A settlement offer after a Portland crash is a number with a lot of moving parts. Ask what share of fault the insurer is baking in, because section 31.600 reduces an award by your percentage and can cut the claim off if your share is larger than the combined share of the other people the statute brings into the comparison. Ask whether the offer is meant to include medical bills that PIP under sections 742.520 and 742.524 already paid, or still might pay.
Ask whether uninsured or underinsured coverage under section 742.502 is being left on the table. Oregon’s ordinary financial-responsibility floors in section 806.070 start at $25,000 for injury to a single person and $50,000 for a multi-person wreck, always subject to the per-person cap, which is why a household UM claim often matters after a serious injury. If a public body is involved, ask whether the 180-day notice in section 30.275 was given, and remember that public-body damages are capped under 30.271 and 30.272 at figures that are adjusted annually. Ask the court or a lawyer for the current adjusted amounts.
If you have a lawyer, read the fee writing before you sign a release. Ask whether expenses are taken out ahead of the percentage, or after it, and how PIP or UM recoveries are treated. The two-year period in section 12.110 keeps running until a case is commenced or a release is signed, so don’t let a slow negotiation sit on the last month of the clock. Our fault guide and our fee guide cover those points at greater length. This page is general information, not a forecast of what any offer should be.