Bicycle Accident Complaint - Oregon

BICYCLE ACCIDENT COMPLAINT — OREGON

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Caption
2. Parties, Jurisdiction, and Venue
3. General Factual Allegations
4. Count I — Negligence (Against Defendant Driver)
5. Count II — Negligence Per Se (Against Defendant Driver)
6. Count III — Negligent Entrustment / Vicarious Liability (Against Defendant Owner)
7. Damages
8. Comparative Fault and Helmet Reservation
9. Prayer for Relief
10. Jury Demand
11. Signature and Service Blocks
12. Certificate of Service
13. Oregon Practice Notes
14. Sources and References

1. CAPTION

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON FOR THE COUNTY OF [COUNTY]

Case No. [________________________________]

COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES (BICYCLE COLLISION)

(Negligence; Negligence Per Se)

PRAYER: $[________] — NOT SUBJECT TO MANDATORY ARBITRATION / SUBJECT TO MANDATORY ARBITRATION

JURY TRIAL DEMANDED

Plaintiff alleges:

2. PARTIES, JURISDICTION, AND VENUE

1. Plaintiff [PLAINTIFF NAME] ("Plaintiff") is an individual residing in [COUNTY] County, Oregon, and at all material times was lawfully operating a bicycle upon the public roadways of this State.

2. Defendant [DRIVER NAME] ("Driver Defendant") is, upon information and belief, an individual residing in [COUNTY / STATE] and may be served with the summons and complaint pursuant to ORCP 7 at [SERVICE ADDRESS].

3. Defendant [OWNER / EMPLOYER NAME] ("Owner Defendant") is [an individual / a corporation / an LLC] that, at all material times, owned, controlled, and/or maintained the vehicle operated by Driver Defendant and/or employed Driver Defendant. If a registered entity, Owner Defendant may be served through its registered agent, [AGENT NAME], at [AGENT ADDRESS].

4. This action arises under Oregon tort law for personal injuries and property damage sustained when a motor vehicle struck Plaintiff, a bicyclist, in [COUNTY] County, Oregon, on [__/__/____].

5. This Court has subject-matter jurisdiction as a court of general jurisdiction over civil actions arising under Oregon law.

6. Venue is proper in this county under ORS 14.080 because one or more Defendants resides in this county and/or the cause of action, including the Collision, arose in this county.

3. GENERAL FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS

7. On or about [__/__/____] at approximately [TIME], Plaintiff was lawfully operating a bicycle traveling [northbound / southbound / etc.] on [ROADWAY] at or near its intersection with [CROSS STREET / LANDMARK / MILE MARKER], in [CITY], [COUNTY] County, Oregon (the "Collision").

8. Plaintiff was riding in a lawful and prudent manner — [as near to the right curb or edge of the roadway as practicable / within a bicycle lane / lawfully leaving the bicycle lane or curb to avoid a hazard or prepare to turn] — and, to the extent the Collision occurred during limited-visibility conditions, Plaintiff's bicycle was equipped with a lighted front lamp and rear light or reflector as required by ORS 815.280.

9. At the same time and place, Driver Defendant was operating a [YEAR / MAKE / MODEL] [passenger vehicle / pickup truck / SUV / commercial vehicle] owned by Owner Defendant.

10. Traffic, lighting, and weather conditions were [describe — e.g., clear, dry, daylight].

11. The Collision occurred when Driver Defendant [SELECT / DESCRIBE THE MANNER OF COLLISION — e.g., overtook and passed Plaintiff's bicycle without leaving a safe distance and sideswiped or struck Plaintiff ("unsafe pass"); turned right across Plaintiff's path of travel ("right hook"); turned left across the path of Plaintiff's oncoming bicycle ("left cross"); failed to yield to Plaintiff in a bicycle lane; opened a parked vehicle's door into Plaintiff's path ("dooring"); failed to yield the right-of-way at the intersection; followed Plaintiff's bicycle too closely and struck it from the rear; pulled out from a private drive or side street into Plaintiff's path].

12. Although Plaintiff and Plaintiff's bicycle were plainly visible, Driver Defendant "looked but failed to see" Plaintiff, misjudged Plaintiff's speed, position, and distance, and/or failed to keep a proper lookout for bicyclists lawfully sharing the roadway.

13. Plaintiff had the right-of-way and was operating the bicycle in a lawful, prudent, and careful manner at all material times. At no time did Plaintiff do, or fail to do, anything that proximately caused or contributed to the Collision.

