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The article below was written by Christopher Heaps. Heaps is a lawyer with Stoel Rives who has volunteered to carry out the “citizen-initiated citation” process (as outlined in ORS 153.058) to retroactively cite Lisa Wheeler (the woman who hit Siobhan Doyle at N. Interstate and Greeley back in October) for “failure to yield”.
The article below chronicles his experience in making the first significant step in that process. It’s a fascinating look into the challenges a citizen can face when trying to work for justice within the system.
The Citation Odyssey
First, my disclaimer. I am a year into my legal practice, and in that time I have worked on permitting and approval for renewable energy projects and natural resource projects, helped some of Oregon’s largest corporations achieve compliance with environmental laws, and dabbled in winery and vineyard law. In that time, I have been nowhere near a courthouse and have done no work related to torts or traffic laws.
My preparation for filing a citizen-initiated complaint consisted of reading Ray Thomas’ pamphlet, attending a two-hour continuing education seminar on bike law, and reading the statute that authorizes citizen-initiated complaints. Because none of those sources indicated the court in which a Multnomah County citation should be filed, I consulted an attorney friend of mine who has done considerable work on traffic citations in Multnomah County.
“I thought of stuffing the complaint in her shirt and running away. But it was a long way to the security checkpoint…”
He confirmed that the correct court was the Circuit Court (Portland has no special traffic court or municipal court) and told me the place to file would be in Room 210 of the Multnomah County Courthouse. At 2pm, I walked across the street to the courthouse and stood in line there. After about a 10 minute wait in line, I approached the lady at the window and explained why I was there. I was met with a blank stare.
“How do I get this filed?” I asked.
“I have no idea,” she replied.
She got up from the desk and disappeared behind a door. A few minutes later she re-emerged.
“Take that down to 106,” she said.
After another approximately 10 minute wait at the window of 106, the same scene was repeated.
“We handle those at 206,” the second lady said.
Back up the stairs I went. This time it was the same words, but different window. “I have no idea.”
![](https://bikeportland.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/multcocourthouse.jpg)
Deja vu was beginning to set in. This time I held my ground. “This is the third place I’ve been,” I said. “Can you please get your supervisor?” Mercifully, she did not push the panic button hidden below the desk for summoning the Sheriff’s deputies and instead agreed. “Have a seat over there,” she said, pointing to a ratty looking orange chair. “Thanks,” I said weakly. And then, muttering under my breath, “I think…”
After about 15 minutes, a haggard looking woman in her early 50s emerged scanning the room. As soon as she saw me, she walked briskly over to me. “What is this?” she asked impatiently. Again, I explained. She looked puzzled still, and I was afraid we were at the end of the line. I thought of stuffing the complaint in her shirt and running away. But it was a long way to the security checkpoint and I knew I wouldn’t make it through without a severe beating at the hands of the County’s thugs.
“Follow me,” she said in a surprisingly friendly way. Back down the stairs we went, and around a few corners. We paused in front of one of the many locked, unnumbered heavy wood doors, where she knocked. After a moment, we heard the door being unlocked and an eye peered out from a crack in the doorway. She pushed through and slammed the door in my face as I stepped forward, foolishly thinking I might be invited into the inner sanctum. I found a bench in the hallway and waited, still clasping my complaint form.
“‘Where did you get that form?’ she asked …’You’re not supposed to have that.’
Five minutes went by, then 10. I checked my watch, discovering that we were now closing in on 3pm. Another 10 minutes went by before she emerged from The Door. Again, she walked briskly over to me.
“Where did you get that form?” she asked, as though I was in possession of sensitive national security information. Before I could answer, she said, “You’re not supposed to have that.” This time I was wondering whether my friend Jason would be able to get me out of jail without the rest of the firm finding out.
“I, um, well … I downloaded it from the web.”
“You found this on the Internet?” She did not look pleased.
“Uh-huh.”
“Hmmpf….OK, here’s what you need to do. You can’t use that. You need to go over to the Justice Center. Go in the door on 2nd. Tell them what you told me. Ask them to send a police officer to meet you in the lobby because you need a police officer to fill out the form and sign it.”
