35 Years of Oregon Trial Experience--
- Wrongful Death
- Serious Personal Injury/Head Injury
- Legal Malpractice
- Insurance Claims
Personal Biography
Jim is a 3rd generation Oregonian, attending North Salem High School and
graduating with honors from Harvard College in 1967. He worked his way through
law school in Portland at Northwestern School of Law (Lewis & Clark), and began
his legal career in 1975 as a staff attorney with Legal Aid. After a six month
bicycle trip in Europe and Northern Africa, he served as staff co-counsel for
the Senate Judiciary Committee in Salem. He then spent two years with the Metro
Public Defender's office in Portland gaining extensive jury trial experience.
Jim started his own firm in 1981, and joined forces with Mark Griffin in 1988.
Since that time, the firm has practiced law as Griffin &
McCandlish.
Nature of his Practice
The scope, breadth and significance of cases tried by McCandlish in his 35 years
of trial practice in state and federal courts is instructive. No challenge is
too daunting. The common theme running throughout is devotion to the principles
of justice and equality. In 2006, the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association awarded
McCandlish the Arthur H. Bryant Public Justice Award for the remarkable quest
he undertook for workers at the Umatilla Chemical Depot who fell ill during a
horrific incident.
"Mr. McCandlish came to our aid when we all felt it would be impossible to find
anyone that could surmount the incredible complexity of the case. He taught us
by example that through integrity and willingness, one person can accomplish
exceptional things to make a difference for humanity. Mr. McCandlish certainly
is an inspiration to all that have the privilege of knowing him."
Umatilla Client Spokesperson, John Tucker
The Oregon Trial Lawyers described McCandlish as
"an attorney who has dedicated his career to representing the disadvantaged".
Jim's work is carefully limited to a relatively small number of cases. By
restricting the number of cases, he is able to provide personal and thorough
representation to selected clients. Jim represents those who have been
seriously injured, families who have lost a loved one or people who have been
outrageously victimized by persons or organizations abusing a position of
power. Pursuing justice is the principal reason he remains so enthusiastic
about his work. Jim is one of the few attorneys known to vigorously pursue legal
malpractice cases. McCandlish has also handled successfully
numerous insurance claims, product defect injuries, egregious employee abuse
and firing based on illegal discrimination. No opponent is too powerful, including judges, to ignore the need for
justice. And...he has always had trouble resisting new challenges.
Below is a sampling of cases McCandlish has handled to illustrate how the law
can be used to champion civil justice and make our society a better place for all
people to achieve their potential.
Wrongful Death/Serious Personal Injury.
Jim has handled dozens of wrongful death claims and hundreds of
serious personal injury cases resulting in judgments and settlements
worth millions of dollars. For example:
- Car/Pedestrian/Careless Driving. A 70 year old retiree was standing by
the side of a winding country road at the foot of his driveway, waiting for
traffic to clear so that he could cross and retrieve his mail. An off duty heavy
equipment rental company employee lost control of his pickup, jumped onto the
side of the road and killed him instantly. The jury returned a verdict against the
equipment rental company for $450,000 for the family's loss of society and
companionship, most of it for the 71 year old widow missing her husband in the
golden years.
- Fire Safety Agriculture Housing. Three agriculture workers were killed in a
migrant housing fire started by one of the victims falling asleep with a lit
cigarette. All three had been admittedly drinking. Jim filed a federal lawsuit
alleging violations of federal and state smoke and fire alarm requirements that
resulted in substantial compensation in a confidential amount for the families
of the victims.
- Fire Safety Apartment Housing. Nine people perished in a suburban Portland
apartment complex as a result of a 10 year old boy playing with matches. The state
took custody of the boy in a much publicized prosecution, and Jim as lead counsel
sued the owner and managers of the apartments for failing to comply with fire safety
laws and the Landlord-Tenant Act, collecting millions from the landlord's insurer.
- Vehicle Accident/Tavern Liability. A freeway restaurant/bar over-served a
group of customers, who left the bar in their vehicles at closing, and began racing
on the main highway in Albany. One of the vehicles hit a car stopped at a traffic
light, killing two people and injuring two others. The insurance company paid the
policy limit on behalf of the careless, drunken driver. The insurer for the owner
of the stopped car paid its limit for underinsured motorist coverage. The insurer
for the bar paid its maximum policy amount because it served more alcoholic beverages
to an obviously already intoxicated customer. Significantly, the owner of the bar,
who had a number of other over serving situations even after these two deaths occurred,
was forced to pay nearly $150,000 from his own pocket. Additionally, the Oregon
Liquor Commission has taken action against the bar owners.
- Intersection Accident. The newly elected high school student body president
in a rural Eastern Oregon community hit her head on the windshield in a low speed
intersection accident. Even though she was able to complete high school and complete
college, her mental acuity had gone from exceptional to average. Jim settled her
case under the Family Purpose doctrine against the father of the teenager who caused
the injury for a half million dollars.
