Welcome news here that Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown is leading the charge to reform Oregon’s initiative system.  By means of legislation introduced in the Oregon House, HB 2005, Brown is fulfilling a campaign promise to clean up Oregon’s initiative system.

It takes little reflection to give this effort two thumbs up. Oregon’s initiative system needs reform.  It’s become the playground of out-of-state monied interests who seek to push bizarre agendas here. Most infamously, the abuses of the initiative system have been well chronicled in the case of Bill Sizemore, racketeer.

Secretary of State Brown’s reform proposals provide a modest set of changes that allow better monitoring. The initiative system needs to be transparent, and it needs to be clean.  Otherwise, it should be scrapped, even though that radical change would require amendment of the Oregon constitution.  At bottom, Oregonians are tired of being played the fools by the likes of Messrs. Sizemore and Parks. So if we’re to maintain the initiative system, modest proposals–like those made by Sec. of State Brown–are essential.

David Sugerman

Today, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that caps on non-economic damages in wrongful death claims do not violate the Oregon constitution. In Hughes v. PeaceHealth, the Court declined to find the caps unconstitutional. Here is the link for the opinion: http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/S053447.htm.

Justice Walters’ dissenting opinion features one of the most eloquent descriptions of the jury system that I have ever read. It bears quoting here, as her prose is as brilliant as her analysis:

“The 12 in whom our constitution places its trust are the 12 who hear each word spoken from the stand, and the silences between. They are the 12 whose eyes watch others’ eyes and take their measure. By their absence, legislators cannot fill that role. Legislators may decide the categories of harm the state should address and the categories of persons who may bring claims in courts of law. But only jurors can shake right out from wrong for individual human beings and do them justice. ”

For those keeping score at home, the outcome is a bit hard to fathom. As to general injury cases, the Oregon legislature cannot place caps on the damages recoverable by injured consumers because those caps run afoul of the Oregon constitution. Ironically, if the injured consumer dies from the injuries, the recovery may be capped.

Go figure.

David F. Sugerman