I had just read the statute. It said nothing about the police filling out the form. In fact, it said just the opposite. It was a law for citizen initiation of a complaint. The law directs the court to accept a filing from a citizen with the appropriate information — the citizen’s name and address and the defendant’s name and address — and then requires the court to direct law enforcement officers to serve the defendant. The law doesn’t even mention the form.
I pondered what to say next. She seemed certain this was the required path, and unlikely to go back through The Door for a second discussion or late lunch or whatever they were doing in there.
“Then what do I do?” I asked.
“Come back here.”
“What do I do with it? What room do I go to?”
She looked surprised, as though she hadn’t thought that far.
“210, I guess.”
You guess?
“OK,” I said, resigned to working within the system.
A few blocks away on SE 2nd, I found the entrance to the Portland Police Bureau’s heavily fortified Justice Center. Signs everywhere warned me of things I was prohibited from doing. “No rowdy or obnoxious behavior.” “No carrying a firearm.” “No loitering.” And finally, “Only one warning will be given.”
After another obligatory 10-minute wait, I approached the bullet-proof glass window and spoke into the microphone to the military-looking gentleman behind the glass. Once again, I explained the citizen-initiated complaint law and the apparent need for a PPB officer to complete the form. Once again, I got the by-now familiar blank stare.
“I’m not a police officer,” he said.
“Yes, well, that’s fine. But, I need one. Aren’t they here?”
“Go over to the black courtesy phone,” he pointed to the corner of the room, “Press star-five.”
“Next.”
“Is that how…?”
“NEXT!”
Although the courtesy phone was black, the brown gunk caked all over its handset was clearly visible even in the florescent lighting. I made a mental note to bring my hand sanitizer next time I visited the Justice Center, then dove in.
“You have reached the Portland Police non-emergency number. If this is an emergency, please hand up and dial 9-1-1. Please listen to the following list of options….”
I navigated my way through a few sets of options, none of which seemed particularly applicable. Finally, I reached a live person, the dispatcher. Once again, I gave the explanation. Was this the sixth time? And once again, I got the blank stare, this time as an uncomfortable silence.
“Hello?” I said.
“Wait in the lobby and I’ll send an officer over.” And then he hung up.
I waited, and waited. Forty-five minutes later, around 4pm, I gave up. Clearly, no one was coming. I had now missed almost an entire afternoon of work. And why the hell did I come over here anyway? I knew this wasn’t necessary. Determined to leave the damn complaint with the court clerk, I headed back to the courthouse.
This time I met a new lady at 210, necessitating another Explanation and Blank Stare. After the Supervisor showed up, I asked to see her Supervisor, politely explaining that the court was required by law to accept my filing. Again, I waited in the orange chair.
After yet another 10 minutes, two ladies emerged. “Please follow us.”
We went out into the hallway, and they introduced themselves and their titles. Because they did such a great job of helping me, I won’t reveal their names or titles. I explained my afternoon odyssey to the lady in charge, and immediately she apologized.
“I’m sorry you had to go through all that. We have a procedure for this,” she said, showing me a form that directs employees how to process a citizen-initiated complaint. “They should have known what to do.”
I looked at the form. It directed the employee to tell the compaintant to find a police officer to fill out a Uniform Citation and Complaint Form (UCCF).
Before I could speak, she said, “You need to go back over to the Justice Center and…”
“No,” I said firmly. “I’m not going back over there. There is no requirement in the law that a police officer fill out the form or that the complaint be the UCCF. All it says is that the complaint has to have the complaintant’s name and address and the defendant’s name and address and that the compaintant swear under penalty of perjury that the compaintant believes the accusations to be correct. The court is required to accept such a complaint.”
Then I noticed she was holding a copy of the statute. “Have you read it?” I asked, pointing.
I could tell that she had, and that she understood it. “OK,” she said. “But the reason we do it that way is that the forms the police carry have numbers on them that we use to assign a case number. Yours doesn’t have that and without that number, we may lose it and not be able to track what’s going on.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“OK. … But it’s not a sworn complaint, so we can’t accept it.”
