Precedent Setting

When we took on our client’s appeal, the Oregon Court of Appeals had just affirmed the dismissal of her claims under the statute of limitations, because our client had not discovered the theft of a treasured family heirloom for several years.  Her only hope was the Oregon Supreme Court, which accepts review in only a fraction of the cases brought to it.  We delved into the history of Oregon’s statutes of limitations, including statutes adopted in 1843 by the provisional government, landmark precedent from the 1960s, and recent Court of Appeals cases that had strayed from that precedent.  We took our client’s case to the Supreme Court, which not only accepted the case but reversed and unanimously held that our client’s claims did not accrue until she discovered the theft.  The defendant quickly returned the heirloom to our client.  Rice v. Rabb, 354 Or 721 (2014).