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...

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