Alsaedi v. Conroy

In order to recover attorney fees for property damage claims under ORS 20.080, the injured party must include all the required information about the damaged property or prove the information was unavailable or unreasonable to obtain.

Plaintiff appealed a judgment that awarded monetary relief for damage done to her vehicle. Plaintiff assigned error to the trial court's denial of her request for attorney fees. On appeal, Plaintiff argued that she was entitled to attorney fees under ORS 20.080 because her demand letter included the estimated value of the car. In response, Defendants argued that the demand letter lacked information necessary to satisfy the requirements of ORS 20.080(3). ORS 20.080(3)(b) provides that, in order to recover attorney fees, "[a] written demand for the payment of damages under this section must include the following information, if the information is in the plaintiff's possession or reasonably available to the plaintiff at the time the demand is made: In an action for damage to property, documentation of the repair of the property, a written estimate for the repair of the property, or a written estimate of the difference in value of the property before the damage and the value of the property after the damage."  The Court of Appeals held that ORS 20.080 required Plaintiff’s claim to be denied because her demand letter did not contain the all of the required information, nor did it state that the information was not in Plaintiff’s possession or that it would have been unreasonable for her to obtain that information. Affirmed.