Category Archives: Medical Bills
Man Sues Portland Hotel for Serving 17-Year-Old Driver after Skull Fracture
Date: July 2, 2012
Location: Interchange between Interstate 84 West and Interstate 5 South
Name: Jaba Mebrat
According to suit filed in Multnomah County Court, Jaba Mebrat had attended a wedding at the Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel on July 1, 2012, along with 17-year-old Beka Dekebo. The suit says the hotel employees served Dekebo alcohol without checking his ID and also placed moonshine on the table enabling Dekebo to drink that as well. When Mebrat was asleep on the passenger seat of the car, Dekebo got in and drove it. Dekebo crashed into another car near the Interstate 84 West and Interstate 5 South interchange. Mebrat sustained a fractured skull and other injuries and is now suing the hotel for $450,000 for medical expenses, $50,000 in lost wages, and $475,000 for pain and suffering.
He is also suing Jeffrey Andre Walker, the other driver, claiming he was intoxicated at the time of the accident and speeding. Charges against Dekebo were dismissed and Mebrat is not suing him.
We extend our sympathies to the injured man and hope he recovers completely.
Our best wishes go out to Mebrat; we wish you a speedy and full recovery.
Drunken driving accidents are tragedies that affect not only the victim, but often the victim’s family and friends as well. These cases are also legally complex and can face very strict time limits (as little as 180 days).
If you have been a victim of a drunk driving accident, you may be able to get compensation in a few ways:
- You may be able to file a claim with the auto insurance of the at-fault driver.
- You may be able to file a claim with your own insurance (if their insurance does not cover all your damages, it was a hit-and-run crash, or they do not have insurance).
- You may be able to file a claim against the establishment or person that supplied the alcohol to the drunk driver through a Dram Shop Notice.
A Dram Shop Notice allows you to hold responsible whoever served and continued to serve alcohol to the drunk driver after they were visibly intoxicated, or whoever served alcohol to someone who is underage. This could be a bar, nightclub, restaurant, or whoever supplied the alcohol.
These establishments are required to properly train and incentivize their employees to act in accordance with the OLCC’s guidelines regarding intoxicated drinkers. They should not be allowed to do otherwise. A Dram Shop Notice is a special letter that tells the establishment that they are being held accountable for failing to follow these guidelines.
But if the proper establishment does not receive the Dram Shop Notice within 180 days, the claim may be forever lost. This very tight time limit destroys many otherwise valid claims. Let an Oregon injury attorney who is familiar with the law regarding drunk driving accidents help you through this difficult time, and get you on your way to recovery.
Driver Injured in Highway 26 Seafood Waste Crash
Date: June 22, 2014
Location: US 26, near milepost 35, Coast Range
Name: Daniel Gallagher
Oregon police have said that Daniel Gallagher, who was driving the truck at the time of the accident sustained serious but non life-threatening injuries. He was taken to OSHU for treatment. He had veered to the right shoulder of the road and hit a stand of trees. Gallagher was taken by ambulance before being transferred to LifeFlight for the last leg of the trip to OSHU.
The highway was closed for several hours while the police and other departments cleaned it of the 40,000 pounds of compressed seafood waste spilled.
The actual cause of the accident has not yet been determined.
We extend our sympathies to the injured man and hope he recovers completely and quickly.
We understand the life-altering effects of a motor vehicle collision, and we wish Gallagher a complete and speedy recovery.
While many single car accidents are considered to be the fault of the driver, it is not uncommon for these types of accidents to be more complex than they appear. Poorly maintained roads, bad signage or traffic control devices, negligent mechanics, car manufacturing defects and/or poor design, can all contribute to a single-car accident.
To protect your rights, and any potential claim you may have, it is imperative to investigate these other possible causes as soon as possible. Road repairs, changes to the intersection, etc., can all obscure the evidence you might need to prove your claim. And, if a public body is negligent, you may lose your rights if you don’t send an Oregon Tort Claim within 180 days.
In a single-car accident, your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) should cover all your lost wages and medical bills up to at least $15,000 (the minimum coverage required by Oregon law). PIP is no-fault insurance, so PIP applies no matter who is found at fault for the accident.
If you or someone you know has been involved in a single car accident that they believe was not their fault, consider talking to an experienced Portland accident attorney or reading 7 Common Mistakes That Can Wreck Your Oregon Accident Case, which can answer the most common questions people have after a car accident.
