Bottom-Line-Up-Front: Because if we don’t care about our community, no one else will. The Long Answer: 1. Does Community Involvement Matter at all? Stated another way, this questions whether or not what we do has any impact at all on our communities. I think the answer to this question is clear that obviously we do. Sometimes it feels like we try hard to make the community better, and larger forces seem to make the community worse despite our efforts. But I am always reminded of Margaret Mead’s quote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” 2. How do we know that the involvement we intend to engage with will be a net positive to our community? Stated another way: “I know I am out here doing stuff (like giving $20 to a panhandler); but how do I know that the impact of what I do will actually be good (like the panhandler will not immediately use the $20 to buy beer, get drunk and punch someone)?” I struggle with this question daily and I think the struggle is the best we can do. We do not know the future and “The Good Place” TV show made a very compelling case because our modern society is so complicated and interconnected, there is no way for us to even know the true consequences of a choice. So, the best answer I have been able to come up with at this point in my life is to try and define what good is and to the best of my ability to evaluate every opportunity for community involvement to determine whether it is or is not good. I don’t have (and probably cannot get to) certainty in this realm because of the limits that we have as humans in modern society to determine the full consequences of our actions, especially when they only manifest themselves in the future. 3. If community involvement does matter, and we have identified a way to determine that our actions have a positive effect on our community, why should we care enough to actually do it? This is where I begin to really love this question and to truly enjoy the fact that I have the opportunity to work at Hunking Law. Modern business includes a healthy appreciation for “goodwill” that a brand has generated within the community. This is because people will buy products from companies they like before they will buy equal products from companies they do not like. Thus, I am blessed to be in a position where I get to spend time helping my community, and it also happens to be a justifiable use of business time. Additionally, because attorneys resolve conflict on behalf of humans, I spend a lot of time engaged with human conflict. As a result, it is a very welcome reprieve to go and repack diapers with the United Way of Lane County or help Corvallis Housing First as opposed to engaging with human conflict. Thus, I can additionally justify spending Hunking Law time on community involvement by the impacts it has on my employees (and selfishly, myself). Further still, my firm is filled with very competent people who would likely be very good at any task no matter what we decided to focus our attention on. I often say that we would be very good medical debt collectors if that is what we chose to do with the firm. But because we recognize that we can pick whatever mission we want (so long as it works within the bounds of capitalism) we get to choose how we spend our time and we chose the mission: “To export the greatest amount of justice, goodness and fairness as we can into the world.” Because I am blessed to work with good people who would choose to spend their time working on that mission, we get the pleasure of being able to spend our time helping people resolve car crash cases against insurance companies. I get to help an individual person each day deal with what is potentially the worst experience of their lives. And on top of that I get to go out into the community and make it better and safer and hopefully to make the future a little brighter. As a result, not only does community involvement matter, but I get the privilege of being able to spend my time and money on community involvement to try and make the Willamette Valley the best community it can possibly be. What is Hunking Law doing right now to support our community? Now through June 26th, we are collecting grooming and dental care essentials at our Corvallis office in preparation for Vina’s Back to School later this summer to ensure Benton County students have what they need to be confident and comfortable in the classroom. See this video if you’d like to learn more about how you can help!

Bottom-Line-Up-Front: From the overall settlement and about 1/3rd of it. The Long Answer: “ Access to Justice ” is a term I have heard in the legal industry that seems to be the code word for getting legal services to people who do not have enough money to pay a lawyer. One of the great luxuries I have in my profession is that in my line of work I can help even the poorest of people get exceptional legal work on their case. That is because when we are collecting “damages” in an action at law (i.e. money for a wrong done) if I am successful, then there is a pot of money from which a person can pay me for the work I did. In almost every case we take a 1/3rd contingent fee of the settlement. This is the industry standard and considered reasonable in almost all circumstances. The value of structuring the attorney fee payment in this way is that whether a person is rich or poor, they can get that access to justice when they have been wronged by someone, especially when the wrong is a car crash that is the fault of another person. Some of the value in structuring the attorney fee payment this way is that it gives the attorney and the client an alignment of incentives such that they will both work together to maximize the amount that ultimately gets to the client. If, in the alternative, you were to pay someone for this legal work by the hour, not only would injured people without several thousand dollars available to hire an attorney lose that access to justice , they also would have a misaligned incentive with their attorney. For example, if the attorney must bill by the hour to read through medical records, then someone with more general health issues not related to the crash would presumably have more prior medical records to read through and as a result would need to pay more money to their lawyer just to get the same legal result as a more healthy person. As another example, if we could get another $7,500 in a case but it would take another 10 hours of attorney work to get that result, on a contingent fee the client gets the benefit of only paying $2,500 to get another $5,000. But if that 10 hours of attorney work is billed by the hour at say $500/hr then the client only gets $2,500 and the attorney gets $5,000. By linking the value of the work done by the lawyer to the result achieved, it provides better incentives for both the client and the attorney to do good work and get a good result. Certainly, for other types of legal work payment by the hour makes more sense and may create a more proper alignment of incentives; but in cases where there are damages at the end of a lawsuit, I have not found a better way to align the incentives of the attorney and the client while also increasing access to justice and ensuring that meritorious cases are pursued. If you have been in a car crash and are worried that you will not be able to afford to hire an attorney, you will be pleasantly surprised when you give us a call at (541)HUNKING ( 541-486-5464 ) and see that we will do our best to get you access to justice at an affordable rate.

Auto Insurance companies are filled with smart people who need to evaluate risk and extrapolate that risk over a long time and a large geographic area. If they get it wrong, then their company may fail, so they have every incentive to get it right. While their risk may seem like it is based on understanding damage done, there is another layer that is not just damage done, but how will the law of that jurisdiction value and evaluate that damage in terms of dollars lost for that particular car crash.  For example, according to money.com in 2020 there are substantial differences in auto insurance cost to the consumer that vary from state to state . In 2024 the Nevada Division of Insurance cited rising cost of litigation as a major cost driver for insurance companies. As a result, to keep their businesses profitable, insurance companies are typically experts in how the laws of a particular state impact the value of a case. It is valuable, if you need to deal with a car crash, that you know a few of the major legal differences in Oregon Law.

So, you have been injured in a car crash, you called an attorney and got set up with an intake; but you want to prepare for this meeting to ensure that you are able to have a smooth and productive meeting. Good, I can help with this. We are going to go through a hypothetical example to make clear what information is of the type that you should prepare for your meeting.

The Oregon DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) makes a lot of their information and requirements public. With a few exceptions, they try to make a lot of information accessible to the public.

What are some special complications associated with motorcycle accidents? Bottom-Line-up-front: There are small variations with a motorcycle crash in Oregon as opposed to a car crash, but many aspects remain the same.

This is an interesting question in December of 2025 to answer because the rain and the flooding is ongoing and expected to cause more disruption in the following days and weeks. These weather conditions increase the risk of car accidents, and when a crash happens in bad weather it raises important questions about liability and the extent of any driver’s negligence. I can’t speak for Washington, but if we look at the issue with the lens of the impact of weather on Negligence in Oregon it actually shows the versatility of the Common Law system and how it can adapt itself to any factual circumstance. Let’s dive right into it:

South Eugene families' guide to understanding wrongful death legal representation. Learn about the claims process, damages, and what to expect from your attorney.

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