Category Archives: Judicial Dept.

Oregon courts look to improve notification process as attorneys worry of COVID-19 risks

Attorneys and court staff say certain health and safety guidelines are being neglected in the court system. Source: Oregon courts look to improve notification process as attorneys worry of COVID-19 risks – oregonlive.com

Oregon Supreme Court Upholds PERS Reductions

On Thursday, Aug. 6, the Oregon Supreme Court upheld reductions made to public employee pension benefits that were previously passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2019. The reductions were made to help with the state’s growing pension funding deficit and increasing pension costs, which have been causing budget problems for public employers across the state. […]
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Changes to Oregon public pension benefits upheld

The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the reductions in public employee pension benefits that state lawmakers passed last year to help address the state’s pension funding deficit and rein in the escalating pension costs. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that nine public employees filed suit last August seeking to overturn two benefit reductions the Legislature made: […]
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Land transfer | Bias in courtrooms | Rural schools – OPB’s Think Out Loud

Oregon Supreme Court Justice Adrienne Nelson says unconscious racial bias — or any kind of bias — has no place in jury trials. And yet, she acknowledges, every person has these biases. Nelson helped create a video that jurors can watch before a trial starts that’s designed to help them identify unconscious bias and minimize […]
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Editorial: Redmond man’s case is a challenge for state law

In 2012, Benjamin McCormick, of Redmond, and his family drove to a day use area at Lake Billy Chinook, paid the $5 fee and parked the car. He went to the lake’s edge, ran out on a pier and dove in the water. McCormick, then 23, had done that before on many occasions. This time […]
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Oregon top court strikes down non-economic damages cap in injury cases

Oregon’s top court struck down a $500,000 cap on how much personal injury plaintiffs can recover in non-economic damages for pain and suffering, restoring $10 million that had been slashed from a verdict against a waste hauling company. The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the cap the state’s legislature enacted in 1987 violated […]
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Fair trial: Circuit court considers move to Deschutes County facility

Last week, Wells Ashby, presiding judge of the Deschutes County Circuit Court, toured the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center in Redmond alongside county officials to see if the site could host socially distanced jury trials. Twelve-person jury trials, once common at the Deschutes County Courthouse, haven’t been held locally since the COVID-19 outbreak began. […]
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Oregon Court of Appeals Holds Hydroelectric Water Rights Do Not Automatically Convert to Permanent In-Stream Rights When Temporarily Leased for In-Stream Purposes

Under Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 543A.305, a “water right associated with [a] hydroelectric project” converts to a permanent in-stream water right “[f]ive years after the use of water under [the] hydroelectric water right ceases.” In WaterWatch v. Oregon Water Resources Department, 304 Or. App. 617 (2020) (hereinafter Warm Springs Hydro after intervenor respondent Warm Springs […]
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Warm Springs Water Crisis | Ableism & Police | Bar Exam – OPB’s Think Out Loud

There’s a new water crisis on the Warm Springs Reservation. Black people with disabilities are especially at risk of police violence. And the Oregon Supreme Court is waiving the Bar exam requirement for 2020 law school graduates. Source: Warm Springs Water Crisis | Ableism & Police | Bar Exam . Radio | OPB

Opinion: Reassessing value of bar exam is long overdue

The Oregon Supreme Court, following the leads of Washington and Utah, decided last week to create a temporary exception to the requirement of bar examination passage in order to obtain a license to practice law in Oregon, allowing admission to 2020 Oregon law school graduates based on their diplomas (called “diploma privilege”). Source: Opinion: Reassessing […]
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