3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2017
Judge declines to move pot
State Legislature approved
explosion civil trial to Astoria new public records laws
Building owner
wanted lawsuit
heard locally
Brown praises
reform plans
Associated Press
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
A Multnomah County Cir-
cuit Court judge has denied
a motion by local property
owner Richard Delphia to
relocate a civil trial over an
explosion at a marijuana pro-
cessor in one of his buildings
from Portland to Astoria.
Delphia owns a building
at the corner of Portway and
Industry streets, where he
leased space in the basement
to Higher Level Concentrates.
The marijuana processor was
gutted by an explosion and
subsequent fire in October.
Jacob Magley, a contrac-
tor working for Higher Level
who was burned in the fire,
sued the company and its
owners Jason Oei and Wil-
liam “Chris” West in Mult-
nomah County Circuit Court
in January. He claimed the
two were making and con-
suming butane hash oil when
the explosion occurred.
Oei and West have been
indicted by Clatsop County
District Attorney Josh Mar-
quis on charges of felony
assault and misdemeanor
reckless endangerment.
Civil liability
Delphia and five of his
companies were sued for
premises liability and vio-
lations of employment law.
Two of his companies have
since been dismissed from the
lawsuit.
Delphia’s attorney filed
a motion in April to move
the case to Clatsop County,
where he argued that all the
actions giving rise to the law-
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Multiple agencies responded to an explosion and fire
in October at Higher Level Concentrates in Uniontown.
suit occurred. Magley’s attor-
ney argued the venue in Mult-
nomah County was correct
because that is where West
and Oei’s companies each
have agents that receive court
processes.
Delphia, 87, argued that it
would be difficult for he and
his partner, Carol Gearin, to
travel to Portland for a trial.
Magley’s lawyer contested
Delphia’s claim, using as evi-
dence articles showing Del-
phia and Gearin traveling
to Hawaii and the couple’s
involvement with animal
shelters.
Circuit Court Judge Kath-
leen Dailey met with the par-
ties in the lawsuit, heard argu-
ments and read pleadings
before denying Delphia’s
motion to change the venue.
Co-defendants
Magley’s lawsuit included
a wide swath of individu-
als and companies associated
with Oei and West’s opera-
tion, including Delphia as the
landlord.
Three of Oei and West’s
companies were named in
the lawsuit. Local marijuana
W A NTED
store Sweet Relief Natural
Medicine, which leases space
in Delphia’s building, was
sued along with parent com-
pany G.O. Enterprises for
premises liability.
Butane supplier Under
the Bridge Cigarettes and
related company UTB Invest-
ments, which helped finance
the build-out of Higher Level
and provided butane gas,
were sued for violations of
employer liability law, prod-
ucts liability and general neg-
ligence. Owner John Harp-
er’s lawyer has filed a motion
arguing that any defects with
the butane sold to Higher
Level rest with the distrib-
utor or manufacturer of the
product.
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CLATSOP COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER
Certified American League
EVERYTHING IS NOW
70-80
data officer. Separately, Secre-
tary of State Dennis Richard-
son made state archivist Mary
Beth Herkert the public records
advocate by administrative fiat.
Brown’s bill provides for
the appointment of a pub-
lic records advocate, an attor-
ney who will mediate in pub-
lic records disputes, train state
agencies and district attor-
neys on public records laws
and serve as chairperson of
the Public Records Advisory
Council.
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SALEM — The state Legis-
lature passed four public records
laws — pushed by the governor
and attorney general — in the
recently wrapped session.
Gov. Kate Brown said the
laws are probably the “most sig-
nificant reforms” to the state’s
public records laws in decades.
The bills passed amend
Oregon’s 1973 public records
law, which established a pre-
sumption of openness. Citizens
have the right to obtain govern-
ment documents unless there’s
a specific legal exemption that
prohibits them from doing so,
the Statesman Journal reported.
The need for improving the
records law during the session
grew from frustration about
getting documents from the
administration of former Gov.
John Kitzhaber, who resigned
in February 2015.
“The strength of our gov-
ernment institutions depend
on the public trust, and pub-
lic trust can be quickly eroded
when people don’t feel they
have access to the work their
government is doing or when
they can’t get answers to rea-
sonable questions,” Attorney
General Ellen Rosenblum told
lawmakers during the session.
The bills establish three
new committees, a public
records advocate and a chief
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