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Oregon trial lawyer, Aaron DeShaw, has obtained a $77,523,748.93 compensatory damage verdict in the case of M.M. & N.S. v. Nicolopoulos - believed to be the largest personal injury jury verdict in Oregon history. This case achieved regional and national news when it first occurred, and is now making news due to the jury's verdict. In addition to it being the largest compensatory damage jury verdict (with no punitive damages) in Oregon history, it is also believed to be the second largest amputation verdict in US history. In March of 2018 Defendant Nicolopoulos brought his girlfriend to Lincoln City Oregon, for a "bucket list" trip as she had terminal cancer. It remains unclear when he started drinking or from where he obtained the alcohol. At 5:45 p.m. he entered one bar, left and drank in a restaurant. At that point he took his girlfriend to the hotel as she was very fatigued from the day. Despite her being terminally ill, within a few minutes he had left the hotel to find more alcohol. He entered another establishment at 8:40 and was served two double brandies within 16 minutes. He left and went back to the hotel for one hour before leaving again to go to the final bar. At approximately 10:20 p.m. he entered the final bar of the night, and within one hour had consumed another two doubles of brandy and a pint of beer. In total, Defendant Nicolopoulos admitted to 13 drinks between 5:45 p.m. and 11:24 p.m. He left the final bar and drove to Walgreens in Lincoln City, hoping to buy more alcohol. But documents provided in this litigation make it appear Walgreens was closed by the time he got there.
In a six day trial against a State Farm insured driver, Washington brain injury lawyer Aaron DeShaw has obtained a verdict for double the at-fault driver's insurance policy limit. The jury included a long time State Farm insurance adjustor. State Farm Insurance, the insurer for the at-fault driver, refused to make any offer for 5 1/2 years despite liability, injuries and damages to the client being clear.
Portland Brain Injury Lawyer, Aaron DeShaw, has been selected to The National Trial Lawyer's Top 100 lawyers for the State of Oregon. This follows Dr. DeShaw being selected for Super Lawyers, The American Board of Trial Advocates and receiving Oregon Trial Lawyers Association's prestigious Presidential Award.
On August 12, 2022 Oregon trial lawyer, Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq., received the Oregon Trial Lawyer Association's prestigious Presidential Award. The Presidential Award is given out infrequently for an outstanding lifetime achievement in the field of law.
We are proud to announce that trial lawyer Aaron DeShaw has again been named to Oregon Super Lawyers for 2022. This ranking, selected by judges, lawyers, and mediators that have worked with the lawyer reflects the top 5% of all lawyers in a field of legal practice within the State of Oregon. DeShaw is one of approximately 40 plaintiff personal injury lawyers chosen from the State of Oregon's 12,000+ lawyers. DeShaw is best known for handling traumatic brain injury and other catastrophic personal injury cases. DeShaw has been selected for Super Lawyers in multiple years.
Oregon personal injury attorney Aaron DeShaw, has filed a lawsuit for fraud, negligence, strict liability (failure to warn), strict liability (manufacturing defect) and breach of warranty against drug companies Merck & Co., Inc. and Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp for the HPV Gardasil vaccine. DeShaw is nationally known trial lawyer and was retained as Oregon trial counsel by Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, P.C. of California and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of New York. DeShaw is a retired doctor who has a distinguished career as a trial lawyer on large national class action cases. He was retained as counsel in this case due to his extensive background with the type of nervous system damage and neurodegenerative conditions resulting from the Gardasil vaccine.
Trial Lawyer Aaron DeShaw has been selected by the American Board of Trial Advocates as a member during the ABOTA National Board Meeting in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, May 14, 2022. DeShaw was one of 46 lawyers in the United States from both the plaintiff and defense bar to be selected for the year 2022. He is the only new member of ABOTA selected in Oregon since 2020.
Many of our clients from motor vehicle collisions, trucking crashes and natural gas explosions sustain an inner ear injury along with other injuries. The inner ear is located behind the eardrum within the skull, but can be injured by trauma.