- Workplace Injury. An electrician had to crawl over a newly installed sheet
metal ceiling at Freightliner's paint shop to rewire the lighting. Unbeknownst to him,
the panels around ceiling air ducts were not yet properly fastened or supported by
the sheet metal company, causing him to fall through the ceiling onto the concrete
floor eight feet below, busting his knee and both elbows. Jim sued the sheet metal
company for failure to warn and violation of work place safety laws, resulting in a
$450,000 settlement for the electrician.
- Justice for International Citizens. Chinese nationals working in the high
tech industry were northbound late at night on I-5. Without warning, the vehicle hit
two large dark cattle at 70 mph, killing the cattle and causing severe head injuries
to the driver. After filing the case, the insurer for the farmer controlling the
pasture from which the animals escaped and wandered onto the freeway agreed to pay
its policy limit, with an additional contribution from the farmer's pocket.
Legal Negligence (malpractice)
- Jim sued a young woman's former attorney in a car accident case for failing
to protect a minor's settlement funds, which had been sucked dry by her guardians
prior to her turning 18. As a result of the lawsuit, the attorney's insurer:
- Returned the entire fee previously taken by the former attorney;
- Paid back all of the monies plus interest that the guardians had misappropriated; and
- Paid an additional confidential amount, which was five times the original
settlement and reputed at the time to be the largest single payout made by the insurer
for Oregon attorneys. Jim obtained this result because of his thorough approach. He went
to the original accident scene, re-interviewed witnesses and found additional defendants
who were responsible for the accident, all of which should have been done by the
original attorney.
- A southern Oregon lawyer, the brother of the chief judge of the Oregon federal court
botched a lawsuit, resulting in clients having no viable access to harvest timber on their
lands, a problem that would be inherited by successor generations. McCandlish sued the
attorney and now, after nearly 5 years of work, the clients have full access without any conditions
on harvesting or limitations on inheritance.
Worker Protection
- Sex Harassment by a Judge Griffin &
McCandlish filed a lawsuit on behalf of a court clerk against her boss, a
sitting judge in Hood River, whose harassing sexual remarks and conduct
eventually caused her to resign because of extreme emotional upset. At trial
after the jury had been picked, the state settled, reassigning our client to a
new position with the state, allowing worker compensation benefits and paying
her substantial monetary damages.
- Sex Harassment by a Medical Doctor. A rural doctor had been attempting
during work hours to grope his nurse with his office manager/wife literally in
the next office. She quit in frustration, and Jim was able to obtain a confidential
but just amount of compensation for the abuse.
- Construction Site Mass Toxic Exposure. Dozens of construction workers
were suddenly overcome with burning chest pain and an inability to breathe at the
Umatilla chemical weapons incinerator construction project. Extensive government
investigations failed to determine the cause. Many of these workers have permanent
lung damage and family relationships were destroyed. Jim was lead counsel in the
lawsuit resulting from this mass toxic exposure, charging that the workers were in
fact exposed to the nerve agent stored in the weaponry to be burned. A substantial
confidential settlement was achieved with the workers' employer. The federal
government was forced to spend over a million dollars to seal the storage units
where leaking chemical weaponry was stored in close proximity to workers building
the incinerator to burn the leaking weaponry.
- Wage and Hour Violations/Class Actions. McCandlish is lead counsel in a
lawsuit against Del Monte Fresh, a subsidiary of internationally known Del Monte.
The company employed hundreds of minimum wage workers, mostly Hispanic with little
proficiency in English, to cut fresh fruit and vegetables. The sanitary working
environment was cold and wet, requiring that protective gear be put on and removed
whenever entering or leaving the production facility. The time needed to "don and
doff" is work time and must be paid for by the employer. Del Monte and its labor
contractor denied that workers were donning and doffing off the clock. After two
weeks of trial, the jury found for the workers. 450 workers have filed claims for
damages.
- Wrongful Death/Product Liability. A young husband driving his Ford Escort
on the way to work early on a foggy morning submarined his compact car under a heavy
equipment hauling trailer from the rear. The knife-like rear edge of the trailer
rode over the Escort's hood, sliced through the A frame pillars and killed him
instantly. Jim co-counseled a case on behalf of the widow and child against the
trailer manufacturer for an unsafe and illegal trailer design that resulted in the
Oregon Supreme Court declaring the design to be illegal and unnecessarily dangerous.
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| James E. McCandlish |
| GRIFFIN & McCANDLISH |
| P.O. Box 10767 |
| Portland, OR 97296 |
| Tel: 503.224.2349 (direct dial) |
| Fax: 503.224.9201 |
| Cell: 503.781.9165 |
| Email: jmccandlish@comcast.net |
|
Disclaimer: The results described
in these cases do not necessarily
indicate that similar results can be obtained for
other or new clients.
|
