Opinion ID: 1430376
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The third error

Text: Assuming for argument that the issue is one of presumptions rather than inferences, I agree that the presumption of continuity depends on the permanent or transitory nature of the condition proved once to exist. That concept is embodied in ORS 41.360(32): A thing once proved to exist continues as long as is usual with things of that nature. The summary of our cases in footnote 9 of the majority opinion demonstrates that this court has adhered to that concept: e.g., marriage, partnership, insanity, life, title tend to continue, but money tends to get spent, cars possessed by dealers tend to get sold, illness tends to pass. These inferences are consistent with human experience. Applying that principle to this case, it is consistent with human experience that, unlike temporary or 30-day suspensions of non-resident operator's privileges, the duration of an indefinite suspension tends to be indefinite. In footnote 10 the majority brushes off the cases from elsewhere that have so held as based on little analysis, but I see no need for extended analysis of a proposition which is self-evident. The rational connection between the fact proved (that the license was suspended indefinitely) and the fact inferred (that thereafter the license was in a state of suspension) is obvious. In sum, where it is proved that a non-resident operator's privilege has been suspended indefinitely, then, in the absence of evidence of a change in that condition, it is reasonable for a factfinder to infer that the indefinite suspension is still in effect eight months later. That is true whether the inference is discretionary with the factfinder or whether it is directed by law in the form of a presumption.