# McLain v. Lafferty

> Oregon Supreme Court · February 10, 1971 · 257 Or. 553

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9586463

## Case

- **Full name:** McLAIN, Respondent, v. LAFFERTY, Appellant
- **Court:** Oregon Supreme Court
- **Decided:** February 10, 1971
- **Citations:** 257 Or. 553; 480 P.2d 430; 1971 Ore. LEXIS 497
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Denecke
- **Judges:** Denecke, O'Connell
- **Cited by:** 11 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9586463

## Opinion text

DENECKE, J.,
specially concurring.
I concur rather than dissent because the plaintiff does not contend that if the statute were applicable and was violated, such violation would not constitute negligence per se. I am of the opinion that it would not.
This decision is an apt illustration of the fallacy of holding that a violation of a criminal traffic law precludes one from recovering in a civil damage action. See Mr. Justice O’Connell’s dissent in McConnell v. Herron, 240 Or 486, 494 , 402 P2d 726 (1965). The Department of Education directed that for safety purposes a school bus should be stopped in the right-hand lane of traffic. The legislature, however, had previously provided that it was a crime for any vehicle to stop upon the highway. We are deciding that the plaintiff acted unsafely as a matter of law although he did precisely what the safety regulation directed him to do.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9586463. Public record. Not legal advice.