Taylor v. Lane County

162 P.3d 356, 213 Or. App. 633, 2007 Ore. App. LEXIS 951
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJuly 5, 2007
Docket04CV1702CC; A130916
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 162 P.3d 356 (Taylor v. Lane County) 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
Taylor v. Lane County, 162 P.3d 356, 213 Or. App. 633, 2007 Ore. App. LEXIS 951 (Or. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinions

WOLLHEIM, J.

Douglas County Deputy Sheriff Morris Taylor was shot and killed in the line of duty by Korry Jones, a felon who was being supervised by defendant Lane County’s employees at the time of the shooting. Plaintiff is the personal representative of Deputy Taylor’s estate. She appeals from a judgment dismissing her claims for wrongful death and negligence against defendant. She contends that the trial court erred by granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment based on the trial court’s conclusion that defendant was immune from liability under ORS 30.265(3)(a). Plaintiff also contends that the application of the Oregon Tort Claims Act, specifically ORS 30.265(1) and ORS 30.265(3)(a), denies her the right to an adequate remedy under Article I, section 10, of the Oregon Constitution. We affirm.

The relevant facts are undisputed. Deputy Taylor was employed as a deputy sheriff by Douglas County. While acting within the scope of his employment, Deputy Taylor responded to a call of public indecency at a motel in Curtin, Oregon. There, Deputy Taylor was confronted by Jones, a felon with a history of criminal offenses that included assaulting police officers, escape, felon in possession of a firearm, and drug-related offenses. At the time, Lane County Community Corrections was responsible for supervising Jones. During the confrontation, Jones, who was hiding a firearm, shot Deputy Taylor and he returned fire. Both men died as a result of their injuries.

Douglas County determined that Deputy Taylor’s death was compensable under the Oregon Workers’ Compensation Law, ORS chapter 656. Plaintiff, as Deputy Taylor’s spouse, received workers’ compensation benefits under ORS 656.204.

Plaintiff, as personal representative of the estate, filed a complaint alleging wrongful death and negligence claims against defendant Lane County, and individually named employees of Lane County Community Corrections who were responsible for supervising Jones.1 The gist of [636]*636plaintiffs complaint was that it was reasonably foreseeable that, without proper supervision, Jones posed an unreasonable risk of harm to the community, including Deputy Taylor.

Lane County moved for an order substituting it as the only defendant. ORS 30.265(1).2 The trial court granted defendant’s motion. Lane County then moved for summary judgment on the ground that it was immune from liability under ORS 30.265(3)(a), which exempts every public body, and its employees, from liability for “[a]ny claim for injury to or death of any person covered by any workers’ compensation law.” The trial court granted Lane County’s motion for summary judgment.

On appeal, plaintiff raises three assignments of error. First, plaintiff argues that the trial court erred, as a matter of law, in concluding that Lane County was immune from liability under ORS 30.265(3)(a). In her second and third assignments, she contends that the trial court erred in concluding that the immunity provision of ORS 30.265(3)(a), as applied to her wrongful death and negligence claims, respectively, did not violate the remedy clause of Article I, section 10, of the Oregon Constitution. We consider those assignments in turn to determine whether Lane County was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. ORCP 47 C.

As to the first assignment, plaintiff argues that defendant is not entitled to immunity under ORS 30.265(3)(a), because her claims were not “covered by any workers’ compensation law” within the meaning of that statute.

ORS 30.265(3)(a) provides:

[637]*637“Every public body and its officers, employees and agents acting within the scope of their employment or duties * * * are immune from liability for:
“(a) Any claim for injury to or death of any person covered by any workers’ compensation law.”

In Moustachetti v. State of Oregon, 319 Or 319, 877 P2d 66 (1994), the Supreme Court interpreted the language of ORS 30.265(3)(a) and concluded that

“ORS 30.265(3)(a) establishes that every public body (and its officers, employees, and agents acting within the scope of their employment or duties) is immune from liability in a civil action (1) when the civil action states a claim for injury to or death of any person, and (2) when the injury to or death of that person occurred while that person and that injury were covered by (or under) any Workers’ Compensation Law.”

319 Or at 326.

As the court explained in Moustachetti, to determine whether a claim is “covered by any workers’ compensation law” under ORS 30.265(3)(a), the correct focus is on the nature of the “legal injury” at issue. See id. at 325-27. A “legal injury” is “any harm or wrong to absolute rights for which a cause of action existed.” Stone v. Finnerty, 182 Or App 452, 457-58, 50 P3d 1179, modified on recons, 184 Or App 111, 55 P3d 531 (2002), rev den, 335 Or 422 (2003). Essentially, the “legal injury” is the “gravamen of a claim and not * * * the kinds of injuries or damages for which a plaintiff seeks recompense.” Id. at 458.

Applying those principles to this case suggests that Lane County was entitled to immunity under ORS 30.265(3)(a). First, plaintiffs civil action states a claim for the injury and death of Deputy Taylor. Second, the injury and death of Deputy Taylor occurred while he was covered by Oregon workers’ compensation law. It is undisputed that Deputy Taylor’s death arose out of and in the course of his employment. Deputy Taylor’s legal injury is precisely the type of legal injury that workers’ compensation laws are designed to cover. See ORS 656.005(7) (defining compensable injury).3

[638]

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Related

State v. Richards
370 P.3d 874 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2016)
Krela Ex Rel. Estate of Kryla v. Kryla
585 F. App'x 482 (Ninth Circuit, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
162 P.3d 356, 213 Or. App. 633, 2007 Ore. App. LEXIS 951, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-lane-county-orctapp-2007.