Attorney Nelson Hall of Bennett Hartman Morris & Kaplan, representing the injured party, brought to close a medically complex negligence case that involved multiple defendants who failed to identify and diagnose a heart condition which subsequently harmed the client. Attorney Hall called upon several medical experts to prove violations of the standard of care, causation, […]
Month: July 2014
In Case of First Impression, Arbitrator Finds District Overreached in Labeling Teacher’s Inappropriate Statements as “Sexual Conduct”
A school district determined that a teacher had engaged in “sexual conduct” within the meaning of ORS 339.370 based on comments he made about the meaning of song lyrics to his 7th grade choir. Essentially, when asked, the educator told the girls that teenage boys are often insincere and just want to have sex. The […]
Retiree Health Insurance Benefits Protected
Employees who had taken a leave of absence and not maintained health insurance through the employer were denied early retirement health insurance benefits after retirement. The union pursued a group grievance under the early retirement benefits section of collective bargaining agreement, arguing that the employees were entitled to benefits based on years of service and the […]
Firefighter Wins Cancer Case
In July of 2012, attorney Nelson Hall won an important victory for firefighters in a work-related testicular cancer case. Hall proved to the Workers’ Compensation Board that the insurance company had failed to rebut the presumption that the firefighter’s testicular cancer resulted from his employment as a firefighter. This is the first in a string of cancer […]
Oregon’s Domestic Partnership Law Successfully Defended
Margaret Olney successfully represented Intervenors Basic Rights Oregon in a lawsuit brought by a conservative religious foundation to qualify a referendum for the ballot that would have repealed Oregon’s domestic partnership law. We successfully defended the state’s signature verification process before the U.S. District Court and the Ninth Circuit, resulting in the domestic partnership law […]
Arbitrator Requires City to Reinstate Fire and Police Pension Reversion Benefits
The City of Portland Fire and Police Retirement Fund had a rule which provided that when an alternate payee (such as an ex-spouse) died before the retiree, the alternate payee’s payments would revert to the retiree. The Board of the pension fund eliminated the reversion benefit, and the Portland Police Commanding Officers Association filed a […]
Teacher Dismissal Overturned
A teacher had attempted to commit suicide off-duty by driving her vehicle into the back of her estranged husband’s unoccupied truck. Despite the fact that the teacher received only minor injuries and was soon released to return to work, the District terminated her employment. Tom Doyle represented her before an administrative panel. That panel ordered […]
FLSA Action: Two Cases
Approximately 80 Paramedics, Dispatchers, and EMTs filed claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act for wages for training time required to maintain EMT certifications. Hank Kaplan represented the employee class, pursued the case in Federal Court and won a ruling that the employer was in violation of the FLSA and owed two years of back […]
Proposed Termination of Special Education Teacher Reversed
The District sought to terminate a long-time and successful special education teacher for paperwork errors. The Association argued that termination was too severe a penalty for problems that were the natural consequence of severe underfunding. After Attorney Margaret Olney provided the District with information from other educators about the District’s inconsistent policies and the prevalence […]
Disciplinary Action Reversed
An employee suffering from Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) covered conditions was disciplined for alleged excessive absenteeism. Aruna Masih, representing the employee through her union, took grievances on behalf of the employee to arbitration under the union’s contract with the employer and won reversal of the disciplinary action.