Rhett Fraser devotes his legal practice exclusively to helping people injured as a result of the negligence of others. Rhett believes that as attorneys we possess a unique opportunity to help make the lives of the people we represent better. Rhett takes a client-centered and results-based approach to each case and every person he represents.

Rhett is an experienced attorney who is dedicated to providing the best possible legal representation to his clients. Rhett’s legal practice is focused on medical malpractice, personal injury, wrongful death, and appeals in state and federal court. Rhett is licensed to practice law in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

Rhett regularly represents injured plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases against hospitals, doctors, nurses, midwives, and other medical professionals in cases ranging from wrongful death, birth trauma injuries, cancer misdiagnosis, dental injuries, sexual abuse, and surgical mishaps, as well as many other types of cases. Rhett has tried numerous cases to a verdict before both judges and juries and argued significant cases before the Oregon Supreme Court and the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Rhett has been selected by Super Lawyers to the Oregon “Rising Stars” list in medical malpractice since 2016 to the present. The Rising Stars list recognizes no more than 2.5 percent of attorneys in each state.

Rhett is active in the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA), where he serves on OTLA’s Board of Governors and currently is in his seventh year as the co-chair of OTLA’s professional negligence section. Rhett was selected to be a member of the 2018-2019 OTLA Leadership Academy. Participants were competitively selected based upon a demonstrated commitment to OTLA and its mission to promote civil justice in Oregon. Rhett is member of OTLA’s Amicus Curiae Committee. This committee carefully reviews and selects significant appellate cases pending before the Oregon Supreme Court and Court of Appeals and frequently intervenes by filing an amicus brief on behalf of Oregon consumers and injured victims.

Rhett is also a member of the Oregon Justice Resource Center’s (OJRC) Amicus Committee. This committee advances civil rights and liberties in Oregon by filing amicus briefs on cutting-edge social justice issues facing Oregon courts and provides amicus assistance to cases that present significant social justice issues related to criminal defense, civil rights, or juvenile justice.

Rhett has presented at continuing legal education seminars on behalf of the Oregon State Bar, the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association, and the Multnomah County Bar Association.

Rhett currently serves as the 2022-2023 Chair of the Multnomah County Bar Association’s Solo & Small Firm Committee.

Rhett is a proud member of American Association for Justice (AAJ). He is a member of the AAJ’s Stroke and Birth Trauma Litigation groups. Rhett acts as an Oregon State Bar volunteer mentor each year to law students and new lawyers.

Rhett lives in Portland with his wife and two children.

Admitted To
  • Oregon State Bar
  • Washington State Bar
  • Idaho State Bar
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • The United States District Court for the District of Oregon
  • The United States District Court for the District of Western Washington
  • The United States District Court for the District of Eastern Washington
  • The United States District Court for the District of Idaho
Memberships
  • American Association of Justice (AAJ)
  • Oregon Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) – Guardian Member / Board of Governors
  • Washington State Association of Justice (WSAJ) – Eagle Member
  • Owen M. Panner American Inn of Court
  • National Trial Lawyers Association
  • Oregon State Bar, Health Law Section
  • Multnomah County Bar Association
  • Trial Guides, Editorial Board Member
Recent Appellate Cases
  • Ransom v. Radiology Specialists of the Northwest, 363 Or 552 (2018) – Successfully argued case to Oregon Supreme Court and wrote appellate brief on behalf of plaintiff (Issue: Under Or. R. Civ. P. 36, radiologists were required to answer questions about plaintiff’s treatment and review of her imaging studies, because the radiologists’ knowledge and ability to read and interpret the imaging studies were relevant, did not exceed the scope of permitted discovery, and did not interfere with attorney-client privilege.) Reversed on appeal.

 

  • Horstman v. City of Hillsboro, 718 Fed. Appx. 546 (2018) – Co-author appellate brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on behalf of plaintiff (Issue: Scope of law enforcement entitlement to qualified immunity in the context of a wrongful arrest). Affirmed on appeal.

