Attorney Practice areas
Currently, Jeff Merrick, P.C. accepts cases Jeff Merrick believes to be meritorious and worth a civil lawsuit.
Attorney Merrick is experienced in practice areas listed below.
Against Lawyers – Legal malpractice, fraud, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and others.
Most Oregon lawyers do their best for their clients. Sometimes their best is not very good. Sometimes, they or their staff make costly mistakes. Occasionally, attorneys hurt clients intentionally because they put themselves first or are going through personal problems. I work with people harmed by their own civil attorneys (not criminal defense attorneys) to determine if they have a claim worth pursuing and then seek compensation through settlement and litigation. More information on Claims Against Lawyers.
Against Employers – Retaliation, discrimination, harassment and other.
I’ve been involved in employment law litigation since the 1980s. Employment law has grown tremendously over the years. Chances are, if you feel justifiably harmed by what is happening at work, it is probably against the law: Assert your rights and get fired? Tell your employer it needs to follow the law and get demoted? Sexual comments, inappropriate touching, or worse? “Joking” about your race, age, or ethnicity? Failure to accommodate your disability? The law says you do not have to chose between earning a living and putting up with abuse. Workplace discrimination, harassment and retaliation really angers me, and I’m happy to help you fight it.
Against Bars and Drunks – Liquor Liability for personal injury and death.
Liquor servers are responsible to monitor alcohol consumption of their customer and not serve people who are obviously intoxicated. Sometimes, bars overburden their employees and there is no way for them to keep an eye on all customers or even get a sense of how smashed someone is. That is on the bar owner and its insurer. If the drunk then beats up someone, crashes into someone or kills someone, that’s on the alcohol server, according to Oregon law.
Two of my past cases are interesting examples. In one, the bar kicked out a drunk female patron (who they got drunk) while she was waiting in line to use the phone for a ride home. In the days before Uber, she tried to hitchhike and was raped. In another, a young man went into a bar for a drink. In the bar, out of the blue, a huge man beat and kicked him into brain damage. My clients accepted confidential resolutions, and I hope the lawsuits changed the way the bars think about their responsibilities going forward.
Against Government – civil rights, public records lawsuits, nuisance from homeless camps.
Sometimes, it seems elected officials or public employees act like they are above the law. People have rights. We have rights to access public records. We have rights to compensation when governmental bodies hurt us or take our rights. When government owns real property, neighbors have a right to enforce nuisance laws, just like we do against private owners of property. You CAN fight city hall.
Traumatic Brain Injury / Anoxic Brain Injury.
Acquired brain injury can feel devastating to the entire family. Sometimes, it feels like a new person replaced the former loved one. With all the time and energy you expend to deal with the new realities, it is hard to carve out time to consider sources of help through the legal system. Yet, time limitations apply and evidence will be lost if it is not preserved. It is important to contact an attorney right away to identify sources of help.
Pediatric Law / Injuries to Children
Different laws apply to minors: time limitations, how to sue, etc. How do parents prove the lost earning capacity of children hurt or killed before they worked their first day? What’s best, a conservatorship or guardian ad litem? Jeff Merrick pioneered the field of “Pediatric Law” in 1999. He has helped parents with birth anomalies, injuries at kids’ camp, sports injuries, window falls, and many other types of injuries.
Other Civil Litigation
In addition to the above, Jeff Merrick, P.C. accepts other claims. See some of them below and in the About page. Our process is to listen to the person, understand what has happened AND what the client wants. Then we counsel on options. Often that involves trying to settle before filing suit. When a lawsuit makes sense, we work aggressively and diligently.
Contact Jeff Merrick today to schedule a consultation.