Success: Hughes v City of Portland

Kohlhoff and Welch appealed and was successful in Hughes v City of Portland, 296 P.3d 642, 255 Or. App. 271 (2013) To bring an action against a public entity, the Oregon Tort Claim Act requires notice to the entity which can be satisfied in several ways most of which have deadlines of 180 days.  However, one way that is not deadlined and satisfies the notice requirement is the act of an entity paying all or part of a claim at any time.  In this case, when the City paid plaintiff’s PIP carrier, the court deemed it was paying part of plaintiff’s claim and therefore the notice requirement, albeit after 180 days, was satisfied.

What this meant was that the plaintiff was able to recover against the City for his personal injuries even though he had not put in a formal notice of claim with the 180 days.  The plaintiff argued but the court did not address whether the City had had actual notice of the accident, which can also satisfy the notice requirement but must be given within 180 days.

It was a good win for plaintiff.  You can read the case here:  http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13573362379935024700&q=Hughes+v+City+of+Portland&hl=en&as_sdt=4,38


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