Union Bank of California, N.A. v. Copeland Lumberyards, Inc.

Oregon’s wrongful death statute, ORS 30.020(1), provides that the decedent’s personal representative may bring an action for wrongful death “if the decedent might have maintained an action, had the decedent lived, against the wrongdoer for an injury done by the same act or omission.” The question in this case is the meaning of that provision — specifically, whether a personal representative can bring a wrongful death action when the decedent already recovered damages for personal injury based on the same act or omission that is the basis for the wrongful death claim. The trial court concluded…