finding that investigation done and report prepared by sheriffs board of review following a car accident was not a subsequent remedial measure
How later courts described this case
- finding that investigation done and report prepared by sheriffs board of review following a car accident was not a subsequent remedial measure
- "Assuming without deciding that the reprimand was a subsequent remedial measure, in this case failing to exclude evidence about the reprimand would not affect a substantial right of the county."
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
*121 HASELTON, J.,
concurring.
I agree that the express “if taken previously” language of OEC 407 compels our holding. The obvious, and unfortunate, consequence is that public entities — including, particularly, law enforcement agencies — may forgo discretionary internal investigative processes so as to avoid generating inculpatory evidence. That, in turn, will subvert, not promote, public safety. Compare OEC 407 Commentary (1981) (noting that rule is based, in part, on “a social policy of encouraging people to take, or at least not discouraging them from taking, steps in furtherance of added safety”).
Still, the rule’s text admits of no other construction. The answer, if any, lies in legislative action, not judicial artifice. Cf. Abbotts v. Bacon, 133 Or App 315, 323 , 891 P2d 1321 (1995) (Haselton, J., dissenting).