14. As a direct and proximate result of the Collision, Plaintiff — an unprotected road user exposed to the full mass and force of a motor vehicle — was thrown from the bicycle and sustained severe, painful, and permanent bodily injuries, including but not limited to [LIST INJURIES — e.g., orthopedic fractures, traumatic brain injury, spinal injury, internal injuries, road rash / degloving, and disfiguring scarring].

15. Because a bicyclist has no enclosure, restraint system, or crumple zone, the forces of the Collision caused Plaintiff to suffer catastrophic injuries materially more severe than those typically sustained by occupants of enclosed vehicles.

16. Plaintiff received emergency care at [HOSPITAL / EMS PROVIDER] and has since undergone [SURGERIES / HOSPITALIZATION / REHABILITATION / ONGOING TREATMENT], and will require future medical care.

17. All injuries and damages alleged were the foreseeable, natural, and probable consequence of Defendants' conduct.

4. COUNT I — NEGLIGENCE (Against Defendant Driver)

18. Plaintiff realleges and incorporates Paragraphs 1 through 17 as if fully set forth herein.

19. Driver Defendant owed Plaintiff a duty to exercise reasonable care in the operation of a motor vehicle, to obey the Oregon Vehicle Code, to keep a proper lookout for bicyclists lawfully sharing the roadway, to overtake and pass a bicyclist only at a safe distance, and to refrain from conduct endangering others.

20. Driver Defendant was negligent in one or more of the following particulars:

• Failing to keep a proper and careful lookout for Plaintiff's plainly visible bicycle;
• Overtaking and passing Plaintiff's bicycle without leaving a safe distance sufficient to prevent contact had Plaintiff fallen into the driver's lane;
• Turning right across the path of Plaintiff's bicycle ("right hook") when it was unsafe to do so;
• Turning left across the path of Plaintiff's oncoming bicycle ("left cross") when it was unsafe to do so;
• Failing to yield to Plaintiff while Plaintiff was operating in a bicycle lane;
• Opening, or causing to be opened, a vehicle door into the path of Plaintiff's bicycle when it was unsafe to do so ("dooring");
• Failing to yield the right-of-way to Plaintiff;
• Following Plaintiff's bicycle more closely than was reasonable and prudent;
• Operating the vehicle at an excessive or unsafe speed for conditions;
• Driving while distracted, inattentive, or impaired; and
• Failing to maintain proper control of the vehicle.

21. Each of the foregoing acts and omissions, separately and in combination, was a direct and proximate cause of the Collision and of Plaintiff's injuries and damages.

22. As a direct and proximate result, Plaintiff has sustained the damages described in Section 7 below.

5. COUNT II — NEGLIGENCE PER SE (Against Defendant Driver)

23. Plaintiff realleges and incorporates Paragraphs 1 through 22 as if fully set forth herein.

24. The Oregon Vehicle Code imposes specific statutory duties on Driver Defendant for the protection of persons lawfully using the roadway, including bicyclists such as Plaintiff. These include, as applicable to the manner of the Collision:

• ORS 814.400 — a bicycle is a vehicle, and a person riding a bicycle upon a public way is subject to the provisions applicable to and has the same rights and duties as the driver of any other vehicle, confirming that Plaintiff was a lawful user of the roadway entitled to the protection of the rules of the road;
• ORS 811.065 — a driver may pass a person operating a bicycle only by driving to the left at a "safe distance," meaning a distance sufficient to prevent contact with the cyclist if the cyclist were to fall into the driver's lane of traffic, and returning to the lane of travel only once safely clear (subject to the exceptions stated in the statute);
• ORS 811.050 — a driver shall yield the right-of-way to a person operating a bicycle in a bicycle lane;
• ORS 811.490 — no person shall open or leave open a vehicle door on the side available to moving traffic unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so and without interfering with traffic ("dooring");
• ORS 811.350 / 811.335 — a driver intending to turn left, or to turn at an intersection, shall yield to oncoming traffic (including a bicycle) and turn only when the movement can be made with reasonable safety;
• ORS 811.275 / 811.277 / 811.260 — duties governing intersection right-of-way, T-intersections, and stop/yield signs; and
• ORS 811.485 — a driver shall not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent.

25. Plaintiff is within the class of persons the foregoing statutes were enacted to protect, and the Collision is the type of harm those statutes were designed to prevent.

