When the state last year agreed to pay the estates of Steve Fritz and Cary Fairchild to settle claims that Interstate 5 lacked a potentially life-saving median cable barrier where they died, some readers thought the amounts were unusually high.
They asked if the state showed favoritism because Fritz was the husband of Portland Commissioner Amanda Fritz or perhaps because Steve Fritz and Fairchild were well-liked state employees. Both worked at the Oregon State Hospital when they died in September 2014.
The short answer: Their settlements are among the top 10 highest payouts by the Oregon Department of Transportation, but they aren't the biggest ones.
The most money paid was $1.8 million, followed by $1.5 million. The Fritz settlement at $1.45 million ranks third and the Fairchild settlement at $750,000 ranks fourth.
The longer answer: It's rare for people to file suit against the state for bad road design, plaintiffs' lawyers say. Even rarer are settlements or jury verdicts in the cases.
The top 10 payout list includes just one other case alleging poor road design. The $250,000 payment in 2005 ended a lawsuit filed by the estate of a University of Oregon law student who died after running a stop sign.
The reasons for the other big payouts run the gamut: Department vehicles that crashed into other cars, dangerous drivers and employees who claimed workplace mistreatment.
Read the top 10 list here.
Commenters said
One commenter,
, wrote: "No more backroom deals especially when it involves other government officials."
Another commenter,
, referred to an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive that found 20 people had died from 2005 to 2013 in crossover crashes jumping the same unprotected berm along I-5 north of Salem that resulted in Fritz's and Fairchild's deaths.
"How many of these families received a $1.45 million payment from ODOT?" wrote Honeypig. "A(nswer): Zero."
Another reader,
, said her cousin and stepsister died in a head-on collision along a highway in Oregon without a cable median in the '70s. In the case of Fritz and Fairchild, modtotheright wrote: "I am sorry family members lost loved ones. Just because you lose someone does not mean you are due millions. If you want millions, buy life insurance worth millions."
Others, however, thought justice was served by the state's payouts.
Wrote
: "This woman's husband was killed, along with another person, through basically no fault of their own. The State knew for almost 20 years there was a problem in this area, they opted to do nothing."
Wrote
: "At least ODOT was held the most liable, responsible for the crash deaths.
Badly maintained roads are dangerous and deadly. Example I-5, I-217 Exchange. ODOT has known about the issue, but continues to not repair the problem."
Steve Fritz and Cary Fairchild died when a pickup veered across I-5 and hit Steven Fritz's 1993 Nissan Sentra head-on. Fairchild was a passenger in the car.
The pickup driver also agreed this spring to pay $100,000 to each of their estates. And an oil tanker truck company -- whose driver was accused of speeding and splashing excessive rainwater on the pickup, causing it to veer into the Nissan - agreed to pay $200,000 to Fritz's estate and $100,000 to Fairchild's estate.
Although attorneys involved in the settlements have declined to comment, other attorneys not associated with the case say the estates had a strong case against the state.
In the month after their deaths, an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive found that the Oregon Department of Transportation had delayed the installation of a median cable barrier on that 5-mile stretch of freeway despite public recognition of the need for it dating back to 1996.
Within seven months of their deaths, the state jumped into action by installing median barriers along the stretch of road where Fritz and Fairchild were killed. And within a year of their deaths, state lawmakers passed a bill giving ODOT six years to finish erecting median barriers along 100 miles of highway susceptible to fatal crossover crashes.
Adding to the likelihood of sizable settlements, Fritz, 54, and Fairchild, 64, also were both gainfully employed. Fritz, a psychiatrist, was one of the highest paid employees in the state -- earning more than $418,000 a year. He still had years of earning potential left in his career at the time of his death.
State lawyers wouldn't agree to such sizable settlements unless they were up against a solid case, said attorney Brent Barton, an attorney representing injured people. Barton doesn't believe Fritz and Fairchild's state employment or Amanda Fritz's power as a city commissioner factored into the decision.
"Amanda Fritz has zero influence with state risk managers," said Barton, also a Democratic state lawmaker from Oregon City.
Attorneys for people hurt in car wrecks say few choose to pursue claims of dangerous road design because the state usually can point to some other reason that caused the crash: Speeding. Texting while driving. Drunken driving. Icy or wet roads. Human error.
"And usually, it's a good argument," Barton said.
It's been a long, hard fight for Tyler Turner, a motorcyclist gravely injured in 2008 when a driver made a left turn into him from a side street as he was traveling on U.S. 101 in Depoe Bay.
Nearly six years ago, Turner filed a lawsuit against the state and others. Among his allegations: bad road design. Turner argues that the state could have prevented the crash by either redesigning the intersection or taking low-cost precautions, such as posting signs prohibiting a left turn onto the highway or improving sightlines by preventing parked cars along the road.
Last week, the Oregon Supreme Court cleared the way for Turner to move forward with his lawsuit against the state. That's despite the state's argument that it's not liable because it has only limited resources to redesign problem intersections and the Highway 101 intersection wasn't on the prioritized list.
Kathryn Clarke, a Portland attorney who wrote a friend-of-the-court brief for the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association supporting Turner's right to sue, said allegations of dangerous road design are no different than claims of a faulty product.
"If the state designed a road badly or it was responsible for the accident, then why shouldn't they be held liable?" Clarke said.
Some lawyers say the state doesn't face many design-flaw lawsuits because an investigation may take longer than the 180-day deadline for people to file a notice that they intend to sue.
Lawyers also are aware that some people hold a staunch view that no one should get money from the state for a car accident. People who hold that opinion could end up on juries hearing those cases.
Portland attorney Erick Haynie filed a $7.25 million lawsuit last year on behalf of an 18-wheel commercial truck driver who alleges he was struck by another car because of a confusing lane design between Interstate 84 West and Interstate 5 North in Northeast Portland. The truck driver launched 50-feet off the ramp before dangling with serious injuries upside down in his cab for more than an hour.
A judge dismissed the suit after agreeing with the state's argument that it was immune from liability because the truck driver was covered by worker's compensation. Haynie is appealing that decision on behalf of Sitton.
"(The state) doesn't seem to have any money for truck drivers," Haynie said. "There has been zero money offered to Mr. Sitton. He's a salt-of-the-earth truck driver from Arlington with serious injuries who has not been made whole."
-- Aimee Green
503-294-5119