If a City of Portland vehicle, a State of Oregon vehicle or another public body may be involved in the wreck, the first legal task is often a written notice, not a lawsuit. Oregon generally requires that notice within 180 days after the alleged loss or injury. In a death case the period is one year. Section 30.275 is the statute that sets the duty, the contents of the writing and where it has to go.
A phone call to a city desk, a police report or a PIP claim is not a substitute for that notice. The two-year period for commencing the later action, which is set out in 30.275(9), is a separate clock. Missing the notice can close the claim even when the two years have not yet run. If you think a public body might be involved, treat the notice as urgent and get help from a lawyer who holds a current Oregon license.
What the writing has to contain
Formal notice under 30.275 is a writing that includes three things. It must state that a claim is being, or will be, asserted against the public body. It must describe the time, place and circumstances giving rise to the claim, so far as known. It must give the name of the claimant and the mailing address to which correspondence may be sent. Leave those items out, or bury them in a loose narrative that never quite says a claim is being asserted, and you invite a later fight about whether notice was given at all.
The statute also allows up to 90 days to be excluded from the notice period while the injured person cannot give the notice because of the injury, minority, incompetency or other incapacity. Do not assume that extra time applies just because you were in the hospital for a few days. Read the subsection with a lawyer if capacity is a real issue. The safe habit, when you can give notice, is to give it early and in the form the statute describes.
Where the notice has to be delivered
For a claim against the State, formal notice is given by mail or personal delivery to the office of the Director of the Oregon Department of Administrative Services. For a claim against a local public body, it goes to the public body at its principal administrative office, to a member of its governing body, or to an attorney designated by the governing body as its general counsel, as 30.275 provides. Delivery details matter. A letter that arrives at a police precinct, a maintenance yard or a general city email box may not be the delivery the statute requires.
This site talks about the City of Portland, the State of Oregon or another public body, because those are the kinds of defendants 30.275 is built around. If you are unsure which public body owned the vehicle or maintained the road, say so in the notice as far as you know the facts, and get legal advice quickly about who else should receive a copy. Do not wait for a perfect investigation if the 180 days are running.
The later lawsuit, and the cap on damages
Even after notice is given, the action itself shall be commenced within two years after the alleged loss or injury, under 30.275(9), notwithstanding most other limitation statutes. Filing and service still have to satisfy section 12.020. A larger Multnomah case is usually filed at the Central Courthouse, 1200 SW 1st Ave. Our courts guide has the hours and the civil desk number.
Damages against a public body are also capped. Sections 30.271 and 30.272 set scheduled amounts through July 1, 2015, and then call for an annual adjustment by the State Court Administrator using the CPI-U for the West Region. Those published figures change. Ask the court or a lawyer for the current adjusted amounts rather than relying on an old number you remember from a different year. The caps sit next to comparative fault under section 31.600. They do not replace it.
How this fits with PIP and the rest of the first week
PIP under sections 742.520 and 742.524 can still pay early medical bills and a share of income loss while the notice is being prepared. Open that first-party claim anyway. Keep photographs, the incident number and the names of witnesses, because those details belong in the notice’s description of time, place and circumstances. Our first-week guide and our report guide cover that ground.
If a death is involved, the one-year notice period and the separate wrongful-death timing in section 30.020 both need attention. Our wrongful-death guide explains who is allowed to bring that action. Do not guess your way through a public-body death claim. Before you hire anyone to prepare the notice, look up whether their Oregon license is still active.
Formal notice is the reliable path
Section 30.275 also says the notice requirement can be satisfied in other ways, including actual notice as that subsection defines it, commencement of an action within the notice period, or payment of all or any part of the claim by or on behalf of the public body. Actual notice depends on the right person at the public body acquiring actual knowledge, in a communication a reasonable person would read as a claim. That is a fact-heavy test. The plaintiff has the burden of proving that notice was given. Formal notice by mail or personal delivery, sent to the place the statute names, is the reliable way to carry that burden.
The statute also has narrow exceptions, including certain claims involving a minor in specified state custody and certain claims against a private nonprofit organization that provides described public transportation services. Do not assume an exception applies because the facts feel close. Read those subsections with a lawyer. If no exception applies, send the formal writing, keep a copy, and keep proof of how and when it was delivered.