Johnson v. Multnomah County Department of Community Justice

This case is concerned with the so-called “discovery rule,” as it applies to ORS 30.275(2)(b), a provision of the Oregon Tort Claim Act that requires any person bringing a tort claim against a public agency to give notice to the agency of the claim within 180 days of the alleged loss or injury.1 Specifically, it asks whether, and to what extent, the appearance of newspaper articles in local papers suggesting that a public agency may have had a role in a plaintiffs injury should be deemed to put that plaintiff on notice of his or her claim against the public agency, and thus trigger the…