Several questions come to mind in regards to whether a doctor’s employer can be held responsible for the abuse. How long ago did the abuse happen? Had there been complaints to the employer about the health care worker or doctor prior to the alleged abuse?  How well did the company investigate claims of inappropriate sexual activity?

Our law firm represented Royshekka Herring in a lawsuit against American Medical Response (AMR) for the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of ambulance EMT Lannie Haszard.  In that case, we showed that American Medical Response Northwest received at least three prior patient complaints of sexually-inappropriate behavior, yet the ambulance company did almost nothing to investigate Mr. Haszard.  The jury award, statutory damages, and court-awarded attorney fees totaled nearly $4 million.

Recently, our law firm has partnered with a Missouri attorney to sue a local AMR-affiliated company called Medevac in Jackson County, Missouri for a patient who was sexually abused in an ambulance.  We also have represented sex abuse victims against the Catholic Church, psychotherapists, and doctors.

We advise people that if they are abused by police officers, they should find witnesses to back up their claims.  In our modern world, nearly everyone uses cell phones. Police officers across the country have been videotaped by cell phone cameras abusing citizens. Here is link to a recent police beating in Seattle that was captured by an eye witness.  However, police and state legislators are fighting back to prevent citizens from videotaping police officers.  Relying upon existing wire-tapping or eavesdropping laws, police officers are arguing in 12 states that all parties must consent for a recording to be legal.  Most state laws allow recording in public places where “no expectation of privacy exists,” however, many state officials are not recognizing this exception when it comes to filming the police.  Read this article regarding district attorneys prosecuting citizens for videotaping police in Massachusetts and Maryland.

Here in Oregon, citizens and attorneys need to be on the alert in the 2011 legislative cycle to ensure that police do not attempt to block citizens from documenting police abuse.  If you or someone you know has witnessed police abusing a citizen, or has been abused at the hands of an officer, please do not hesitate to contact our firm for a free legal consultation by calling 503-224-2647.

Click here to read Duin’s column

As Duin notes below in his column, Mr. Lambie was one of two Milo faculty’s children convicted of sexually abusing students this summer.  Our investigation showed that the Milo Administration looked the other way at allegations of abuse of their students when it involved the adult children of faculty. Recent headlines depict a national problem.  Suits against powerful institutions and corporations, such as the Catholic Church and Boy Scouts, have shown these organizations are more interested in protecting their reputation, and avoiding scandal, than they are in protecting those in their care.

Our firm has stood up on behalf of sexually abused children and adults against powerful institutions that ignore or cover up allegations of abuse within their own ranks. In the fall of 2009, our firm won $3.25 million against American Medical Response on behalf of Royshekka Herring, a single mother who was sexually abused while riding in the back of an ambulance by an AMR EMT named Lannie Haszard.  Evidence in that case showed that AMR allowed Haszard to work in the back of ambulances despite getting 3 complaints of sexually inappropriate conduct by Mr. Haszard from former patients.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual abuse, please contact our office at 503-224-2647 to set up an appointment so we can help.

The WW article also didn’t mention that AMR transported 51,792 people in Multnomah County in 2009 and collected a net revenue of $24,860,529, a 20% increase in the number of transports from the first year of their exclusive contract with the county starting in 2006.

The WW article did reference our firm’s $3.3 million jury award against AMR for the sexual-assault of Royshekka Herring by Lannie Haszard.  Our firm represented 4 other women abused by Mr. Haszard in cases that settled last year and we are currently representing 8 additional victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Mr. Haszard. Stay tuned to our website for updates on these 8 new cases.

http://wweek.com/columns/rogue/#36.29

http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2010/02/08/daily58.html

http://mchealth.org/ems/documents/multco_hearing_submission.pdf

http://wweek.com/editorial/3627/14030/

Insurance companies have no fear of people who are unrepresented, in fact, they feast upon them. While thinking that the company will be reasonable with them, the unrepresented person has routinely signed a medical authorization which allows the insurance company to rummage through their medical files, and they will usually have given a recorded statement, and all of this will be used against them.