It is important that people injured in an Oregon truck crash, or are injured by a commercial vehicle (such as those owned by Amazon, UPS, FedEx), buses or garbage trucks, to hire an Oregon truck crash lawyer. Crashes caused by commercial vehicles involve substantially different laws than typical auto accident cases.
Our firm has experience handling the what was until recently the only natural gas explosion in the past decade in Oregon - the natural gas explosion caused by Loy Clark Pipeline at NW 23rd x NW Glisan in Portland on October 19, 2016.
For decades Oregon insurers have denied their own policyholder claims and made "low-ball" offers to their policyholders, forcing them to litigate instead of receiving a good faith settlement offer from their insurer. Oregon has been one of two states in the United States without the ability to sue an insurer for "first party" bad faith, regardless of whether the insurer denies a claim entirely, makes a clearly unreasonable settlement offer, or violates other legal requirements of insurers. Today, the Oregon Court of Appeals issued a 16 page opinion in Moody v. Federal Insurance Co., 317 Or App 233 (2022), that we believe will decrease the most significant insurer abuses, and potentially minimize improper insurance claim denials for personal and business losses from natural disaster losses in the future. To the extent it doesn't stop insurer abuses, it will provide a legal remedy for policyholders who are damaged through "bad faith" insurance company conduct.
Internationally known Oregon Neuropsychologist, Muriel Lezak, has passed away at age 94. Dr. Lezak was an accomplished and revered neuropsychologist, known for pioneering a system for testing and quantifying cognitive deficits after a brain injury. Her work laid the groundwork for better understanding traumatic brain injuries, and will be remembered as one of neuropsychology's most important figures.
Malingering is a commonly used defense by the insurance industry, and its hired psychologists, to deny that a person has a traumatic brain injury. Malingering is defined under the DSM-V as an “intentional production of false or grossly exaggerated physical or psychological problems.” In other words, malingerers are people who lie about their injury. It would certainly be a problem if a person claiming injury was actually lying. But, in nearly all of our serious injury cases, insurers hire defense doctors to testify that an injured person is a liar without any valid substantiation. They hope that the jury will give in to their bias against injured people, won’t understand the psychobabble, and take the easy route of turning the injured person away with nothing rather than sift through the details to arrive at the truth.
Important news for all Oregon State Farm auto claims. The Oregon Supreme Court has announced the outcome of Batten v. State Farm in favor of Oregon policyholders. Unlike most insurers, State Farm has been writing insurance on separate vehicles as separate auto insurance policies. This means that if one person owns more than one vehicle and insures them with State Farm Insurance, they likely have multiple separate insurance policies. The Oregon Supreme Court decided in Batten that since the policies are separate their Personal Injury Protection, Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist policy coverage "stacks" on top of each other.
We are proud to announce that trial lawyer Aaron DeShaw has again been named to Oregon Super Lawyers for 2021. This ranking, selected by judges, lawyers, and mediators that have worked with the lawyer, reflects the top 5% of all lawyers in a field of legal practice within the State of Oregon. DeShaw is one of approximately 40 lawyers named as Oregon's best plaintiff personal injury lawyers, chosen from all lawyers in the State of Oregon. Dr. DeShaw is best known for handling traumatic brain injury, amputation and other catastrophic personal injury cases. DeShaw has been selected for Super Lawyers in multiple years.
Lawyer Aaron DeShaw has again been named as one of the lead speakers at the California Brain Injury Med Legal Conference, billed as America's #1 Traumatic Brain Injury conference. The conference is also one of the largest legal conferences in the country with approximately 2,000 attendees. This conference is unique as it allows entry to judges, doctors, lawyers (both from the plaintiff and defense side), and insurance adjustors. DeShaw has been an invited speaker for several years now and is often given top billing despite not practicing in the very competitive California legal market.
