The Oregon Biz Report - Business News from Oregon

Oregon Supreme Court takes away $100 million in punitive damages due to flawed jury instruction
Ater Wynne
Oregon Law Firm

When the US Supreme Court decided Williams v. Philip Morris in 2007, it created a challenge for judges instructing juries on punitive damages.  The Due Process Clause prevents a jury from imposing punitive damages to punish a defendant directly for harm it causes to non-parties.  But a jury can consider evidence of harm to others when assessing the reprehensibility of defendant’s conduct as part of  setting the amount of punitive damages.  How to instruct juries to avoid improper use of evidence of harm to others is where the problem lies.

Business opposition appears to have derailed measure
Article by: J.L. Wilson
Associated Oregon Industries
Oregon’s largest business advocate

AOI sent a letter to the Oregon Congressional Delegation in opposition to HR 5175, the so-called DISCLOSE Act, which aims to limit the ability of business groups to spend on federal elections. AOI also joined with the United States Chamber of Commerce and hundreds of other business organizations across the country in signing an industry letter in opposition to the measure.

HR 5175 severely limits the ability of business groups to spend on federal elections while giving preferential treatment to unions.

Governor Ted Kulongoski
Speech before City Club of Portland

This is my eighth – and final – address as Governor to the City Club of Portland.  In April I gave what was billed as my last state of the state speech.  If that speech had been a television drama, it would have ended with the tagline:  “To be continued…”  I say that because today I want to finish what I started in April.  I said at that time that a collaboration of public and private citizens would make recommendations in June for restructuring state government.  I called this the “reset” and promised any change would not be done with accounting gimmicks or by executive fiat.

by Glenn Spencer
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Tomorrow marks three years since the Card Check bill was defeated in the U.S. Senate, falling nine votes short of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. Though the bill has yet to come up for debate during this Congress, employers would be well advised to remain focused on this lingering threat.

In recent days, Senate HELP Committee Chair Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) has ratcheted up the rhetoric on Card Check, hinting yesterday that the bill could come up in a “lame duck” session of Congress late in 2010. At a United Auto Workers rally days earlier, Sen. Harkin declared:

Two videos below
1. BP’s new television ad aims to be softer, more local appeal
2. First TV interview by a BP boss (by NBC News)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

New Interest Rate Forecast: Staying Low through 2011
By Bill Conerly,
Conerly Consulting, Businomics,
I now forecast that interest rates will continue to be at their current low levels through the end of 2011.

The economy has substantial slack.  The level of our GDP is still 1.1 percentage point beneath our pre-recession peak level of output.  In the nine quarters since the peak, we should have had about seven percentage points of growth due to normal population and productivity gains.  So we are roughly eight percentage points below our potential.  Some estimate the gap at only six percentage points, but it’s still significant.

By Oregon Tax News,

Recovery.org has listed their update on where and how federal stimulus dollars are being spent.  When comparing dollars per person, Oregon ends up in the national state average. Oregon is above the average for teh speed at which funds are sent to contractors.

1. CA – 6,354 projects, $24.12 Billion
2. WA – 2,428 Projects, $11.76 Billion
3. NV – 717 projects, $3.08 billion
4. OR – 2,161 Projects, 3.2 Billion
5. ID – 838 projects, $2.04 Billion.

*** See below for Fox Business News interview about the stimulus.

Oregon Court of Appeals affirms decertification of class action
Ater Wynne
Oregon Law Firm

Last week the Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision to decertify a class action against US Bank.  In Belknap v. US Bank, the plaintiffs claimed that defendant employer failed to timely pay a portion of their wages.  In 2004, the trial court certified a plaintiffs’ class estimated to include up to 1,900 former employees.  But after two years of discovery and motion practice, the court decertified the class and the case proceeded with just the two named plaintiffs — only one of whom ultimately won his wage claim at trial.

San Francisco Home Values Rise 50%, What About Portland?
By Oregon Small Business Association

In San Francisco, home and condominium sales jumped 50 percent in the first quarter of 2010 from last year. According to a multiple listings analysis by Terradatum, the median price rose 5.4 percent, to $685,000. The Bay Area home values increased 16 percent in March illustrating the biggest jump of any city in the S&P/Case-Shiller Home-Price Index. The 20-city composite measure climbed 2.3 percent. Experts believe San Francisco’s unique attributes help keep home prices high and that as the tech sector recovers, buyers will pay top dollar.

Despite Portland’s unique attributes, the metro area has not been as fortunate as San Francisco. Although Portland is not a particularly bad market in comparison to the rest of the nation, the city is likely to complete 2010 without too much appreciation or depreciation of home values.

Supreme Court issues Favorable Ruling for Employers in Texting/Privacy Case
by Jim Shore
Stoel Rives, Oregon law firm

The United States Supreme Court issued a long-anticipated decision in City of Ontario v. Quon, unanimously ruling that a search of sexually explicit personal text messages sent by a police officer using his department pager was reasonable and did not violate the individual officer’s privacy rights. At issue was the right of a government employer to monitor its workers private communications because it believed employer-owned equipment was being abused.