  • Bates v. Andaluz Waterbirth Center, 298 Or App 733 (2019) – Successfully argued case to Oregon Court of Appeals and wrote appellate brief on behalf of plaintiff (Issue: Defendants’ motion to dismiss and compel arbitration of plaintiff’s wrongful death claim based on arbitration clause in Midwife Disclosure that mother had signed while pregnant was properly denied as disclosure did not identify expected child as client, patient or party; and it did not alert mother that her assent on child’s behalf was being given.) Affirmed on appeal.

  • State v. Jaime Tinoco-Camarena, 311 Or App 295 (2019) — Co-author and filed the amicus brief for the Oregon Justice Resource Center (OJRC) (Issue: The brief outlines brain development science and applies it to culpability in a case arguing against juvenile life without parole. Reversed on appeal on other grounds.

 

  • State v. Mincus Ward, 367 Or 188 (2020) — Co-author of amicus brief at the Oregon Supreme Court on behalf of the Oregon Justice Resource Center (OJRC). (Issue: Brief was filed on December 15, 2019, in support of defendant’s arguments that (1) defendant, who has an intellectual disability, did not validly waive his Miranda rights, and (2) the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit a life-without-the-possibility-of-parole sentence from being imposed on an intellectually disabled defendant. The trial court was reversed on appeal on other grounds.

  • Dahlton v. Kyser, 370 Or 34 (2022) — Author of amicus brief at the Oregon Supreme Court on behalf of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association. (Issue: Whether the trial court was correct in granting defendants’ motion to compel production of a deceased child parents medical records for in camera review and requiring the parents to answer deposition questions relating to their treatment.). The Court held that the statutory beneficiaries of a wrongful death claim were not, by virtue of that status, “parties” who could be compelled to provide privileged medical records.

  • Martineau v. McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center, 371 Or 247 (2023) — Author of amicus brief on behalf of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association at the Oregon Supreme Court. (Issue: As to a wife’s wrongful death claim per Or. Rev. Stat. § 30.020, the trial court did not err in providing the jury with an instruction based on UCJI No. 44.03 because that instruction correctly stated the law and would not have been misleading or confusing to the jury. To the extent that the economic and noneconomic damages that the wife sought to recover on her lost chance claim were to compensate for the damages that decedent had suffered during the period between the wrongful conduct and decedent’s death, she could have recovered those damages in the wrongful death action under § 30.020(2). But the wife was not entitled to bring a lost chance claim as a survival action that was separate from her wrongful death action and recover attorney fees under Or. Rev. Stat. § 30.075(2).)

 

  • Moore-Reed v. Anthony Griffin, Oregon Supreme Court No. S071282 — Co-author of amicus brief on behalf of the Oregon Justice Resource Center and the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association. (Issue: The scope of liability for criminal defense lawyers in professional negligence cases not involving wrongful conviction, and the Oregon Constitution’s remedies clause as it applies to the unfair denial of access to justice). The decision of the Court is still pending.
Recent Publications

“The Horse’s Tail: A case study of medical malpractice” – Oregon Trial Lawyers Association’s Trial Lawyer Magazine, Fall 2023.

“The Expert Witness in Your Next Trial” – Oregon Trial Lawyers Association’s Trial Lawyer Magazine, Winter 2025.

Recent Speaking Engagements

Oregon Trial Lawyers Association – Introduction to Obstetrical Malpractice Cases – 2020

Strafford (Continuing Legal Education for Lawyers and CPAs), “Psychiatrist and Psychologist Liability for Patient’s Harm to Self and Others, Unjustified Involuntary Commitment) – 90 minute CLE webinar with Q&A, October 24, 2019 (https://www.straffordpub.com/products/psychiatrist-and-psychologist-liability-for-patients-harm-to-self-and-others-unjustified-involuntary-commitment-2019-10-24)

Expert Witnesses – Metropolitan Public Defenders – Hillsboro & Portland Offices – 2019 

Oregon Trial Lawyers Association – Proving Causation in Failure to Diagnose Cancer Malpractice Cases – 2018

Oregon Trial Lawyers Association – When Does My Criminal Defense Client Have a federal 1983 Claim? – 2016

Multnomah County Bar Association – Running a Small Firm CLE