In the past injured people had to pay nearly unlimited amounts of money to get their medical records when they wanted to make a claim for personal injuries. A series of federal laws, including HIPAA, attempted to make these costs more reasonable. In 2016 the U.S. Deparment of Health and Human Services stepped in and ruled that since all medical records now must be kept as Electronic Medical Records (or EMR), the cost of copying those records became far less expensive for hospitals and health care facilities than it had been when all records were kept on paper. As a result, for the past few years injured people represented by lawyers that keep up on developments in the law, have been able to obtain their medical records for a reasonable price under the HITECH act. Our firm has been doing this since shortly after this determination by HHS.
We are proud to announce that trial lawyer Aaron DeShaw has again been named to Oregon Super Lawyers for 2020. This ranking, selected by judges, lawyers, and mediators that have worked with the lawyer, reflects the top 5% of all lawyers in a field of legal practice within the State of Oregon. DeShaw is one of approximately 40 lawyers named as Oregon's best plaintiff personal injury lawyers, chosen from all lawyers in the State of Oregon. Dr. DeShaw is best known for handling traumatic brain injury, amputation and other catastrophic personal injury cases. DeShaw has been selected for Super Lawyers in multiple years.
Oregon brain injury lawyer, Aaron DeShaw, spoke at the annual Brain Injury Association of California annual Med Legal Conference on April 5, 2019. The event was sold out with 1800 attendees including some of the country’s leading brain injury plaintiff lawyers, defense lawyers, doctors and insurance adjustors.
Insurance companies will often claim that a person who has sustained a traumatic brain injury doesn’t have a brain injury in a legal claim. The insurance doctors they hire will say that the “mild” designation means that 100% of these TBI survivors have no permanent consequences. Neither of these are true. It is important that a brain injury lawyer understands how to address these issues with the insurance adjustor, defense doctors and the jury. Our extensive experience in this area is why in addition to handling our own brain injury cases, we are hired by other lawyers in Oregon, Washington and other states to bring our expertise and trial skills to their traumatic brain injury cases.
We are proud to announce that trial lawyer Aaron DeShaw has again been named to Oregon Super Lawyers for 2019. This ranking, selected by judges, lawyers, and mediators that have worked with the lawyer, reflects the top 5% of all lawyers in a field of legal practice within the State of Oregon. DeShaw is one of approximately 40 lawyers named as Oregon's best plaintiff personal injury lawyers, chosen from all lawyers in the State of Oregon. Dr. DeShaw is best known for handling traumatic brain injury, amputation and other catastrophic personal injury cases. DeShaw has been selected for Super Lawyers in multiple years.
One of the greatest losses that a person can experience is the loss of an arm or a leg. Our firm has experience in handling amputation cases all the way through trial. In fact, we are one of a small number of law firms in America to have handled an amputation trial to verdict in the last 20 years. We have handled cases including the detachment of an arm as well as several leg amputation cases.
The work of our law firm is largely based around handling traumatic brain injury cases. It’s what we’re known for. We handle cases both nationally and locally regarding traumatic brain injuries, and Doctor / Lawyer Aaron DeShaw is a resource both for Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon and brain injury survivors. In addition to handling our own brain injury cases, we are hired by other lawyers in Oregon, Washington and other states to bring our expertise and trial skills to their traumatic brain injury cases.
Given the serious injuries involved in our client’s cases, and Oregon insurers’ refusal to make reasonable settlement offers (or any offer at all), many of our clients end up in trial because the rest of their life depends upon the outcome of their case. Perhaps the most important part of a trial is jury selection. Without twelve unbiased jurors, our client has no chance of receiving justice no matter whether the evidence and law should result in the client being fully compensated for their losses by the jury.
Oregon brain injury lawyer, Aaron DeShaw, is speaking at the 30th North American Brain Injury Society annual conference in New Orleans, which is running concurrently with the World Congress on Brain Injury.
