Last week, the Oregon Court of Appeals confirmed the one-beneficiary-per-cap interpretation of the Oregon Tort Claims Act. In Stephanie Miller v. Tri-County Metropolitan District, a Tri-Met driver killed Austin Miller with his bus, and his mom filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
The wrongful death statute permits lawsuits to recover the losses of certain beneficiaries named in the statute. Austin's mom and dad were the only statutory beneficiaries. The wrongful death statute requires a personal representative be named to pursue the claims of all beneficiaries.
Tri-Met is a public agency, and the Oregon Tort Claims Act (ORS 30.260 - 30.300) controls claims against it. The OTCA sets limits for how much one can claim against a public agency. Tri-Met argued that there is a single cap for a single death, regardless of the number of grieving heirs. At the time the cap was $200,000. (It's more now.)
Oregon's Court of Appeals disagreed. It held that the wrongful death statute doesn't provide for a single cap for a single death. Instead, all of the statutory heirs have separate claims, and the wrongful death statute merely requires they all be made in one lawsuit by one personal representative. So, in this case, the claim for mom's loss was separate from the claim for dad's loss. Consequently, two caps were in play, meaning the total cap was $400,000.
We'll see if Tri-Met wants to appeal this to the Oregon Supreme Court.
Jeff Merrick, Oregon Trial Attorney
Injury & Employment Law
503-665-4234
The above is not legal advice. I cannot give you sound advice without knowing more information. It is intended to raise some issues for you to discuss with your own lawyer.
