Oregon Supreme Court Decisions 2017
Date: December 29, 2017
Docket Number: S064188
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Oregon Supreme Court in this matter was whether the Court of Appeals correctly construed the scope of ORS 656.019 in a case arising out of plaintiff’s attempt to allege civil negligence claims…
Date: December 14, 2017
Docket Number: S064105
Justia Opinion Summary: In light of the fact that Mountain View Paving has ceased the activities that were identified by Rogue Advocates as the bases for its complaint, the remaining question before the Oregon Supreme Court in this matter was…
Date: December 14, 2017
Docket Number: S064185
Justia Opinion Summary: In an action for post-conviction relief, petitioner Charles Richardson successfully contended that his defense counsel had rendered constitutionally inadequate representation during a presentence hearing concerning…
Date: December 14, 2017
Docket Number: S065159
Justia Opinion Summary: The Oregon Supreme Court dismissed this ballot title challenge without addressing the merits. The Court determined it did not have authority to consider a ballot title challenge if the underlying initiative measure had…
Date: December 14, 2017
Docket Number: S065263
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged the legal sufficiency of the Attorney General’s certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 21 (2018). IP 21, if enacted, would alter the Oregon tax with respect to certain tobacco products in…
Date: November 30, 2017
Docket Number: S064346
Justia Opinion Summary: This case presented for the Oregon Supreme Court's review the question of when, if ever, the filing of a third-party complaint constitutes the “filing of a proceeding under subsection (1)” of ORS 60.952(6), such that the…
Date: November 30, 2017
Docket Number: S065098
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether, when a defendant files a motion to suppress all statements made during an encounter with police, and the trial court’s ruling addresses some (but not all) of those statements, the…
Date: November 9, 2017
Docket Number: S064092
Justia Opinion Summary: In the underlying property tax appeal, the Tax Court rejected a request by the Department of Revenue and the county assessor to increase the real market value of taxpayer’s property, and the court later awarded taxpayer…
Date: November 9, 2017
Docket Number: S065181
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner sought review of the Oregon Attorney General’s certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 19 (2018) (IP 19), arguing that the ballot title caption did not satisfy the requirements of ORS 250.035(2)(a). If…
Date: October 26, 2017
Docket Number: S064120
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue presented for the Oregon Supreme Court’s review was whether an adult foster care provider claiming unjust enrichment may recover the reasonable value of its services from a defendant who, through fraud,…
Date: October 25, 2017
Docket Number: S065300
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners sought review of the ballot title prepared for Referendum Petition (RP) 301 (2018). Among other things, that bill created a new Health System Fund, which would pay the cost of administering a new Oregon…
Date: October 19, 2017
Docket Number: S064028
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Carvel Dillard was charged with four counts of sexual abuse in the second degree and four counts of prostitution. The indictment alleged crimes against two victims. Petitioner was not represented by counsel at…
Date: October 19, 2017
Docket Number: S064249
Justia Opinion Summary: This case centered on a public records request made by defendant Oregonian Publishing Company, LLC (The Oregonian), a newspaper, to plaintiff Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU), a public health and research…
Date: October 19, 2017
Docket Number: S064377
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the state issued a subpoena for a witness against defendant Kenneth Harris, and the witness did not appear for trial. The state then offered hearsay evidence in lieu of live testimony, arguing that the…
Date: October 5, 2017
Docket Number: S064112
Justia Opinion Summary: The question this case presented for the Oregon Supreme Court’s review centered on fees, and whether the legislature intended to depart from the accepted practice of awarding a party entitled to recover attorney fees…
Date: October 5, 2017
Docket Number: S064442
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Michael Haynes sought judicial review of a final order of the Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision that denied his petition to change the terms of his life imprisonment to allow for the possibility of…
Date: September 21, 2017
Docket Number: S064205
Justia Opinion Summary: The Portland City Code imposed a $35 tax on each resident of the city who is at least 18 years old, has income of $1,000 or more per year, and does not reside in a household that is at or below federal poverty…
Date: September 14, 2017
Docket Number: S063979
Justia Opinion Summary: If an individual has been released on both probation and post-prison supervision subject to the same or similar conditions, a single act may violate the conditions of both probation and post-prison supervision. Defendant…
Date: September 14, 2017
Docket Number: S064380
Justia Opinion Summary: Delta Logistics, Inc. was a "for-hire carrier" licensed by the federal government to transport goods interstate. Delta did not own any trucks; rather, it leased trucks from owner-operators, who operated, furnished, and…
Date: September 14, 2017
Docket Number: S064469
Justia Opinion Summary: The question in this case was whether K.A.M. was stopped during the search of a drug house when a detective came upon youth and a friend in one of the bedrooms, told K.A.M.'s friend to “stay off the meth,” asked them…
Date: September 14, 2017
Docket Number: S064987
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner sought review of the Attorney General’s certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 2 (2018) (IP 2). IP 2, if enacted, would change the way that signatures were gathered to put an initiative measure or a…
