, S058406
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Jose Guadalupe Cazares-Mendez and Jorge Reyes-Sanchez were convicted of aggravated murder in the death of Jessie Valero. During their separate trials, the court refused to allow them to present hearsay…
Date: June 30, 2011
Docket Number: S058310
Justia Opinion Summary: Trial courts may impose enhanced sentences in criminal cases when an aggravating factor provides a substantial and compelling reason for doing so. The state sentencing guidelines list some aggravating factors that trial…
Date: June 30, 2011
Docket Number: S058572
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the police informed Defendant John Davis that he was the subject of an investigation for sexual abuse. Defendant retained counsel, who sent a letter to the police invoking his right to remain silent and…
Date: June 3, 2011
Docket Number: S058536
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff John Stuart decided to build a new house on a small farm. He contacted his insurance agent of nineteen years, Defendant Ronald Pittman for "course-of-construction" insurance to cover any problems in the course…
Date: May 27, 2011
Docket Number: S059423
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Ivey Barrett was convicted of misdemeanor stalking. The victim in this case is Appellant Linda Barrett, Defendant's estranged wife. Oregon law granted certain crime victims a "meaningful role" with respect to…
Date: May 26, 2011
Docket Number: S058602
Justia Opinion Summary: Two women brandishing swords robbed the Purple Parrot Lounge in Klamath Falls. As a result of that crime, a grand jury charged Defendant Roberta Gilmore with conspiracy and first-degree robbery. The trial court arraigned…
Date: May 19, 2011
Docket Number: S057520
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Mark Strawn filed a class action suit against Defendants Farmers Insurance Company of Oregon, Mid-Century Insurance Company, and Truck Insurance Exchange (collectively, Farmers). Plaintiff alleged that Farmers…
Date: May 19, 2011
Docket Number: S058645
Justia Opinion Summary: The Sheriffs of Jackson and Washington Counties withheld concealed handgun licenses from persons who met all of the statutory conditions for the issuance of such licenses, but admitted to being regular users of medical…
Date: May 5, 2011
Docket Number: S057378
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Bobby Guggenmos appealed the Court of Appeals’ decision that affirmed his conviction for possession of a controlled substance. Defendant argued that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress…
Date: May 5, 2011
Docket Number: S059261
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners Gail Rasmussen and Bethanne Darby sought review of a certified ballot title for “Initiative Petition 10 (2012).” The proposed measure, if approved by the voters, would amend the state constitution to set the…
Date: May 5, 2011
Docket Number: S059264
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners Gail Rasmussen and Bethanne Darby sought review of a certified ballot title for “Initiative Petition 12 (2012).” The proposed measure, if approved by the voters, would amend the state constitution to require…
Date: April 6, 2011
Docket Number: S058894
Date: February 18, 2011
Docket Number: S059213
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