Court Upholds Dismissal of Suit Over Logging Accident Death

The Oregon Court of Appeals upheld the summary dismissal of a daughter’s civil suit for the death of her father, who was killed while performing logging work as an independent contractor. Howard Ranch LLC owns extensive tracts of land in Harney County. The United States Department of Agriculture and the Harney Soil and Water Conservation District contracted with Howard Ranch for the removal of invasive juniper trees on the property. Joe Cronin Logging LLC contracted with Howard Ranch to do the work. Until about 2015, Cronin Logging itself did some of the cutting. After that, Croni...