The insurance company will have conducted an investigation, secured photographs and witness statements, while the unrepresented person will have nothing but the false assurances that they will be adequately taken care of.

Injury cases are serious. If someone you know has been hurt, have them call a lawyer immediately. Our office has handled a vast number of auto cases, and we have a record that speaks for itself. All of our cases are handled on a contingency basis, and there is no charge for an initial consultation.

ANSWER: You cannot sue your employer directly unless the employer intended to hurt you.

However, on-the-job injuries are often the fault of a person or company other than your employer. In that case, you can recover not only from Workers’ Compensation, but you have a claim against the person or company that caused your injuries.

Here are some examples of cases handled by our office:

• A truck driver, delivering pumpkins to the Ellen DeGeneres show, was rear-ended by a semi-truck. Our client received substantial Workers’ Compensation benefits due to his injuries. We then sued the trucking company that owned the semi-truck and obtained a recovery above and beyond the limits of Workers’ Compensation.
• A mail carrier suffered a serious foot injury while working where she was delivering mail because the owner had failed to repair the dangerous condition. Although she received federal Workers’ Compensation benefits, our firm successfully sued the owner of the building where she was delivering mail, because the owner had failed to repair the dangerous condition.

Other conditions of recovering beyond Workers’ Compensation are mentioned below.

Initiative Power Serves Injured Workers

Some of Oregon’s most important civil justice laws were enacted by initiative petition. The eight-hour work day, ventilation for workers, prohibition of convict labor, the Corrupt Practices Act, and the Employer’s Liability Act, all these resulted from citizen initiatives prior to World War I.

Without initiative petitioning, workers seriously injured would not be able to sue for job-related injuries. Hard-working Oregon citizens collected signatures to enact the following Employer’s Liability Act provision:

All employers having “responsibility for any work involving a risk or danger to the employees or the public shall use every device, care and precaution that is practicable to use for the protection and safety of life and limb, machine or other apparatus or device, and without regard to the additional cost of suitable material or safety appliance and devices.”

This law is powerful. It put people over profits. We recently represented a siding company foreman who suffered paraplegia from falling when a ladder and scaffolding collapsed. He obtained recovery against the general contractor, who allowed equipment to be unsafely used on the job site.

Other cases we’ve handled under this act include a paper plant workman who received serious chemical burns, a worker who fell from a platform, and workers injured by defective vehicles and machinery.

Citizens’ initiatives also established a three-fourths verdict for civil cases. Grass roots organizations and progressive politicians understood the social value of prevailing with 9 out of 12 votes, rather than needing a unanimous verdict.

Kafoury & McDougal has a history of standing up against police brutality, false arrests, and the use of excessive force, most recently winning a judgment in September 2009 against the city of Portland on behalf of Harold Hammick, Alex Clay, and Ri’Chard Booth. The jury in that case awarded $175,000 against the City, finding that officers had abused three young African-American men who had done nothing wrong at gun-point in a parking garage. The spokesperson for the Police Department, Detective Marty Wheat, supported the officers conduct, suggesting Portlanders should be glad that no one was shot.

Historically, our city council members have feared the wrath of the police union, and so the worst officers know they can get away with anything, and the police are a law unto themselves. Yet, today, as stories of police arrogance and brutality pile up and as more white citizens feel threatened or abused, we have arrived at a moment where civilian control – for the first time in decades – seems within reach.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/portland_police_thought_aaron.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/jury_awards_damages_to_three_m.html

Kafoury & McDougal have a history of fighting against nuclear power, organizing a number of ballot initiatives to close the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant in Rainier, Oregon. Partly due to Greg and Mark’s efforts, Trojan was eventually shut down in the early 1990’s and its cooling tower was demolished in 2006.

For more information please visit:

Commondreams.org
Whitehouse.gov