On the morning of October 19, 2016, a natural gas explosion took place on the corner of NW 23rd and Glisan in Portland. The blast destroyed the building that formerly housed Portland Bagelworks, near Dosha Salon. Blast victims and business owners from the surrounding area are contacting our Natural Gas Explosion Lawyer regarding blast injuries and business losses caused by the natural gas explosion.
The following post discusses GEICO Insurance claim settlement practices, where our office obtained a $420,000 arbitration outcome on an offer of $39,700. Oregon personal injury lawyer Aaron DeShaw was representing a 71 year old doctor who had sustained a mild traumatic brain injury in a crash with an underinsured motorist in 2012. Despite being seat belted, the force of the collision pushed his vehicle forward approximately 60 feet, blew out his back window and sent his head into the A pillar of his car, leaving a large visible bruise on his head. His chiropractor diagnosed a concussion the following day, and despite not wanting to go to the ER immediately, he ended up going approximately one week later due to increasing cognitive symptoms, headaches and crying without reason.
Portland Oregon Personal Injury Lawyer, Aaron DeShaw, lectured this week at the Florida Justice Association Workhorse Conference in Orlando Florida. DeShaw, a nationally known brain injury lawyer, lectured to the 200+ lawyers on medical imaging for traumatic brain injuries. DeShaw’s lecture focused on high resolution 3T MRI, CT, Diffuse Tensor Imaging, HDFT, PET, SPECT, EEG, MEG, MRA, CSF flow studies, and much more.
Lawsuits filed by NHL players for chronic brain damage from repetitive traumatic brain injuries, have been classified as a multi-district litigation case (“MDL”) against the National Hockey League for damages resulting from concussions sustained by NHL players. Similar to the claims recently made by NFL players, the litigation against the league claims that the NHL knew, or should have known, that regular head strikes were likely to expose players to a substantial risk of brain injuries and diseases, but that the league failed to warn or protect players from permanent brain injuries.
Oregon personal injury lawyer Aaron DeShaw attended the American Association for Justice annual winter convention in Florida last week. DeShaw is one of few Oregon personal injury lawyers who attended the conference. The conference is an important opportunity for lawyers to learn about the most recent developments in a wide variety of legal cases, and medical and scientific research on the topic of their practice.
Oregon Personal Injury Lawyer Aaron DeShaw is attending the Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon Annual Conference this week. The conference is a joint conference for Oregon, Washington and Idaho Brain Alliance organizations to bring together brain injury doctors (including MDs, DCs, DOs, neuro-opthomalagists), nurses, speech pathologists, neuro-cognitive rehabilitation specialists, biofeedback providers, auxiliary health care providers, long term care facilities, brain injury support group leaders, veteran affairs, brain injury survivors and family members, and a few brain injury lawyers.
DeShaw Law Firm is accepting cases as a Biotronik Pacemaker Lawyer for people who had unnecessary Biotronik pacemaker surgery.
We just received an case study from the DMX company. DMX is a trade name for “Digital Motion X-ray” a technology that we have used in spinal injury cases in the past where C1 instability appeared likely due to the client’s symptoms. We are posting this because the video demonstrates something very interesting that insurance companies, defense lawyers and their defense expert witnesses will say cannot be the case to a jury, and we thought we should share this with the medical and legal communities so that they stop intentionally misleading juries.
We are pleased to announce that trial lawyer Aaron DeShaw is featured as one of three speakers on the new nine-hour educational video set Mastering Motor Vehicle Cases just released by leading legal publisher Trial Guides. He is accompanied by two of the leading experts in the world on traumatic injuries - Dr. Arthur Croft (co-author of the first medical text on whiplash injuries) and Paul Ivancic, Ph.D. of Yale Medical School’s Biomechanics Lab.
