Oregon Personal Injury Law Overview

Personal injury law is a broad area of law that encompasses cases like vehicle accidents, slips and falls, premises liability accidents, medical malpractice and many other types of cases where someone is left injured. Financial injury is also included under personal injury law and is often found in identity theft and property damage cases.

Oregon's personal injury laws may differ greatly from other states. One aspect of personal injury law that often varies from state to state is the statute of limitations for a personal injury lawsuit. In many states, the time limit is two years, but the law is complicated, especially in medical malpractice cases, because the time limit begins from the time the injury was discovered or should have been discovered rather than the date the injury actually occurred.

Economic damages

Compensatory damages are the monies awarded to compensate you for your injuries including:

• Past and future medical bills
• Past and future lost wages
• Lost earning capacity
• Permanent disability
• Property damage
• Expenses directly caused by your injuries

Non-economic damages

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of companionship
• Loss of enjoyment of life

Punitive damages

These damages are intended to punish the responsible party (defendant). In Oregon, the plaintiff must prove that the conduct of the defendant was worse than simple negligence in order to collect punitive damages. In Oregon, the state takes 60% of punitive damages.

If your lawsuit has named multiple defendants then you may collect money from all responsible parties. Oregon has what is called several liability, which means that more than one person must pay you damages. If one party is not able to pay his share of the damages, the plaintiff is not permitted to collect more money from the other responsible parties. Each defendant is responsible only for his part of the blame.

Modified Comparative Negligence

Often times, the injured party actually played a role in the accident or incident that caused the injury. In Oregon, Modified Comparative Negligence states that you can collect compensation minus your percentage of your role in your injury. Oregon law states that as long as you were less than 49% responsible for your injury, you can collect for the other percentage of blame.

To learn more about Oregon's personal injury law, please contact an experienced Oregon personal injury lawyer in your area today.