Legal Question in Personal Injury in Oregon

Re: how liable is the city for my sons drowning?

I'm so sorry about your child. WHEN did this happen? In Oregon, you must give a specified type of WRITTEN NOTICE in a death claim against the state or any local government entity, pursuant to the Oregon Tort Claims Act, WITHIN 1 YEAR of the incident; sometimes, a year from when you discover or reasonably should've discovered the fault. Usually, no notice filed means no lawsuit, unless you FILE within that first year.

If you ARE beyond the one year, there are exceptions, and you NEED A LAWYER to figure that out. The OTHER big time limit governs when you must FILE a LAWSUIT in Oregon. For WRONGFUL DEATH, it's generally THREE YEARS, but even many lawyers do NOT know that this statute is only TWO YEARS for a wrongful death claim against any state or local governmental entity in Oregon, or their agents or employees.

To answer your question, probably the best way to do something is to file suit. In the "discovery" process, your lawyer will get documents and take sworn depositions of people from the city and otherwise, there will hopefully emerge a more focused understanding of just what happened and why. You should talk to a lawyer IN PERSON.

And yes, the fact that other children had died there before your child might well be of assistance to your case. The city was presumably "on notice," and should have taken steps. That's the general analysis at least, but there's a great deal more to it than that, and a lawyer should analyze all the information.

It's also important that you choose the right lawyer. If you get a negative response from any ONE lawyer, I'd advise you to get at least one second opinion. Remember that in THESE kinds of claims, lawyers will usually work for you on a "CONTINGENCY FEE" basis, so they get a percentage if you can prevail against the city, rather than paying hourly attorney fees. Be sure you hire somebody on a contingency fee basis. If nobody will TAKE the case on that basis, there are likely serious problems with the case, although I don't know what those problems might BE, since your claim would seem at first blush to have merit.

Good luck with your claim, and please let me know if I may answer more questions. And again, I'm very sorry to hear about what happened to your child. If nothing else, since I'm a grandfather, I'd like to know WHAT PARK this was, and WHAT CITY it's in.

Best of luck to you,

Sam Hochberg

Attorney at Law