Our law firm has experience representing people who have sustained temporary complete blindness (or sometimes called “Fleeting Blindness” or what doctors may call Amaurosis Fugax) following an injury to the brainstem or upper cervical spine in a motor vehicle collision. Needless to say, it is a cause of great concern for people who lose sight temporarily after a traumatic injury. While some of the clients have had multiple episodes of complete blindness lasting only 5-10 minutes, one client reported a 30 minute total loss of vision, and another client reported a 45 minute total loss of vision after a series of episodes of blindness lasting approximately 10 minutes. While the insurers and defense doctors will claim this is purely psychological (often “conversion disorder”), we are aware of the actual physical injury causing this injury and are able to prove that at trial for people who have sustained blindness after trauma.
We wanted to inform you of an important recent change in Oregon’s Auto Insurance Laws, which could have a profound impact on you, your family, and friends if you get in an auto accident.
Post Concussion Syndrome, is a sequela of a traumatic brain injury (TBI). As you will note in this illustration, the brain suffers injury in instances when the head moves rapidly enough to allow the brain to move through its protective CSF fluid barrier, striking the inside bones of the cranium, even when the head itself does not strike an exterior object. The mechanism in the far right images are called a “coup contrecoup” injury.
It is now well accepted that all traumatic injuries involve both a mechanical and neurochemical changes within the brain. Diffuse Axonal Injuries is the term used to explain the mechanical injury that results from a traumatic brain injury.
We’ve pondered for some time whether to post something about the Oregon legislature’s failure to act on the serious insurance problems in the State of Oregon. This post isn’t going to sit well with some people, and others might find it a bit odd given the future considerations of the problems, but given the article today in the Willamette Week, we’ve decided to post this in a half-hearted attempt to change the legislature’s course before its too late for Oregonians.
Our law firm is known for handling even the most complex neurological injury cases resulting from trauma. As this post discusses, we have experience handling a legal case in which Myasthenia Gravis was severely aggravated by an injury.
After years of denying its airbags are defective, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of auto parts, has finally acknowledged that Takada airbags are a defective product. Takata, based in Japan, has manufactured approximately 30% of the airbags in cars on the road. Millions of cars today threaten to seriously harm drivers who could be hit by an airbag either in a crash, or during a spontaneous airbag deployment.
Our firm handles a number of cases for people who have sustained some serious, but less frequently experienced neurological injuries after traumatic injuries. This can include neurodegenerative conditions caused or aggravated by trauma (or the treatments for trauma), such as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (“CTE”), Myasthenia Gravis, and others. One devastating neurological condition we have experience handling (including trials) is Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome or “POTS.”
We’ve received a number of questions raised by our last blog post about legislative changes to Oregon Uninsured Motorist (“UM”) and Oregon Underinsured Motorist (“UIM”) auto insurance.
The Oregon legislature recently passed legislation regarding auto insurance that will be helpful for Oregonians seriously injured in a car crash, as well as the Oregon doctors and hospitals who treat them. Senate Bill 411 does a number of things regarding Personal Injury Protection insurance, as well as Uninsured Motorist and Underinsured Motorist insurance coverage.
Oregon Personal Injury Lawyer, Aaron DeShaw, has been honored by being invited to contribute to the American Association for Justice’s legal textbook Anatomy of a Personal Injury Lawsuit, with some of the greatest trial lawyers in American history. The culmination of over three years of work with over 50 of America’s leading trial lawyers and litigation experts, this two-volume book set contains a wealth of information for practicing trial lawyers. The books provide practical advice on issues ranging from client intake, case investigation, insurance claims issues, medical causation, trial methods, and much more. Edited by John Romano of Florida, the book features nearly 1000 pages of practical advice by lawyers who have a career of achieving significant outcomes for their clients, including Gerry Spence, Mark Lanier, Randi McGinn, Peter Perlman, Patrick Malone, Michael Burg, Judith Livingston, Robert Habush, David Wenner, Bill Barton and many more.