Date: August 10, 2017
Docket Number: S063292
Justia Opinion Summary: The parties in this case raised the issue of whether the natural dissipation of alcohol in a suspect’s body created such an emergency that police officers could enter a suspect’s home without a warrant in order to secure…
Date: August 10, 2017
Docket Number: S064057
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Thomas Eastep arranged to sell another person’s truck for scrap. At the time, the truck was in a significant state of disrepair. He was charged with, and ultimately convicted of, unauthorized use of a vehicle…
Date: August 10, 2017
Docket Number: S064109
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue in this case is whether the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office (county) complied with the requirements of ORS 408.230(2)(c) to “devise and apply methods” of giving veterans and disabled veterans “special…
Date: August 10, 2017
Docket Number: S064237
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury convicted defendant Joaquin Sierra of nine offenses: one count of first-degree kidnapping; two counts of second-degree kidnapping; one count of fourth-degree assault; and five counts of unlawful use of a weapon…
Date: August 3, 2017
Docket Number: S064132
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to death for killing a fifteen-year-old girl, HF. The state’s theory of the case was that petitioner had killed HF intentionally in furtherance of, or in an…
Date: August 3, 2017
Docket Number: S064236
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Catherine Garcia was charged with two counts of interfering with a peace officer and one count of resisting arrest for her actions to prevent officers from arresting her boyfriend at a political march. At…
Date: July 13, 2017
Docket Number: S063810
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Trevin King pled guilty to second-degree assault, and no contest to first-degree robbery in accordance with an oral plea agreement reached with the state. Six months later, the victim died because of his…
Date: June 29, 2017
Docket Number: S064263
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue presented for the Oregon Supreme Court's review in this matter centered on a trial court’s determination that defendant’s consent to a courthouse security officer’s generalized request to search her purse by…
Date: June 22, 2017
Docket Number: S063857
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, who was intellectually disabled, made an as-applied challenge to his 75-month mandatory minimum prison sentence for first-degree sexual abuse, on the ground that it violates Article I, section 16, of the…
Date: June 22, 2017
Docket Number: S063867
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant argued his due process rights were violated when the trial judge initially imposed a sentence of 60 months’ probation on a misdemeanor conviction and on remand imposed a sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment for…
Date: June 22, 2017
Docket Number: S063995
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff purchased an automobile insurance policy from Progressive. The policy included UM coverage with a limit of $25,000. Plaintiff was injured in an automobile accident with an uninsured motorist. Plaintiff filed a…
Date: June 22, 2017
Docket Number: S064353
Justia Opinion Summary: A Washington State Trooper had probable cause to believe that defendant was violating Washington traffic laws and initiated a stop in Washington; however, the trooper did not complete the stop until both he and defendant…
Date: June 15, 2017
Docket Number: S064262
Justia Opinion Summary: Did defendant intend to consent to the search of closed containers inside his backpack? The Oregon Supreme Court found it was unclear whether the trial court so understood the inquiry before it, and, the Supreme Court…
Date: June 2, 2017
Docket Number: S064048
Justia Opinion Summary: Out-of-state architects engaged in the illegal practice of architecture by holding themselves out as being licensed in Oregon. The Oregon Board of Architect Examiners (board) petitioned for certiorari review of the Court…
Date: June 2, 2017
Docket Number: S064053
Justia Opinion Summary: Pursuant to ORCP 54 B(1), the trial court dismissed plaintiff’s wrongful death action because it found that plaintiff’s counsel willfully failed to comply with two court orders and that, as a result, dismissal was an…
Date: June 2, 2017
Docket Number: S064503
Date: May 11, 2017
Docket Number: S063358
Justia Opinion Summary: The question presented was whether Oregon law permitted a plaintiff, who suffered an adverse medical outcome resulting in physical harm, to state a common-law medical negligence claim by alleging that the defendant…
Date: May 11, 2017
Docket Number: S063682
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved ad valorem property taxes: the land at issue had been exempted from some property taxes because it was specially assessed as nonexclusive farm use zone farmland. When that special assessment ends, the…
Date: May 4, 2017
Docket Number: S064084
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2012, the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division (DMV) of the Department of Transportation suspended defendant Dorothy Rafeh’s driver’s license for three years for refusing to submit voluntarily to a blood alcohol…
Date: April 27, 2017
Docket Number: S063924
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue in this case was the scope of a criminal defendant’s right to self-representation when that right is invoked in the middle of trial. In this case, the trial court concluded that defendant had no right to seek…
Date: April 27, 2017
Docket Number: S063978
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue presented for the Supreme Court’s review was whether provisions of Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act (UTPA) that prohibited using “unconscionable tactic[s]” to collect certain debts, and causing likely…
Date: April 27, 2017
