City of Portland Faces Lawsuit After Babysitter Concussed by Irving Park Lamp Post

A child care provider identified only by her initials, AL, sued the city of Portland and a Canadian hammock manufacturer Jan. 2 after she and a child were injured in 2022 by a falling lamp post in Irving Park.

WW previously reported the details of the incident after her attorney sent a tort claim notice to the city last June. In a motion asking for permission to file the lawsuit without identifying the plaintiff, her attorney said AL has since faced “abuse, harassment and disparagement,” citing comments on social media following the publication of WW’s story.

Here’s what we reported: According to a GoFundMe account created in the wake of the June 23, 2022, incident, a babysitter and a child were sitting on a hammock strung between a tree and a lamp post in Irving Park when the post “snapped at its base and came down on them, pinning [the child] and her to the ground....Her screams brought the crowd that was able to lift the post off of them. Ambulances rushed both of them away.” According to the lawsuit, she lost consciousness and sustained rectal bleeding and injuries to her legs.

Portland Parks & Recreation later announced it was removing 243 light poles across 12 city parks after an investigation found structural deficiencies in the concrete posts, although the effort was halted halfway through amid public outcry at the parks going dark. The city has since placed red placards on many of the remaining light poles warning they are dangerous and will soon be replaced.

The lawsuit faults the city for failing to test and repair the lamp posts “when it knew or should have known they were unstable and unsafe.” The lawsuit demands up to $950,000 in damages.

The City Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the lawsuit.