READ THE COURT FILING HERE!
KTP sues Trimet et al. for Sale and Gittings wrongful deaths
Problem:
On April 24, 2010, Trimet set in motion what it has called the worst
accident in its history. Driver Sandi L. Day made an illegal sweeping
left turn in downtown Portland from the far right of two-lane, one-way
Glisan Street. As she turned south onto Broadway, she drove her bus
through a group of five unsuspecting young adults who were crossing
Broadway in a signaled, protected crosswalk with the walk light. Two
newlyweds were thrown clear; two young women died at the scene after the
bus ran over them; and one young man survived with critical injuries
after he was pinned behind the right front wheel of the bus.
The father and mother of Danielle Sale, deceased, and Danielle’s injured boyfriend Erik Gittings, wanted something constructive to come from a catastrophe that has changed their lives forever. They saw a need to change the culture at Oregon’s largest transit district and make safety its overriding value. They were skeptical that would occur without the kind of thorough investigation that litigation can produce. And they wondered how they could obtain some measure of justice in the face of Oregon’s statutory cap on damages in lawsuits for injury and wrongful death caused by public bodies.
Response: Kirklin Thompson & Pope met repeatedly with the potential clients and listened carefully to them. They sat with them in their grief and loss. They obtained and reviewed the extensive police investigation of the crash. They learned the bus and rear-view mirror design substantially obscured the driver’s view to the left. On December 7, 2010, KTP sued Trimet, bus driver Day and top Trimet executives responsible for safety, the bus manufacturer, and the manufacturer of the driver’s side exterior rear view mirror. See the amended complaint in Sale and Gittings v. Trimet et al. and Trimet’s January, 2008, Training Bulletin Left-turn bus-pedestrian collisions on the rise.
Problem: During Ms. Day’s traffic case she called several Trimet trainers who testified she had acted properly in many aspects of her left turn that fatal night. One official testified he would have written her a commendation for making the courtesy stop that set her up to perform an illegal sweeping left turn across two lanes of traffic. Television videocameras were in court daily recording the proceedings, but the stations declined to produce copies of the witnesses’ testimony to KTP for potential use in its case against Trimet. The stations felt that Oregon’s media Shield Law, passed during the Watergate scandal to protect reporters and their confidential sources, let them keep their unpublished recordings private. KTP wanted the recordings as powerful evidence in case the witnesses changed parts of their testimony later.
Response: KTP brought a motion to compel production of the unpublished videotapes. It argued that the Shield Law contained an exception for recordings of witness testimony in open court; that the clear purpose of the Shield Law was to protect confidential sources not public witnesses; and that a trial court rule required the TV stations to provide copies of their courtroom recordings upon payment of the broadcaster’s reasonable expense. The trial court agreed, ordered the unpublished videotapes produced, and the Oregon Supreme Court turned down the broadcasters’ appeal. See KTP’s motion to compel production of the tapes and the Court’s Opinion and Order.
A trial is set to begin October 1, 2012.
The father and mother of Danielle Sale, deceased, and Danielle’s injured boyfriend Erik Gittings, wanted something constructive to come from a catastrophe that has changed their lives forever. They saw a need to change the culture at Oregon’s largest transit district and make safety its overriding value. They were skeptical that would occur without the kind of thorough investigation that litigation can produce. And they wondered how they could obtain some measure of justice in the face of Oregon’s statutory cap on damages in lawsuits for injury and wrongful death caused by public bodies.
Response: Kirklin Thompson & Pope met repeatedly with the potential clients and listened carefully to them. They sat with them in their grief and loss. They obtained and reviewed the extensive police investigation of the crash. They learned the bus and rear-view mirror design substantially obscured the driver’s view to the left. On December 7, 2010, KTP sued Trimet, bus driver Day and top Trimet executives responsible for safety, the bus manufacturer, and the manufacturer of the driver’s side exterior rear view mirror. See the amended complaint in Sale and Gittings v. Trimet et al. and Trimet’s January, 2008, Training Bulletin Left-turn bus-pedestrian collisions on the rise.
Problem: During Ms. Day’s traffic case she called several Trimet trainers who testified she had acted properly in many aspects of her left turn that fatal night. One official testified he would have written her a commendation for making the courtesy stop that set her up to perform an illegal sweeping left turn across two lanes of traffic. Television videocameras were in court daily recording the proceedings, but the stations declined to produce copies of the witnesses’ testimony to KTP for potential use in its case against Trimet. The stations felt that Oregon’s media Shield Law, passed during the Watergate scandal to protect reporters and their confidential sources, let them keep their unpublished recordings private. KTP wanted the recordings as powerful evidence in case the witnesses changed parts of their testimony later.
Response: KTP brought a motion to compel production of the unpublished videotapes. It argued that the Shield Law contained an exception for recordings of witness testimony in open court; that the clear purpose of the Shield Law was to protect confidential sources not public witnesses; and that a trial court rule required the TV stations to provide copies of their courtroom recordings upon payment of the broadcaster’s reasonable expense. The trial court agreed, ordered the unpublished videotapes produced, and the Oregon Supreme Court turned down the broadcasters’ appeal. See KTP’s motion to compel production of the tapes and the Court’s Opinion and Order.
A trial is set to begin October 1, 2012.
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