Supervisors lose lawsuit shield after worker's bulldozer plunged 100 feet in wildfire
Oregon public employers just lost a critical legal shield, exposing state workers to personal injury lawsuits for workplace accidents involving employees they supervise.
The Oregon Supreme Court ruled January 22, 2026, that state and local government employees can now be sued directly by workers injured on the job, striking down a longtime immunity provision as unconstitutional. For HR departments across Oregon's public sector, the decision changes everything about managing workplace safety and liability.
The case involves Joe Crandall, a bulldozer operator working under contract during the 2018 Sugar Pine wildfire near Trail. According to his complaint, the Oregon Department of Forestry was running the firefighting operation when Crandall reported a problem to his supervisors. Visibility was terrible that night, he told them. Darkness, smoke and dust made it hard to see while operating heavy equipment on a narrow mountain road.
After confirming the conditions were indeed dangerous, supervisor Mitchell Fuller told Crandall to turn around and head back down. But partway down that steep access road, Crandall alleges he encountered something he had not been warned about: a crew of up to 40 workers on foot, clustered along the uphill side of the narrow path. They had not been told to clear out either.
Trying to avoid hitting them in the poor visibility, Crandall's bulldozer slipped off the road. The machine tumbled down the canyon slope, flipping at least three times before coming to rest 100 feet below. Crandall survived but suffered severe injuries.
He collected workers' compensation benefits through his private employer. But Crandall wanted more. He sued the state and the two individual forestry supervisors for negligence, seeking up to $2.7 million in damages. His wife joined the lawsuit, claiming her own losses.
The state moved to dismiss, pointing to a provision in Oregon's Tort Claims Act that grants immunity to public employers and their workers from lawsuits by anyone covered under workers' compensation. The trial court agreed and threw out the case. So did the Oregon Court of Appeals.
But the Oregon Supreme Court saw it differently. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Flynn found that the immunity law violates the Oregon Constitution's guarantee that everyone injured deserves a remedy. The court emphasized that Oregon law specifically allows injured workers to sue negligent third parties beyond their workers' comp claims. The immunity provision carved out an exception only for state employees, eliminating that right without giving workers anything in return.
Workers' compensation covers medical care and replaces some lost wages, the court noted, but it does not compensate for pain and suffering or make workers whole for their full economic losses. When a negligent third party causes a workplace injury, Oregon workers can pursue both remedies. Except, until now, when that third party happened to work for the state.
The court rejected arguments that protecting government operations and limiting state liability justified eliminating this remedy entirely. Unlike a previous case that upheld a $3 million cap on damages against state entities, this law offered no tradeoff. It simply took away a legal right that exists for injuries caused by everyone else.
Two justices dissented, arguing that workers' compensation provides a substantial remedy and that the immunity is part of a fair trade that gives injured workers guaranteed benefits without having to prove fault.
For Oregon's public sector HR teams, the immediate implications are significant. Supervisors and managers now face personal exposure for workplace safety decisions. Organizations need to review liability insurance coverage for both the agency and individual employees. Safety training takes on new urgency when workers can sue supervisors directly.
The case heads back to trial court, where Crandall can now proceed with his negligence claims against the two forestry supervisors. What happens next may reshape how Oregon's public employers approach workplace safety for years to come.