Docket Number: S064072
Justia Opinion Summary: The trial court admitted other acts evidence over defendant’s objection and without conducting OEC 403 balancing. Defendant was charged with three counts of first degree sexual abuse of K and T, the daughters of…
Date: April 27, 2017
Docket Number: S064085
Justia Opinion Summary: In this prosecution for failure to perform the duties of a driver, reckless endangerment, and reckless driving, the trial court admitted other acts evidence over defendant’s objection and, the State conceded, without…
Date: April 27, 2017
Docket Number: S064086
Justia Opinion Summary: The Oregon Supreme Court explained that, in a criminal action, when the state proffers evidence of uncharged acts, either to prove a defendant’s propensity to commit charged crimes under OEC 404(4), or for a…
Date: April 20, 2017
Docket Number: S063644
Justia Opinion Summary: After defendant Sean McNally refused to comply with a police officer’s order to leave a bus station, the officer arrested him and charged him with, among other things, the misdemeanor offense of interfering with a peace…
Date: March 30, 2017
Docket Number: S062420
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue in this workers’ compensation case was whether claimant was entitled to benefits for his “combined condition” claim. Claimant filed- and his employer’s insurer, SAIF Corporation, initially accepted-a claim for…
Date: March 30, 2017
Docket Number: S063754
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Shawn Haugen was convicted of one count of third-degree assault, based mainly on the victim’s eyewitness identification of him. Before his trial, defendant moved to exclude the eyewitness identification.…
Date: March 9, 2017
Docket Number: S063169
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, two officers were waiting for defendant Bell Andersen's car to arrive at a parking lot to complete a drug sale. One officer was out of sight of the parking lot but listened as defendant’s passenger…
Date: March 9, 2017
Docket Number: S063946
Justia Opinion Summary: Relator Mark Moore, who was a defendant in the underlying criminal case, sought a writ of mandamus directing the trial court to dismiss the indictment against him with prejudice, based on former or double jeopardy under…
Date: March 9, 2017
Docket Number: S063974
Justia Opinion Summary: This case was an original mandamus proceeding, arising from a medical negligence action in which plaintiff-relator sought damages for physical injuries. Plaintiff filed suit seeking damages for physical injuries suffered…
Date: March 2, 2017
Docket Number: S063651
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether police officers violated the prohibition against unreasonable seizures in Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution, when they responded to a report that a named man was…
Date: March 2, 2017
Docket Number: S063914
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sustained injuries while working for Union Pacific Railroad Company “as a spiker machine operator near Minidoka, Idaho.” Union Pacific’s decision to reduce “the spiker machine’s customary three-[person] crew to…
Date: March 2, 2017
Docket Number: S063929
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was working for BNSF Railway Company in Pasco, Washington, where she was repairing a locomotive engine. While she was reaching up to remove an engine part, the “portable stair supplied by [BNSF] rolled or…
Date: March 2, 2017
Docket Number: S063985
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved the State’s appeal of a pretrial order suppressing evidence in a pending murder prosecution. The trial court determined that, near the beginning of a custodial interrogation, defendant equivocally…
Date: February 16, 2017
Docket Number: S063079
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff had an Oregon auto insurance policy issued by defendant. In 2008, plaintiff was injured in a motor vehicle accident. Among other expenses, plaintiff incurred $430.67 in transportation costs to attend medical…
Date: February 16, 2017
Docket Number: S063831
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant’s boyfriend dropped off defendant and the couple’s child at a department store. Defendant entered the store and took clothing into a fitting room to try it on. Recognizing suspicious behavior, security officers…
Date: February 9, 2017
Docket Number: S063590
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review centered on the standard of liability for violations of two provisions of the hazardous waste laws: 40 CFR section 263.20(a)(1), as adopted by OAR…
Date: February 9, 2017
Docket Number: S063917
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Donovan Carlton was charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse for putting his hands down the pants of a 7-year-old girl ("A") in multiple incidents. One of the counts also charged defendant with…
Date: February 2, 2017
Docket Number: S062750
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether the City of Lebanon (city) committed an unfair labor practice under Oregon’s Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act (PECBA) when one of its council members, Campbell, wrote a letter…
Date: February 2, 2017
Docket Number: S063701
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, plaintiff discovered a leak under her kitchen sink, which had caused extensive damage to her home, and filed a claim with her insurer, Farmers Insurance Company of Oregon (Farmers). In early 2012, Farmers…
Date: January 20, 2017
Docket Number: S062459
Justia Opinion Summary: In June 2002, defendant Ron Miller entered into an open account agreement with plaintiff Union Lumber Company for the purchase of building supply materials. In July 2010, plaintiff filed an action for breach of contract…
Date: January 20, 2017
Docket Number: S063885
Justia Opinion Summary: An officer stopped defendant Victor Pichardo to investigate whether he was helping another person evade the police. During the stop, the officer asked defendant for consent to a search for drugs. The primary question…
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