MINUTES OF THE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SECTION

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

July 20, 2007

I. CALLED TO ORDER:

The meeting was held at approximately 12:10 p.m. Chair Linh Vu called the meeting to order. The following members were present at the meeting:

Linh Vu Chair; Meg Carman – Treasurer; Jennifer Roumell; Jill Riechers; Geoffrey Wren; Matthew Roy Secretary; Holly Somers Chair Elect; and the Bar representative.

Also present by phone were Mustafa Kasubhai and Robert Guarrasi.

II. MINUTES:

Jennifer Roumell moved that the minutes be approved, and the members voted and unanimously approved the minutes from the prior meeting.

III. CHAIR REPORT:

There was no chair report.

IV. TREASURER’S REPORT:

Treasurer Meg Carman indicated there are now 363 members, including 3 new members of the Section. Revenue for the year was $43,433, with expenses at $35,898. Our current balance in the budget is over $25,000 at the present time.

V. BENCH BAR FORUM:

This is in the schedule for Willamette Valley Vineyards on November 9, 2007. It was discussed that Sandra Hansberger will be present to speak on elimination of bias. We were also talking about having a session on Workers’ Comp Malpractice Traps, and Matthew Roy is going to call Justice Peterson to see if he is available for the November 9, 2007 meeting.

VI. OLD BUSINESS:

We were still discussing ideas for how to spend the extra cash that we have available in the budget. Apparently, Sally has agreed to be in charge of Salishan once again, which is a great thing. We discussed reducing the amount for the attendance at Salishan, and also discussed need-based scholarships. We discussed contributing some of that to the Campaign for Equal Justice, and we also discussed helping out new practitioners and Workers’ Comp as far as attending Salishan. There was a suggestion that we do a study or survey to track the health of Workers’ Comp practitioners, and whether they feel people have adequate access to justice through the Workers’ Compensation system. Robert Guarrasi was going to check with the ombudsman, and Suzanne Cushing was going to check with the Oregon State Bar Referral Service. We talked about doing a mock hearing for Workers’ Comp, and also recruiting new practitioners.

VII. COMMITTEE REPORTS:

A. Communications There was no Communications report.

B. Daughtry Criteria It has not been set up yet. Dean Lederer, apparently, is in charge of working on that issue.

C. Legislative A handout was passed around regarding the status of several bills that affect the Workers’ Compensation system.

D. Race/Ethnic There was no Race/Ethic Report.

VIII. NEW BUSINESS:

Abby Herman confirmed Holly Somers as presiding ALJ of the Workers’ Compensation Board. Congratulations to Holly Somers. The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.