FCC Effort to Regulate the Internet Jeopardizes Jobs
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

WASHINGTON, D.C.–”The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today expressed deep concern about the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) notice of inquiry (NOI) on the best legal framework for broadband Internet access. “Regulating the dynamic, competitive broadband industry with rules originally designed for monopoly-era telephone service should not be an option,” said William L. Kovacs, senior vice president for Environment, Technology, and Regulatory Affairs at the U.S. Chamber.  “The FCC is pursuing a path that jeopardizes the tremendous investment, innovation, consumer choice, and job creation evidenced in today’s broadband marketplace.”

BDO Study Identifies Leading Risk Factors At 100 Largest Public Retailers
By BDO

The following is the list of the Top 20 Risk Factors of the Largest U.S. Retailers:

1.  General Economic Conditions 96%
2.  U.S.& Foreign Supplier/Vendor Concerns 86%
3.  Competition & Consolidation in Retail Sector 85%
4.  Credit Markets/Availability of Financing & Company Indebtedness 84%
5.  Consumer Confidence and Spending 83%
6.  Changes to Federal, State and/or Local Regulations 72%
7. tie  Labor (health coverage, union concerns, staffing) 70%
7. tie  Terrorism, Natural Disasters & Geo-political events70%
9.  Consumer Credit and/or Debt Levels 69%
10.  Implementation of IT Systems 64%

Grandfathering Rules Eliminate Choice, Flexibility for Small Businesses
By National Association of Small Business

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 14, 2010 — Susan Eckerly, senior vice president of the National Federation of Independent Business, America’s leading small business association, issued the following statement in response to the latest rules on grandfathered health plans under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.   “A lot was said today about choice and flexibility and ‘keeping what you like’ under the new healthcare law. However, today’s latest rules on grandfathered plans mean small businesses will be left with even less choice and flexibility. Instead, they will be faced with the difficult choice of paying more to maintain grandfathered coverage, shopping for a new (and more expensive) plan or possibly dropping it entirely.

Here is the BP television ad that has hit the airwaves about the Gulf oil spill. These Gulf oil spill response ads can be seen on many news channels which highlight the help BP is offering the gulf.

Oregon statewide unemployment for May 2010
By David Cooke, Economist
Oregon Employment Department

Oregon’s Employment Situation: May 2010
Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 10.6 percent in May, the same as in March and April. The rate has been essentially unchanged for the most recent seven months. Oregon’s unemployment rate was 11.6 percent in May 2009, which tied June 2009 as Oregon’s highest unemployment rate since the early 1980s.

The U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 9.7 percent in May from 9.9 percent in April.

By David Oxenford
Davis, Wright and Tremaine LLP

In the last few weeks, I’ve been asked several times by broadcasters whether an ad should be considered an “issue ad.”   Usually, the ad in question deals with some sort of faintly controversial issue, and the broadcaster seems torn about how to classify the ad.   In many ways, the answer is almost irrelevant as, other than some public file obligations, whether or not an ad is an issue ad has little practical significance.

Issue ads are not entitled to special rates – lowest unit rates are reserved for candidate ads.  They are not entitled to special placement in broadcast schedules.

By Oregon Tax News,

Thanks to the IRS, successful gamblers may become losers.  Those gamblers who win $600 from racetracks and state lotteries, $1,200 or more from slots or bingo, $1,500 from keno, or $5,000 from poker will receive a Form W-2G from the IRS to report their winnings.  Federal tax law acknowledges wins as income but only acknowledges losses in relation to the wins in the same year.  For example, if a person wins $10,000 this year and loses $9,000 next year, his two-year total of taxable gambling income is going to be $10,000, not $1,000.  Individuals who win $10,000 at poker in June, lose $10,000 in July could wind up significantly boosting their taxes.

By Patrick Emerson
Oregon Economics Blog

Kaboom!  Went the Oregon general fund.

The Office of Economic Analysis blog has a nice picture that does a good job describing the torpedo they good ship Oregon took to her hull.

This is net receipts from February though April for the last 14 years.  Note how Oregon is $400,000 in the red in 2010, meaning we refunded $400,000 more than we took in during that period, and this is with 66 and 67.

What is going on?

By U.S. Chamber of Commerce

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, issued a statement today clarifying comments that he made at a recent Christian Science Monitor media breakfast on the BP oil spill cleanup efforts:  “The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an environmental and financial catastrophe for families, small businesses, and communities along the Gulf Coast.  As I said and as the transcript makes clear, this will require significant long-term attention from BP, the federal government, state and local authorities, volunteers, and the entire business community.  While the depth and breadth of the consequences are unknown, clearly BP will have to assume its responsibilities over the long-term.

NIKE is no stranger to ground breaking ads, and critics (Yahoo Sports, LA Times ) are hailing this one as the next. See it for yourself below.