Hunt & Associates P.C.

Jul 25, 2017

Oregon Will Decide If You’re Smart Enough to Keep Your Kids

PhrenologyA recent story in the Oregonian tells how the state of Oregon has taken a married couple’s children because the state claims the couple isn’t smart enough to be parents.  In fact, the state took their younger child from the hospital before his mother was even able to see him.

As the story points out, both parents have held jobs and they maintain a household.  While neither parent looks like another Einstein, when has anyone … Read more

Jul 5, 2017

When You’re Not Who You Are; When an Architect is Not an Architect

Architect drawingsIn a recent bizarre trip down the rabbit hole, in Twist Architecture v. Board of Architect Examiners, 361 Or. 507 (2017), the Oregon Supreme Court upheld a fine against architects, duly licensed in Washington, for daring to call themselves “architects” on their correspondence and website read by Oregon clients who hired them to prepare master plans for possible commercial development in the state of Oregon.

Even though the drawings the architects here were hired to … Read more

Jun 20, 2017

Scrubbing the Internet of What You Don’t Like – What Works and What Doesn’t

GoogleFrom time to time we get calls asking us to help remove items posted to the internet that the caller finds embarrassing, unfair or just plain wrong.  Sometimes we can help but often we can’t.  Recently Walter Olson at the Overlawyered web site of the Cato Institute collected a number of recent posts by law professor Eugene Volokh here, here and here as well as this story in Tech Dirt.

A few simple … Read more

Jun 13, 2017

We Welcome Michael Litvin to Our Firm

ML 061317We jubilantly welcome Michael Litvin to our firm.  Michael graduated from Southridge High School in Beaverton, Oregon before graduating from University of California, Berkeley with a double major in Rhetoric and Political Science in 2-1/2 years with Highest Distinction in General Scholarship.  Michael earned his Juris Doctorate from Cornell Law School in 2009 where he served as an Associate Editor and Fellow with the Legal Information Institute (LII), Managing Editor of the Cornell International Law … Read more

May 16, 2017

Now That We’ve Taken Your Money, Prove Why We Shouldn’t Keep It; Or, The Advantages of a Presumption of Guilt

Prison cellsSome states apparently insist that even if your criminal conviction is overturned on appeal and the charges against you are dismissed, the state should still keep any fines you’ve paid unless and until you can prove that you were actually innocent of the crime you were charged with in the first place.  In other words, they actually have a presumption of guilt that you have to overcome before the state will return the fines you … Read more

May 9, 2017

The Donut Disability and Other Ailments of Public Employment

DonutsPerhaps it’s not surprising but public employees take significantly more time off from work than workers in the private sector.  As pointed out in Steven Malanga’s City Journal article, there are various causes promoting this difference between employees in the private and public sectors.  Among other things, public sector employees can often retire on full disability while continuing to work full time in other jobs.  Many jurisdictions such as New York City apparently offer … Read more

May 3, 2017

Yellow Traffic Lights are Too Brief but Don’t Try to Tell the State of Oregon’s Board of Engineering Examiners – It Will Certainly Ignore Your Message and Fine You for Speaking

Yellow traffic lightIn an email to the Oregon State Board of Engineering an electronics engineer argued that yellow traffic lights in the state were too brief and thus put the public at risk.  He supported his arguments with calculations and graphs which he prepared at his own cost in his free time.

The Oregon State Board of Engineering disregarded the substance of his email but attacked the author, Mats Jarlstrom, for referring to himself as an “electronics … Read more

Apr 6, 2017

Local Governments Get in the Business of Crony Capitalism and Union Organizing

UnionCity, county and state governments throughout the United States often enact measures to protect or promote favored business groups.  The City of Portland’s efforts to protect the cab companies through ordinances limiting the rates and services of other businesses that transport individuals within the metro area such as airport limos, Uber and Lyft recently received judicial approval from the Ninth Circuit in Speed’s Auto Servs. Group v. City of Portland, 2017 U.S. App Lexis 5551 … Read more

Mar 7, 2017

Who Runs the Shop – Things Public Officials Can’t Say About Public Employees

Speak No Evil Monkey - 030717 croppedThe Oregon Supreme Court has just ruled that a City Council or other government body can be punished for committing an unfair labor practice if one of its members criticizes the public employee unions to which the city’s employees belong.

In AFSCME Council 75 v. City of Lebanon, 360 Or 809 (2017) the Court held that the City could be sanctioned for an unfair labor practice if one member of the Council, in a letter … Read more

Feb 23, 2017

Cover Your Tail – Protecting Against Personal Liability of LLC Members After the Company Dies

FailureOne of the principal benefits of a limited liability company is the insulation it provides its members against personal liability for company debts.  It is, however, possible to lose that protection against personal liability.  One situation where the members and managers can expose themselves to personal liability for company debts is when the company is dissolved and the members assume responsibility for paying the company’s remaining debts, winding up its affairs and distributing the company’s … Read more