26. Driver Defendant violated [CITE THE SPECIFIC SECTION(S) APPLICABLE], and was cited for [TRAFFIC CITATION, IF ANY]. Such violation constitutes negligence per se under Oregon law, and was a direct and proximate cause of Plaintiff's injuries and damages.

6. COUNT III — NEGLIGENT ENTRUSTMENT / VICARIOUS LIABILITY (Against Defendant Owner)

27. Plaintiff realleges and incorporates Paragraphs 1 through 26 as if fully set forth herein.

28. Owner Defendant entrusted the subject vehicle to Driver Defendant when Owner Defendant knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known, that Driver Defendant was a careless, incompetent, inexperienced, reckless, or otherwise unfit driver likely to create an unreasonable risk of harm to others.

29. Alternatively, at the time of the Collision, Driver Defendant was operating the vehicle as the agent, servant, or employee of Owner Defendant and within the scope of that agency or employment, rendering Owner Defendant vicariously liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior.

30. Owner Defendant's negligent entrustment and/or vicarious liability was a direct and proximate cause of Plaintiff's injuries and damages.

7. DAMAGES

31. As a direct and proximate result of Defendants' conduct, Plaintiff has suffered and seeks recovery of the following:

• Past and future medical expenses (economic) — emergency, ambulance, hospital, surgical, diagnostic, rehabilitative, pharmaceutical, and physician care;
• Future medical and life care (economic) — anticipated surgeries, therapy, assistive devices, prosthetics, and long-term or attendant care, to be proven at trial;
• Lost wages and impaired earning capacity (economic) — past lost income and the permanent impairment of Plaintiff's ability to earn;
• Noneconomic damages — physical pain, suffering, mental anguish, interference with normal and usual activities, and loss of enjoyment of life, past and future;
• Permanent physical impairment and disfigurement, including scarring from road rash and surgical intervention; and
• Property damage to the bicycle, cycling gear, helmet, electronics, and personal effects, including loss of use and diminution in value.

32. Plaintiff pleads each category of damage separately and in the alternative.

33. Plaintiff reserves the right, upon a proper evidentiary showing and on motion to amend pursuant to ORS 31.725, to seek punitive damages under ORS 31.730 where Driver Defendant acted with malice or in reckless and outrageous indifference to a highly unreasonable risk of harm.

8. COMPARATIVE FAULT AND HELMET RESERVATION

34. Plaintiff denies any contributory or comparative fault. Pursuant to ORS 31.600, Plaintiff's fault, if any, was not greater than the combined fault of the Defendants, and therefore does not bar recovery; any damages should be reduced only in proportion to Plaintiff's proven comparative fault, if any.

35. To the extent the absence or presence of a bicycle helmet is raised, Plaintiff reserves all objections to any attempt to inject helmet use as evidence of fault or to reduce recovery, Oregon requiring a helmet only for riders under sixteen (16) years of age (ORS 814.485).

9. PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff prays for judgment against each Defendant for that Defendant's several share of damages, subject to ORS 31.610 and any claim-specific exception established by current law, as follows:

• A. Economic damages in the amount of $[________], or such amount as is proven at trial;
• B. Noneconomic damages in the amount of $[________], or such amount as is proven at trial;
• C. Punitive damages as permitted by ORS 31.730, upon a proper showing and leave to amend;
• D. Prejudgment and post-judgment interest, costs, and disbursements as allowed by law; and
• E. Such other and further relief as the Court deems just and equitable.

10. JURY DEMAND

Plaintiff demands a trial by jury on all issues so triable, pursuant to Or. Const. art. I, § 17 and art. VII (Amended), § 3.

11. SIGNATURE AND SERVICE BLOCKS

DATED this [____] day of [MONTH], 20[____].

Respectfully submitted,

[LAW FIRM NAME]

[________________________________]

[ATTORNEY NAME], OSB No. [________]

Of Attorneys for Plaintiff

[STREET ADDRESS]

[CITY, OR ZIP]

Telephone: [NUMBER]

Email: [EMAIL]

12. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I certify that I served (or will cause to be served with the summons) a true copy of the foregoing COMPLAINT on the following by [personal service / certified mail under ORCP 7 / eService]:

[DEFENDANT NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)]

[________________________________]

[ATTORNEY NAME]

