Harryman v. Fred Meyer, Inc.

412 P.3d 219, 289 Or. App. 324
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 13, 2017
DocketA159913
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 412 P.3d 219 (Harryman v. Fred Meyer, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harryman v. Fred Meyer, Inc., 412 P.3d 219, 289 Or. App. 324 (Or. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

EGAN, P. J.

*220*326In this personal injury action, plaintiff appeals a judgment for defendant Fred Meyer, Inc., challenging the trial court's granting of defendant's motion for summary judgment based on ORS 31.180, which provides that it is a defense to a personal injury action that the "person damaged was engaged in conduct at the time that would constitute *** a Class B felony." We conclude that the trial court did not err and therefore affirm.

In reviewing the trial court's ruling, we view the evidence in the record on summary judgment in the light most favorable to plaintiff, the nonmoving party, to determine whether there are genuine issues of material fact that preclude summary judgment and whether defendant was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. ORCP 47 C.

The underlying facts are largely undisputed. Plaintiff was waiting in the checkout line at defendant's store when he and Young, who was ahead of plaintiff in line, engaged in an argument that escalated into a physical fight.1 Plaintiff, who had a handgun, shot Young in the leg. Defendant's employees responded by pushing plaintiff to the floor and disarming him. As a result of his act of shooting Young, plaintiff was convicted in November 2013 of assault in the second degree with a firearm, ORS 163.175,2 a Class B felony, for which he was sentenced to a mandatory minimum prison term of 70 months. We affirmed plaintiff's conviction. State v. Harryman , 277 Or.App. 346, 371 P.3d 1213, rev. den. , 360 Or. 401, 381 P.3d 843 (2016).

*327In 2014, plaintiff brought this action, seeking damages for injuries he claims to have sustained when defendant's employees pushed him to the floor and disarmed him. Plaintiff's theory was that Young had assaulted him, and that he had acted in self-defense in shooting Young. Defendant's employees were negligent, plaintiff alleged, in assuming that plaintiff was the aggressor and in using unnecessary and excessive force to restrain him. Plaintiff alleged:

"Employees of [defendant], acting in the ordinary course of their employment ***, responded to the assault of *** [Young] against plaintiff by physically taking plaintiff into their control and disarming him. In the course of restraining and disarming plaintiff, such employees also negligently or intentionally caused physical injuries to plaintiff, by using unnecessary and excessive force, by throwing him on the concrete floor, striking him in the head and body, and pressing his body to the floor."

Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment contending, among other arguments, that plaintiff's claim is barred by ORS 31.180, which provides, as relevant:

"(1) It is a complete defense in any civil action for personal injury or wrongful death that:
"(a) The person damaged was engaged in conduct at the time that would constitute aggravated murder, murder or a Class A or a Class B felony; and
"(b) The felonious conduct was a substantial factor contributing to the injury or death.
"(2) To establish the defense described in this section, the defendant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence the fact that the person damaged was engaged in conduct that would constitute aggravated murder, murder or a Class A or a Class B felony.
" * * * * *
"(4) The defense established by this section is not available if the injury or death resulted from a springgun or other device described in ORS 166.320 and the plaintiff establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that the use of the springgun *221or other device constituted a violation of ORS 166.320. *328"(5) The defense established by this section is not available if the injury or death resulted from the use of physical force that was not justifiable under the standards established by ORS 161.195 to 161.275."

Defendant submitted evidence of plaintiff's conviction of second degree assault, as well as admissions by plaintiff that his personal injury action arose out of the same "event" that resulted in his conviction.3 Defendant contended in its motion for summary judgment that plaintiff's conviction and admissions established as a matter of law that, at the time plaintiff was injured, he was engaged in conduct that constituted a Class B felony, ORS 31.180(1)(a), and that that felonious conduct was a substantial factor contributing to plaintiff's injury. ORS 31.180(1)(b).

Plaintiff responded that the defense was not available because, at the time of his injury, plaintiff had completed the conduct that constituted a Class B felony, and because the force used by defendant's employees was not justifiable. See ORS 31.180(5). The trial court adopted defendant's analysis in support of the motion for summary judgment and granted the motion. On appeal, plaintiff renews his same arguments. We address and reject each of them in turn.

Plaintiff's first argument is that the defense provided by ORS 31.180 does not apply, because the requirement that "the injured person was engaged in [criminal] conduct at the time" means that, to rely on the defense, the defendant must show that the offense was ongoing at the time that the injuries were inflicted. In this case, plaintiff *329contends, the assault had ended when defendant's employees injured him, thus his injuries did not occur "at the time" he was committing the offense.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
412 P.3d 219, 289 Or. App. 324, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harryman-v-fred-meyer-inc-orctapp-2017.