What is my Oregon or Washington State Premises Liability case worth?
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If you can prove the Oregon property owner (or an agent or employee of the property owner or tenant controlling the property) was negligent, you are entitled to the following:
- Medical Bills (Incident-related both past and future)
- Non-economic Damages
- Pain and Suffering
- Inconvenience
- Property damage as a result of the incident
- Lost wages related to the incident
- Lost earning capacity (If you can no longer work due to an incident)
- Substitute services
- Domestic Services (If you have to hire someone to do household services you normally do)
- Professional Services (If you have to hire someone to do work that you normally did for your business)
- Property damage (e.g. if you ripped your pants in a fall)
- Punitive damages (punishment damages) are only applicable if there was intent to harm or extreme recklessness.
- Oregon: Under ORS 31.375, most punitive damages are paid to the State of Oregon.
- Washington State: Punitive damages are generally not available in Washington State with some narrow exceptions. See WPI 35.01.
- Exception: The Washington State Supreme Court ruled the plaintiff may claim punitive damages under general maritime unseaworthiness claims. Tabingo v. American Triumph, LLC, et al., 92913-1, 2017 WL 959551 (Wash. Mar. 9, 2017).
- Exception: Federal civil rights violations: See WPI 35.01
- Oregon loss of Consortium: Sometimes a spouse or family member can bring a separate loss of consortium claim when the person is severely injured cannot provide his or her spouse or family member with the same love, affection, companionship, comfort, or sexual relations provided prior to the incident.
- In Oregon wrongful death lawsuits, loss of consortium can be included as a type of damage claimed among other damages sought.
What is my claim worth? Each case is individually evaluated. Below are some of the factors used to determine the value of your case:
- Liability:
- The strength of the evidence showing the property owner was at fault;
- Whether or not you contributed to your injury in any way
- Statue of Limitations: You must file your case within the Statue of Limitations
- Generally 2 years for Oregon
- Generally 3 years for Washington State
- Severity of your injury;
- Prognosis of your injury;
- Nature and Extent of your Pre-existing Medical Conditions, if any;
- Amount of past medical bills
- Amount of any identifiable future medical bills
- Recovery time
- Past lost wages and any future wage loss
- Lost earning capacity
- The inability to perform activities due to your injury
- Recreational
- Routine household
- Work-related
- Collections
- The likelihood and difficulty of collecting, even if we win.
- Property insurance and/or significant assets: Fortunately, most property owners have insurance or property with equity or property that eventually will increase in value if we put a lien on the property after winning a judgment.
- Judgment Proof persons: Unfortunately, you may be out of luck if the person whose negligence injures you is judgment proof. For example, if videotape showed a homeless person randomly left a hand grenade on a sidewalk and 5 minutes later someone was injured it would be easy to show the homeless person was at-fault but one probably won’t be able to collect unless the homeless person randomly wins the lottery or inherits. Even if the homeless person obtains some intermittent employment, it would still be difficult to collect.
- The likelihood and difficulty of collecting, even if we win.