“Yes, it is. It’s the same as the form the police use. See, right here it says, ‘The undersigned swears under penalty of…’ See, I signed that? It’s a sworn statement.”
They looked at each other. “I don’t know… I don’t think that’s good enough”
“Hold up your right hand and repeat after me,” she said.
“I …um, what’s your name?”
“Christopher Heaps”
“I, Christopher Heaps, do solemnly swear…”
“I, Christopher Heaps, do solemnly swear…”
“OK, now cross out your signature and sign it again right there.”
“Whatever you say…”
“Now you understand that if we can’t personally serve the defendant, nothing will come of this?”
“You can’t just mail it to her?”
“No, it has to be served personally. If we can’t do that, well…we can’t issue a citation.”
“So you mean that if I get a parking ticket and I just take it off my car and say I never saw it, then I can’t be fined because I can claim I wasn’t personally served?! Somehow I don’t think that’s the way it works.”
“I’m just telling you the rule, Mr. Heaps.”
“Well, I guess I’ve done all I can…”
She explained that they would process the complaint and send me a court date by mail. I thanked them and walked back across the street, only two hours and twenty minutes after I arrived.
This article was written by Christopher Heaps.
way to take one for the team! thank you
thanks Christopher.
I kind of hope a larger media outlet will pick up this story(no offense Jonathan).
I would think that not just bikey type folks would want to know this information.
And then?? Come on, you\’re leaving us hanging.
Is there a part 2 coming, or did everything go well after that?
It just goes to show you that there seldom are \”authorities\” on a subject within the system, just people who happened to get the job and may or may not know what the heck they\’re talking about.
Thank you Christopher.
that is un-freakin\’-believable…
how much are those people paid to be totally incompetent? I want their job..seems like you can claim ignorance and not have to actually work at anything AND be totally clueless all at once!! awesome…where can I sign up?
a link to this story shoudl be forwarded to everyone of those individuals at PDX Circuit Court..
just so they know their ineptitude has been publicly put on display..
What is your billing rate? Ya think there might be some of us willing to make a donation to cover your costs?
In Tulsa, NOT one self-respecting attorney would touch this with a ten-foot pole. Good job.
I\’m with tonyt, I gotta know what happens next! Great job Christopher, what a fascinating look inside our legal system and great job on making this such an interesting read, Douglas Adams would be proud. I\’m dying to find out if the court follows up.
\”how much are those people paid to be totally incompetent?\”
I would not so quickly jump on these court employees. While I too am frustrated at how difficult of a time Chris had with this, I realize that the law itself if fairly obscure and is rarely utilized.
I can\’t honestly expect every court employee to understand each little process and law that is currently on the books…especially when you have this interesting situation of a citizen attempting to cite another citizen without the presence of a police officer.
To me, the moral of this story is that there needs to be an organized effort to educate everyone in the system (courts, cops, citizens) about this law.
Fortunately, that effort is underway, I just haven\’t managed to write about it yet… stay tuned.
I think the way to grow this process is to begin having multiple people using it. It is easy to deter one person. Start doing this for every right hook with out a citation and a process will eventually indoctrinated into the bureaucracy. The key is learning the pathway, key contacts and communicating them to people willing to carry the next series of citations through.
I am floored by this! Thanks, Chris for all your work. I have to agree with Jonathan on not jumping on the court employees for not knowing the process for dealing with the citation, but I will jump on them for being rude and unhelpful!
Where do we go now? How can I help?
I agree with Jonathan (@ #9). These people do the same thing every day, and it\’s rarely, if ever, what I asked them to do. I intended this piece to be both insightful with regard to the process (or lack thereof), but also a little entertaining.
And always remember *WE ARE* the legal system — not just attorneys and judges, but the people too. We can make a better system, but it requires dedication and and tenacity in the face of things like the bureaucratic wall I hit last week. That kind of thing produces such frustration that most people give up. If we\’re going to make Portland a better place to bike, we\’re going to have to deal with all that and then some. This is my town, I\’m going to change it, and I hope you\’ll join me.