Portland Personal Injury Lawyer Aaron DeShaw attended the Consumer Attorneys of California annual convention on November 13-15, 2014. A number of DeShaw’s friends were lecturing at the event including Inner Circle of Advocates President Rick Friedman, R. Rex Parris, Nick Rowley, and Brian Panish. In addition to running his own firm in Portland Oregon, DeShaw is of counsel at Friedman’s firm Friedman | Rubin in Seattle Washington.
Portland personal injury lawyer Aaron DeShaw delivered the keynote speech for the Iowa Association for Justice on the topic of settling injury claims by writing better demand letters for personal injury cases. The 90-minute lecture for lawyers focused on writing different types of demand letters and focused on some of the most common mistakes lawyers make in attempting to settle injury claims using demand letters. In addition to typical narrative style demand letters, DeShaw covered demand letter formats for insurers using bodily injury software systems including Colossus, Claims Outcome Advisor, InjuryIQ, and Exposure Manager. These systems are used by a majority of auto insurers to evaluate injury claims. Additionally, the lecture focused on settling injury claims involving traumatic brain injuries, and other types of neurological injury claims.
It is important for athletes, their parents, and coaches to acknowledge a growing body of medical research suggesting the potential for brain injuries in sports. After all, it is “concussion season” according to a recent article in The Portland Tribune. Probably worth commenting about, since I’m generally known as a traumatic brain injury lawyer in Oregon, and am a board member of the Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon - a group of doctors, neuroscientists, lawyers, brain injury survivors and other caregivers that support brain injured people in Oregon and several other western states.
MAP-21, (the “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century” Act) (P.L. 112-141), was signed into law by President Obama on July 6, 2012. Funding surface transportation programs at over $105 billion for fiscal years (FY) 2013 and 2014, MAP-21 was the first long-term highway funding bill enacted since 2005.
Oregon personal injury lawyer Aaron DeShaw has been invited to speak on insurance settlements, as the featured speaker at the Iowa Association for Justice Annual Convention. DeShaw is the only speaker being provided two lecture spots.
I’m proud to announce that last week the firm settled a case for a young woman who had started her own successful private school here in Oregon, and sustained a mild traumatic brain injury that impacted her ability to continue running the school normally. Why write about this? Because the case demonstrates how important lawyer selection is in TBI cases. Case outcome can hinge on very small pieces of knowledge.
Some of our favorite trial lawyers have blogs about how to try cases. But, I rarely write about my study of the law or the amazing people I get to work with both at the law firm and through Trial Guides. But, I’m going to make an exception. Why? Gerry Spence called me.
This week, Oregon brain injury lawyer Aaron DeShaw attended the American Association for Justice‘s annual conference in Baltimore. He was one of few Oregon lawyers in attendance at the annual conference. DeShaw attended the Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group track at the conference, listening to lectures on handling traumatic brain injury cases, involving pediatric traumatic brain injury cases.
Portland personal injury lawyer, Aaron DeShaw, has been invited to speak at the national Auto Crash Litigation 3.0 conference for lawyers. The conferences, held September 2014 in Chicago, and March 2015 in Las Vegas features several of the nation’s leading auto and trucking accident lawyers including Steven Gursten, Tom Metier, Michael Leizerman, Morgan Adams and more. DeShaw is the only Oregon lawyer invited to speak at the conferences.
The CDC’s “Heads Up” App detects brain injuries The Center for Disease Control (CDC’s) new “Heads Up” app for iPad, iPhone and Android devices has just been released. It is great app about brain injuries for students, teachers and coaches involved in sports.
Last night a Columbia County jury returned a record $1.6 million verdict for a man who lost his right leg in a pickup vs. motorcycle collision. It is a significant outcome, particularly as Columbia County is considered a conservative county for civil lawsuits. Court staff stated there hasn’t been a motor vehicle trial there in the past five years. Attorney Aaron DeShaw and his client are appreciative to the Columbia County jury for providing a fair trial to both the plaintiff and the defendant.
