Portland intentionally allows drivers to park vehicles illegally close to crosswalks and intersections, making it difficult to navigate the city and potentially deadly for all road users.

That’s one of the takeaways from a lawsuit filed this week in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

The lawsuit is seeking to address what attorney Scott Kocher describes as Portland’s “ongoing failure” to provide adequate sight distance at street corners or crosswalks. Kocher is using the 2019 death of a motorcyclist, one of 49 people killed in what was the deadliest year since 1997, as a test case to argue the city’s negligence.

The family of Elijah Coe, a 48-year-old chef who was killed on East Burnside Street last May, is seeking $5.9 million in damages and demands the city retrofit its intersections to comply with its own code governing sight distances as well as state law. The lawsuit also states Portland’s decision not to enforce its parking standards “is incompatible with Vision Zero,” the city’s branded campaign to end traffic fatalities by 2025.

Bike Portland first reported the lawsuit. Kocher, the Portland-based attorney who is representing Coe’s family, said the city has failed to enforce or adhere to its own parking requirements at intersections across the city.

Kocher cited state statute that prohibits “stopping, standing or parking” within 20 feet of a crosswalks at an intersection. City code also prohibits parking within 50 feet of an intersection where “it obscures visibility.”

Dylan Rivera, a city transportation spokesman, declined comment, citing the ongoing legal dispute.

Coe was riding his motorcycle eastbound on Burnside Street last May when a vehicle driven by Eric Whitfield turned left from a stop sign at Southeast 17th Avenue onto the busy thoroughfare.

According to the lawsuit, vehicles parked on the south side of Burnside Street were blocking Whitfield’s view of the street.

“Mr. Coe’s death in the resulting collision could have been prevented if the City complied with the law,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also cites Whitfield for negligence and failing to yield the right of way. He couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Coe swerved to avoid Whitfield’s vehicle and struck a westbound driver head-on, the lawsuit said. He died five days later.

-- Andrew Theen; atheen@oregonian.com; 503-294-4026; @andrewtheen

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