The other thing I want to say is that, after this experience, I\’m actually pretty confident that the folks at the Courthouse are committed to making this easier and that people will not have to deal with this in the future. I finally made contact with people over there who understand this ought to work for citizens and, with the help of Ray Thomas and other folks in the bike community, we\’re going to design something that works.
I\’ll write about the next steps in the process as they happen, and hopefully Jonathan will be kind enough to publish that, or write about it himself.
And FYI, I bill at $200/hour, so that little trip would have cost a client about $500.
I think this story is a missing chapter from Franz Kafka\’s \”The Trial\”. Good heavens.
I went through the citizen complaint process quite a number of years back after I was run over by a truck. An OSP officer had me sign a UCCF. DA\’s office picked it up and guy was convicted.
I don\’t know, 2 hours isn\’t that bad. If you\’ve ever gotten in a fight with an HMO over whether something is elective or not, it will leave you pleading for socialized medicine, run by the DMV, cause it would be better…
a.O – I know this is a long shot but do you know if other states have this citizen citation law or where I should look to find if my state has one. I\’m in Missouri by the way.
Also I want to say good work. I\’m glad you are making the effort for this. It really is what the legal system is supposed to be about.
Thank you Christopher Heaps! Completely agree that all bicyclist-citizens should learn how to follow through with this procedure.
Way to go A.O.! You exhibited way more courtesy and patience than the people there deserved, but it would have gone much worse if you hadn\’t. I\’d have run screaming out of there in about half an hour.
I agree with Spencer that we need to make this operation more common, with many people submitting the forms. They\’ll come up with a better way to process these papers if they have to do more of them, because that\’s how things work.
Another question on the process:
If one has a license plate number, but no name and address, for a driver who commits an offense, can a citizen initiated complaint be filed?
I agree with Spencer (#10) that this process should be used by more of us to start sending the message that laws cannot be violated with impunity. However, it\’s rare to have full name and address information. There are multiple reverse license plate lookup programs on the internet, but every one that I\’ve found charges $40 to $80 per search and there\’s no guarantee the information will be reliable.
Jonathan (#9) said \”I can\’t honestly expect every court employee to understand each little process and law that is currently on the books\”
I agree completely, and I have to say that that statement illustrates perfectly what\’s wrong with the system. We say that \”ignorance of the law is no excuse\”, but our legal code has gotten so large and so complex that the average person (or in the case of the county workers, \”legal\” professionals who have a much greater knowledge than the average joe) cannot know, remember or understand more than a small segment of it.
a_O, great summary of the bureaucratic process – reminds me of my days in the military. Thanks for the continued hard work!
The thing about having to personally deliver it is standard with such things, I think.
Someone I know filed a claim against her neighbors for reimbursement of vet costs incurred when their dog escaped and attacked her cat… It was the same thing. If they claim wasn\’t personally delivered, it was no good. So if the people just didn\’t open their door, there really wouldn\’t be anything they could do.
At least, that\’s what I was told about that situation.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease as they say.
I like the part where she makes you swear to her personally. Classic.
I think you\’re right though. Personal service for a citation is ridiculous. Makes you wonder if there is some form of writ you could use to compel the county to mail the citation?
The statute does, however, raise some interesting questions. Seems like a clear end-run around prosecutorial discretion.
@ #13: Exactly!
@ #16: Sorry, I don\’t know. Check with an in-state lawyer, maybe.
@ #19: The short answer is that I\’m not sure. The OR DMV has a list of reasons why someone can obtain an owner\’s name and address from their plate number, but that info is not generally available to the public. One such reason is if requested by an attorney \”in contemplation of civil litigation\” or something similar. I\’m not sure if that, or any of the other reasons, would apply.
@ #21: The Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure provide for personal service (real or constructive) in civil suits. But they do not address traffic citations. This is a civil matter, though, so it\’s ambiguous. All I know is that excuse doesn\’t get me out of a parking ticket, so it shouldn\’t get Lisa Wheeler out of this one!!
The statute does, however, raise some interesting questions. Seems like a clear end-run around prosecutorial discretion.
This was the first issue my lawyer friends raised.