Oregon Brain Injury Lawyer, Dr. Aaron DeShaw, has had one of his past litigation cases used as the basis of a case study in the newest edition of the definitive text on neuropsychological testing, Neuropsychological Assessment, by Muriel Lezak, Ph.D., Diane Howieson, Ph.D., Erin Bigler, Ph.D., and Daniel Tranel, Ph.D.
Portland Brain Injury Lawyer, Dr. Aaron DeShaw, recently lectured at the 2013 Annual Conference of the Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon. DeShaw is known for handling complex and catastrophic injury cases as a trial lawyer, most notably traumatic brain injury cases. He is one of a small number of trial lawyers in the country who belong to the Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice.
Portland Oregon Brain Injury Lawyer, Dr. Aaron DeShaw, has been appointed as a Board of Director for the Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon. DeShaw is known for handling complex and catastrophic injury cases as a trial lawyer and is best known in the past five years for winning complex brain injury cases. He is one of a small number of trial lawyers in the country who belong to the Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice.
We are proud to announce that trial lawyer Aaron DeShaw has again been named to Oregon Super Lawyers for 2013. This ranking, selected by judges, lawyers, and mediators that have worked with the lawyer, reflects the top 5% of all lawyers in a field of legal practice within the State of Oregon. DeShaw is one of approximately 40 lawyers named as Oregon's best plaintiff personal injury lawyers, chosen from all lawyers in the State of Oregon. Dr. DeShaw is best known for handling traumatic brain injury, amputation and other catastrophic personal injury cases. DeShaw has been selected for Super Lawyers in multiple years.
Last weekend the Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon marked the 11th annual Pacific Northwest Brain Injury Conference and the 30th Anniversary of the Pioneer Awards Dinner. The annual brain injury event brings together brain injury survivors, brain injury health care providers, Oregon brain injury lawyers, Washington brain injury lawyers, with other brain injury association members attending from the Brain Injury Alliance of Washington, the Alaska Brain Injury Network, the Brain Injury Alliance of Idaho and beyond.
Truck driver Ronnie Milner was named a Truckload Carriers Association Highway Angel yesterday. In September of last year, Milner came upon a sideways car in the middle of the road from an apparent auto accident. The truck driver proceeded to help the elderly couple inside the vehicle until authorities arrived including position his truck so as to protect the elderly occupants from oncoming traffic.
There is an insurance company myth, often promoted by radio talk show hosts, about a litigation explosion that is damaging our country and our economy. Some call it a “lawsuit tax.” What they are suggesting is that uninjured people are going out and suing anyone they can for money. I’d like to clear this up with the real numbers.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are a serious and continuing health problem. Most recent data from CDC indicates TBIs are on the rise with an increase in TBI-related emergency department visits and hospitalization from 2002-2006. Worse, many TBIs go unrecognized. The impacts of even mild TBI, and the effects, are misunderstood by the victims themselves, their families, and even within some members of the medical community. Given the complexities surrounding brain injury cases, an increasingly troubling...
News agencies are reporting that Sunday morning, around 10:30 AM, a tour bus from Vancouver, British Columbia crashed on Interstate 84. The crash occurred near Pendleton, Oregon in the Deadman’s pass area. At this time, 9 people have been killed and 26 more were take to the hospital with a wide range of injuries. When the crash occurred, the tour bus of 40 Canadian passengers was on its way from Las Vagas back to British Columbia.
Just before 11:30 AM last Sunday, a log truck rollover accident caused the State Police to close Highway 105 South of Astoria for nearly 3 hours. Authorities believe that speed and wet conditions were factors in the accident that led William A. Fletcher to lose control of the loaded log truck when the load of logs shifted. The log truck overturned sending logs across the roadway and into a passenger car driven by Kristina M. Hess of Astoria. Fortunately, the driver of the passenger car was uninjured and even Fletcher, despite his log truck overturning, is believed to have suffered only minor injuries.