Acrobats Injured in Rhode Island Plan Law Suits
Date: May 4, 2014
Location: Dunkin’ Donuts Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Name: Julissa Segrera, Viktoriya Medeiros, Dayana Costa, five others
Four of the women who have sustained multiple injuries spoke about their lives after the accident and said that they want to go to the root cause. They want to ensure that such an accident does not occur again.
The women, including Julissa Segrera, Viktoriya Medeiros, and Dayana Costa were part of a human chandelier when a carabiner clip snapped according to investigators. Lawyers have yet to confirm who will be sued by the acrobats but did not rule out filing cases against the venue or the carabiner maker.
We extend our sympathies to the injured acrobats and hope they recover quickly and completely.
In Oregon, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers are all responsible for the safety of their products. If you or a loved one has experienced an accident similar to Segrera’s, contact an Oregon product liability attorney to protect your rights.
You can seek compensation for injuries from:
- Design defects: when the poor or flawed design of a product makes it dangerous
- Manufacturing defects: when a problem is introduced during manufacturing that makes a product dangerous
- Marketing defects: when the warning labels or instructions are not sufficient or appropriate to protect consumers from injury
By pursuing damages from companies that allow unsafe products to be created, distributed, and sold in Oregon, you may be helping others who have had similar experiences. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, over 30 million people are injured every year in the United States due to defective products.
Do not wait to get help: contact a Portland product liability attorney for a free consultation as soon as possible. In product liability cases, it can be imperative to get pictures and start investigating what happened as soon as possible, because product liability cases have their own special (and very difficult) statutes of limitations (ORS 30.905), which can be much shorter than the more common statutes.
A woman has sued Turner Logging for improperly stringing a cable across a trail in her properly
Forest Grove Woman Sues Logging Company for Wrongly Strung Cable
Date: July 17, 2012
Location: 19200 block, Northwest Timber Road, Forest Grove
Name: Laural McEuin
Laural McEuin has said in her suit filed last week that she fell from her horse on the improperly placed logging cable. She further said that the logging company had not informed her of the cable or used flags to make the cable more visible. She has asked for compensation of $867,500 that includes the cost of past and future medical expenses as well as pain, suffering, and inability to continue with her normal activities. She has said that she suffered from cervical and lumbar injuries apart from loss of smell and taste. We extend our sympathies to the victim.
If you need to speak with a Portland personal injury attorney, most offer free consultations. Many will also help you investigate the accident for free until you decide what to do about representation. Let them help you navigate this legal process, so that you can grieve without jeopardizing your rights.
71-Year-Old Man Drives through Window of Beaverton Home
Date: April 7, 2013
Location: Southwest Domino Street and Southwest 239th Avenue, Beaverton
Name: Dennis Lamm
At around 7am on April 7, Dennis Lamm drove his Chevrolet Equinox past a T-shaped intersection and through the front yard and front window of the house. He was travelling at around 25 mph at the time of the accident.
Police have not charged Lamm as of now and have yet to disclose the exact nature of the medical issue. Lamm was extracted by the fire and rescue team and taken to hospital for treatment.
Three of the residents of the house who were asleep at the time of the accident were injured. The homeowner said that he usually sat near the window but escaped injuries because he was elsewhere when the car crashed into his living room.
The vehicle did not cause any structural damage to the house it crashed into though a wall under the window was torn. Police said that the vehicle did not damage any load bearing walls tough it has destroyed the interior of the living room.
We extend our sympathies to the injured man and hope he recovers completely and quickly.
When a driver passes out due to a medical condition, it can be difficult to figure out who’s fault it is. You may be surprised to read this from a personal injury attorney, but it may be nobody’s fault. A freak accident is what we call an “act of God,” and nobody gets blamed.
But, here are some other possibilities:
-The driver may have been on medication that specifically stated he shouldn’t drive. That would make it the driver’s fault.
-The driver may have been on medication that did not state he shouldn’t drive, but should have! That would make it the fault of whoever produced, tested, and labeled the medication.
-The driver may have been on medication that should state that he shouldn’t drive, but the pharmacist mislabeled it. Pharmacy’s fault.
-The driver’s doctor may have misdiagnosed a condition, and therefore failed to tell the driver that he shouldn’t be driving.
There’s no way to know what actually happened to cause this tragedy without further investigation. This is certainly a situation that can get complicated fast. A competent personal injury attorney can help guide you through the process.
Portland Accident News 