The statute requires the court to dismiss a complaint if the DA intends to initiate a citation proceeding or criminal charge based on the same conduct. See ORS 153.058(6).
So it\’s an either-or situation. And, as we all know, there will be no DA or PPB initiated citation or criminal charge in this incident.
So it\’s up to us to send the message that failing to yield to a bicyclist in a bike lane and breaking that person\’s arm in the process is NOT OK.
And to demonstrate that Mark Kruger, the head of PPB\’s traffic division, IS DEAD WRONG ABOUT TRAFFIC LAW when he says that the duty to yield depends on perceiving the person you\’re supposed to yield to.
a.O. I find this project fascinating. I am not sure that it would be entirely healthy if citizen initiated citations became a common place. However, I do applaud your direct action in this matter. A number of good things may happen. It should be enough of an embarrassment to PPB that some positive change may come and it will be cathartic for Multnomah County.
It was unconscionable for PPB not to have issued a citation in this crash.
However, all of you who wish to follow a.O.’s lead, be aware the county has the authority to suspend this law by ordinance. Don’t abuse it!
So we\’ve got a question about service in a violation proceeding. Standard operating procedure is that \”[e]xcept as provided in ORS 810.439 [photo radar], 811.590 [parking on snow-park], 811.615 [parking in disabled parking], 811.617 [blocking disabled parking], or other law an enforcement officer issuing a violation citation shall cause the summons to be delivered to the person cited and shall cause the complaint and abstract of court record to be delivered to the court.\” ORS 153.054. That is, but for photo radar, snow parks, and screwing disabled people, personal service is required. The key here, however, is the phrase \”other law.\”
The very next section (Initiation of violation proceeding by private party), deviates from the standard when it provides that \”[t]he court may require any enforcement officer to serve the summons.\” ORS 153.058(3). Whether personal service is required is in the discretion of the court. Seems pretty clear to me that this is one of the \”other law[s].\”
Now, in my fairly uneducated opinion, it seems to me that in this case the \”court\” would be a judge, not that lady. Do you think the Supplementary Local Rules for Multnomah County would say something on the issue?
Jeez, forkthis, where were you last week? 😉
That is, but for photo radar, snow parks, and screwing disabled people, personal service is required.
But if leaving a little yellow envelope under the wiper blade of a car is personal service, then why isn\’t going to someone\’s house, and if they\’re not home, putting the citation throught he mail slot or leaving it on the doorknob or putting it in the mailbox? Seems to me it would be, or should be.
The court officer was implying that it wouldn\’t be. Or maybe she was just implying that, if I got the wrong address, there would be no citation.
Do you think the Supplementary Local Rules for Multnomah County would say something on the issue?
Yes. Certainly a thorough lawyer would check there.
But all these questions and issues raise a really fundamental point:
I have very little time to do this stuff because of my day (and night and weekend) job, so any help chasing down answers like this is *greatly* appreciated. And please feel free to get in touch with me if you think you can help in this regard.
However, all of you who wish to follow a.O.’s lead, be aware the county has the authority to suspend this law by ordinance. Don’t abuse it!
Excellent point. This could all go away at any time, and you can bet the right-wing, car-firsters will be screaming for that if there are frivilous complaints filed.
Where I personally am drawing the line is a physical injury to *anyone* caused by violating a traffic law. IMHO, such action deserves a citation at a minimum. And that\’s what our group is using as a guideline for initiating our citation complaints.
\”Where I personally am drawing the line is a physical injury to *anyone* caused by violating a traffic law. IMHO, such action deserves a citation at a minimum. And that\’s what our group is using as a guideline for initiating our citation complaints.\”
At the BTA legal clinic Ray Thomas said pretty much the same thing.
I think parking violations involve one of the \”other law[s]\” too. At least for counties over 500,000 people, see ORS 153.820. There are probably other laws.
Like you, I\’m a pretty busy guy, but I\’ll see what I can find. Keep at it a.O. There are many who support you.
How frustrating. I have had similar experiences on the phone with the US passport office, and the US Department of Revenue. You\’re trying to do the right thing, and absolutely nobody on the other end cares.