Fewer Medical Malpractice Claims, Higher Malpractice Premiums There is no growth in the number of new medical malpractice claims. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the number of new medical malpractice claims declined by about four percent between 1995 and 2000. There were 90,212 claims filed in 1995; 84,741 in 1996; 85,613 in 1997; 86,211 in 1998; 89,311 in 1999; and 86,480 in 2000. While medical costs have increased by 113 percent since 1987, the amount spent on medical malpractice insurance has increased by just 52 percent over that time. Additionally, for most doctors not in high-risk specialties, malpractice insurance costs amount to only 3.2 percent of the average physician’s revenues.
Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon director Sherry Stock has asked Attorney Aaron DeShaw to be a board member of the organization.
Attorney Aaron DeShaw has been invited to speak at the 360 Advocacy conference on brain injury litigation in Las Vegas along with other nationally recognized brain injury doctors and lawyers. Other lawyers include Bruce Stern (New Jersey), Joe Fried (Georgia) and others. DeShaw was one of the first speakers invited and has been invited to speak on other topics for 360 Advocacy, including Colossus, insurance claims process, and cervical spine injury litigation.
Attorney Aaron DeShaw is quoted in a new article on Colossus in the article “A Storm of Money” published in The Post & Courier of South Carolina. Many of the facts from the article come from Dr. DeShaw’s book, and books reliant upon its information on the history and use of Colossus.
The New York Times today reported on the new brain injury poster being posted in every NFL locker room to inform players and their teams about the long term risks of mild traumatic brain injuries. Among other things, the poster alerts NFL players to the long-term effects of concussions, discussing that traumatic brain injuries cause memory loss, depression, and “early onset of dementia.” Those close to the issue described the NFLs recognition of the problem as both staggering and overdue.
Through targeted inspections, Roadcheck aims to increase compliance and prevent trucking accidents. This September during Brake Safety Week, Roadcheck found one out of seven of 21,255 commercial vehicles inspected had to be placed out-of-service (OOS) due to braking systems that had fallen below safety standards. Granted, this is not necessarily a statistically sound sample of all commercial trucks and buses on the highways in North America, let alone the United States. In fact, in the U.S., approximately 10% of commercial vehicles were placed OOS for braking related concerns. Nonetheless, while slightly better here in the U.S., the findings are still of great concern.
We are proud to announce that trial lawyer Aaron DeShaw has again been named to Oregon Super Lawyers for 2012. This ranking, selected by judges, lawyers, and mediators that have worked with the lawyer, reflects the top 5% of all lawyers in a field of legal practice within the State of Oregon. DeShaw is one of approximately 40 lawyers named as Oregon's best plaintiff personal injury lawyers, chosen from all lawyers in the State of Oregon. Dr. DeShaw is best known for handling insurance class action cases, insurance bad faith cases, as well as traumatic brain injury, wrongful death and other catastrophic personal injury cases. DeShaw is a former Doctor of Chiropractic and ended his career as a doctor in London in 2000 to practice law.
Life can seem daunting after a traumatic brain injury, and often times victims, and victims’ families do not know where to turn for treatment information and tools to combat the effects of the injury. The Brain Injury Guide and Resources, brought to us by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and the MU Department of Health Psychology, offers tools and information for those suffering a traumatic brain injury, their friends, and their families. Explore the site to learn more about navigating employment, driving, and social security issues after suffering a traumatic brain injury. You can also look up treatments and take quizzes on your knowledge of TBI.
There are some great new educational tools Apple’s app store that provide information and resources regarding concussions and traumatic brain injuries: Traumatic Brain Injury Updates by Dan Gardner, MD, lists abstracts of up-to-date peer-reviewed articles about TBIs.
The New York State Insurance Department is poised to release a report discussing computer software used by many auto insurers to standardize the way they evaluate claim. The insurance industry rating agency, A.M. Best, quoted Aaron DeShaw in this story on Colossus, an injury and claims evaluator used by Allstate.