Recent Oregon News
August 2023 Newsletter
Oregon Ruling Spurs Concerns of Medical Liability Expansion Oregon physicians face the threat of being wrapped up in product liability lawsuits following an appellate court ruling that expands medical liability far past its original intent of defective drugs and...
How Oregon’s Strict Liability Expansion Threatens Access to Care
A pregnant woman presented at an Oregon hospital’s emergency department where the anti-nausea medication ondansetron (marketed as Zofran by GSK) was administered, and the hospital billed her. The woman then alleged the Zofran caused her child to be born with...
February 2023 Newsletter
Iowa Governor Prescribes Relief Through Liability Reform Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds offered patients and physicians monumental relief from the state’s challenging medical liability system by recently signing long-awaited reforms into law. The new legislation places...
Current Medical Liability Laws
| Damage Caps | $500,000 cap for noneconomic damages found unconstitutional in the Oregon Supreme Court in Busch v, McInnis Waste Systems, 468 P.3d 419 (Or. 2020). |
| Joint Liability Reform | Yes. Defendants are responsible only for their proportionate share of negligence, but if within one year after the final judgment the court determines that all or part of a defendant’s proportionate share is uncollectible, it shall reallocate the uncollectible noneconomic damages among other defendants according to their percentages of negligence. |
| Collateral Source Reform | Yes. White v. Jubitz Corp., 347 Or. 212, 219 P3d 566 (2009) (holding defendants could introduce evidence of amounts written off). |
| Attorney Fees Limited | Partially. Attorney fees recovered from an award for punitive damages are limited to 20% of the 40% paid to the prevailing party. No limit on attorney fees for economic or noneconomic damages. |
| Periodic Payments Permitted | No |