In the NEWS

The Oregonian | By Aimee Green | July 02, 2024 Two Portland State University students filed a pair of $445,000 lawsuits Monday against the university, claiming it retaliated against them for speaking out about alleged rough treatment by police at a May protest over the war in Gaza that came weeks after the library takeover. Makayla Topaz Arnold and David Mosqueira say they were knocked down by police on the PSU campus May 23 during or shortly after they linked

The Oregonian | By Aimee Green | June 28, 2024 A second family of a child stuck upside down for 25 minutes on the AtmosFEAR amusement ride in mid-June filed a $345,000 lawsuit Friday against Oaks Park in Southeast Portland, saying their 14-year-old feared that the over-the-shoulders safety bar holding her 50 feet in the air might release at any second. “She said there was so much going through her mind,” the girl’s mother, Sherrie Threadgill, told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “‘Are

The Oregonian | By Maxine Bernstein | June 21, 2024 The Lane Transit District has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a 69-year-old man who was beaten to death while riding a bus on the way to church in Eugene in 2022. Travis A. Sanders of Springfield was riding the EmX bus when he was attacked about 9 a.m. Nov. 19, 2022, by another man who punched him with such

Willamette Week | By Rachel Saslow | June 20, 2024 The mother of an AtmosFEAR rider sued Oaks Amusement Park today, after her 14-year-old daughter got stuck upside down for 25 minutes on June 14 on the malfunctioning pendulum ride. “Riders were screaming for their lives, throwing up, crying, passing out, and praying to God for 25 minutes until the ride was finally lowered to the ground,” reads the complaint, filed by attorney Michael Fuller. The lawsuit, filed in Multnomah

Oregon Public Broadcasting | By Troy Brynelson | June 4, 2024 Crook County and a sheriff’s deputy will officially face a wrongful death lawsuit after a federal judge said the family of a police shooting victim may proceed with their case. Nicholas Rodin, 35, died on Feb. 4, 2022, after he called 911 and asked to be arrested for an outstanding felony warrant. He told dispatchers he needed to be arrested “before I flip out and hurt somebody.” His family

KATU 2 News | By Tanvi Varma | May 31, 2024 Two Portland State University students claim that Portland State University Campus Public Safety officers used unlawful force against them during a pro-Palestine protest on May 23. They’re now working with civil rights attorney Michael Fuller. “They were coming home from class on Thursday. They saw a peaceful assembly of other students. … At a certain point the police decided to use physical force, and each of my clients were

The Oregonian | By Maxine Bernstein | May 29, 2024 A lawyer representing two Portland State University students filed notice Wednesday of plans to sue the school and the city, alleging campus public safety and police officers used force against students who he says were peacefully assembling in support of pro-Palestinian demonstrators last Thursday. Attorney Michael Fuller submitted a video clip with the notices that show a line of people with arms linked blocking the garage exit from the university’s

Street Roots | By Terah Bennett and K. Rambo | May 22, 2024 The city of Portland’s primary private contractor for sweeps quietly lost a wrongful death lawsuit in January 2022, court records reveal. Nearly two years later, the company hasn’t paid up, and now it wants a do-over in court. Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Judith Matarazzo entered a default ruling against Rapid Response Bio Clean in a wrongful death lawsuit regarding the 2019 death of Debby Ann Beaver,

Oregon Public Broadcasting | By Troy Brynelson | May 21, 2024 Attorneys for the city of Portland have asked a Multnomah County judge to overrule a jury’s roughly $1 million negligence verdict after a Portland officer shot and killed a man in a mental health crisis. Senior Deputy City Attorney Naomi Sheffield argued in recent court filings that Officer Curtis Brown didn’t cause the 2021 shooting of Michael Townsend and that the jury’s verdict wasn’t “legally supported by the evidence.”

The Oregonian | By Kristine de Leon | May 14, 2024 Thousands of Portland WinCo Foods shoppers may be in line for $200 apiece as part of a class-action settlement over allegations that the grocer improperly passed the city’s clean energy tax on to customers. The deadline to file a claim is July 9 but the wait for payment may be much longer. In January, WinCo agreed to pay $3.6 million to customers to settle a class-action suit that alleged