13. OREGON PRACTICE NOTES

• Statute of limitations. Personal-injury actions in Oregon must be commenced within two years of accrual. ORS 12.110(1). Wrongful-death actions are governed by ORS 30.020 (generally a three-year period; verify if the cyclist was killed). Claims against public bodies require tort-claim notice under ORS 30.275.
• Modified comparative fault. Under ORS 31.600, claimant fault is compared with the persons specified in subsection (2), including the listed parties, tort-liable third-party defendants, and settling persons, subject to its exclusions. Equal claimant fault does not bar recovery; greater claimant fault does. ORS 31.610 governs allocation.
• The cyclist's rights and duties. ORS 814.400 makes a bicycle a vehicle and grants the bicyclist the same rights and duties as any other driver. Reciprocal cyclist duties include riding as near to the right as practicable when slower than traffic (ORS 814.430, subject to exceptions for passing, turning, hazards, and bicycle lanes) and required lighting in limited-visibility conditions (ORS 815.280). A violation supplies the defense's comparative-fault theory; investigate lane position, bike-lane use, conspicuity, and signal phase.
• Safe passing — "safe distance," NOT a flat three feet. ORS 811.065 requires a motorist to pass a bicyclist at a "safe distance," defined as a distance sufficient to prevent contact with the cyclist if the cyclist were to fall into the driver's lane of traffic. By its terms the rule does not apply when the driver is operating at 35 mph or less, in a lane separate from and adjacent to a designated bicycle lane, or when passing on the cyclist's right while the cyclist is turning left. Do not plead Oregon as a "three-foot" state. Where the statute's exceptions apply, rely on the general duty of reasonable care (Count I), the bicycle-lane yield duty (ORS 811.050), and other rules of the road.
• Helmet non-use generally inadmissible. Oregon's bicycle-helmet requirement (ORS 814.485/814.486) applies only to riders under 16. For adult cyclists, evidence or argument of helmet non-use is generally inadmissible to show comparative fault or reduce damages; move in limine to exclude it. Verify the current Oregon evidentiary framework before relying on it.
• UM/UIM and hit-and-run. A bicyclist struck by a motor vehicle may recover under their own automobile uninsured/underinsured-motorist (UM/UIM) coverage — and under a resident relative's policy — because cyclists are typically "insureds" for UM/UIM purposes even when not occupying a vehicle. Oregon requires UM coverage and treats UIM as add-on coverage; UM also responds to a hit-and-run / phantom vehicle, subject to prompt-reporting and (often) physical-contact or corroboration requirements. Promptly identify and notify every applicable policy, preserve the UM/UIM claim, and comply with consent-to-settle / subrogation procedures (and ORS 742.504 et seq.) before resolving the liability claim. Verify the current UM/UIM and hit-and-run requirements under the applicable policies and Oregon law.
• Punitive damages. Punitive damages require clear and convincing evidence of malice or reckless and outrageous indifference (ORS 31.730) and are not pleaded in the original complaint; they are added by motion to amend under ORS 31.725 on a prima facie showing.
• Mandatory arbitration. Civil claims at or below the county's threshold (commonly $50,000) are subject to court-annexed mandatory arbitration (ORS 36.400 et seq. and UTCR Chapter 13). Plead the prayer accordingly and note arbitration status in the caption.
• Service. Service of the summons and complaint is governed by ORCP 7; out-of-state defendants may be served consistent with Oregon's long-arm rule, ORCP 4.

14. SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS Chapters 12, 14, 31, 811, 814, 815) — https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/
• ORS 12.110 (two-year limitations)
• ORS 31.600 (comparative fault); ORS 31.610 (allocation among defendants)
• ORS 814.400 (application of vehicle laws to bicycles) — https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_814.400
• ORS 811.065 (unsafe passing of a person operating a bicycle) — https://law.justia.com/codes/oregon/volume-19/chapter-811/section-811-065/
• ORS 811.050 (yield to rider in bicycle lane); ORS 811.055 (yield to bicyclist on sidewalk)
• ORS 811.490 (improper opening or leaving open of a vehicle door) — https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors811.html
• ORS 811.260, 811.275, 811.277, 811.335, 811.350, 811.485 (right-of-way / following too closely)
• ORS 814.430 (riding to the right; exceptions); ORS 814.485/814.486 (helmet — under 16); ORS 815.280 (bicycle lighting)
• ORS 31.730 (punitive damages); ORS 31.725 (motion to amend to add punitive claim)
• Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure (ORCP 4, 7); UTCR Chapter 13 (arbitration)
• Oregon Uniform Civil Jury Instructions (Motor Vehicle; Bicycle; Comparative Fault)

Disclaimer: This template is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. An attorney licensed in Oregon must review and customize this document before filing. Laws, citations, and court rules change frequently; verify all authorities before use.