SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH OF PEACE, HEALTH, AND HOSPITAL SERVICES, a Washington corporation, dba Sacred Heart General Hospital, Petitioner on Review, v. Nathan G. RUSSELL, Defendant, and THE AETNA CASUALTY AND SURETY COMPANY, Respondent on Review, 318 Ore. 370

Defendant insurer challenged the trial court's refusal to grant its motion for a directed verdict after a jury found defendant liable for reimbursing plaintiff hospital for the cost of medical care provided to defendant injured worker. Not long after defendant worker's accident, he and defendant insurer had entered into a worker's compensation disputed claim settlement agreement under Or. Rev. Stat. § 656.289(4). The jury found that defendant insurer was obligated to reimburse plaintiff because plaintiff was a third-party beneficiary to that agreement. On appeal, the state's highest court held that by the time defendants' settlement agreement was signed, plaintiff had already provided something of value to defendant worker, i.e., medical treatment, making plaintiff a creditor beneficiary of the agreement as long as defendants intended to benefit plaintiff. The court held that they had. In the agreement, defendants split the financial responsibility for defendant worker's care, ...