Is there any way a roll call could be held to update staff at Courthouses on things such as this, at their quarterly meetings or such?
I concur with Spencer (#10) on the point he makes about one way for the staff at the Courthouse to become familiar with this process, is by having lots of people eventually start to submit these kinds citations.
Power in numbers, people. Power in numbers.
You should have stuffed it down her shirt and ran away. You would have have gotten more air
time on the local news than Siobhan Doyle
did despite the fact that someone was ran over in the same exact place just before.
I despise how the local media love these \”man bites dog\” stories as hard hitting news. The top story last week on the 11:00
KGW news was \”man tows cop car in Gresham\”. It took at least ten minutes before the \”bicyclist killed on Powell\” story came on. This is the reason I don\’t watch local news anymore.
Jeez… what a PITA… I hope things go smoother from here on out.
a.O (#25) – right on, man! Using Kruger\’s logic, I should drive blindfolded – then I\’m not responsible for yielding to anyone.
Frankly, I don\’t understand the PPB. They could generate a HUGE amount of goodwill in the cyclist community by just listening and REACTING once in a while to our concerns. After Siobhan\’s crash, had the PPB set up stings at that intersection, Broadway/Weidler at the I-5 ramps, and 1 or 2 other spots where motorists routinely right-hook cyclists (Yes, Paul – these *are* intersections with bike lanes, we can debate later whether or not they should be removed), and had the PPB publicized that they did it because motorists weren\’t yielding to cyclists as required by law, that would have carried a lot of cred with the local community. Throw a bone, and most of the complainers go away. But PPB doesn\’t even do that. No bias? That\’s not what the anecdotal evidence says, and if a formal study was done, I\’m fairly certain it would show evidence of bias as well.
Bikers are NOT second-class citizens, despite the fact that we are a minority. If we are continually treated as such, we *will* exercise our rights, and our voices, and our pens and keyboards until we are heard and responded to. We will not go away.
This is the #1 bike city in North America, and for good reason, and what we do here is noticed, followed and criticized all across the continent. Joe Kurmaskie and Elly Blue took excellent leadership with the We Are All Traffic rally, and we\’re not going to let that effort die on the vine.
Thanks, Christopher, Joe, Elly – you are doing the tireless legwork, and making yourselves heard – keep up the great work!
The Process is the Punishment
I wouldn\’t worry too much about \”frivolous\” complaints. Who has time to spend hours and days wading through such a bloody PITA? Anyone that motivated is likely to have a hell of a good complaint.
The good thing is, hopefully all it will take is a few people doing this to embarrass the cops a bit and hopefully light a bit of a fire under enforcement efforts. Or at least scare a few more drivers straight into more careful driving and possibly save a few lives. Kind of like the whole theory about how not everyone has to clip coupons to exercise downward pressure on prices.
The same general theory applies to everything. If only we could catalyze a whole movement for road safety based on the same principles… (http://bikeportland.org/2007/12/14/man-in-fatal-gresham-collision-identified/#comment-656617)
I usually wait 4 hours at the DMV
Jonathon, I was told by one of the people at the courthouse who spoke w Chris during this episode that she sent a reply which was never posted on this website. Her message was a response to some potential misinformation or misunderstanding as well as acknowledgments of facts Chris stated. As a daily reader, biker, commuter, supporter, advocate I am extremely disturbed by this potential censorship of relevant information. I am aware that some electronic mishap may have occurred, i hope this is the case.
\”I was told by one of the people at the courthouse who spoke w Chris during this episode that she sent a reply which was never posted on this website…
I am extremely disturbed by this potential censorship of relevant information.\”
jrdpdx,
thanks for this information. I have in no way intended to withhold any comments from appearing. I have checked my spam filter and could not find the comment you refer to. (If the person at the courthouse you refer to could tell me their name or email it would help with the search).
Sometimes my comment spam filter catches good comments. This might be the case in this situation.
You can rest-assured that the only comments I prevent from appearing on this site are those that use inappropriate language, incite violence, or make personal insults to other commenters.
I always welcome feedback, criticism and corrections and even though this is a guest article I take full responsibility for its contents.
Thanks for reading.