onthepolicy is a legal reference site dedicated to tracking the development and interconnectedness of Oregon's motor vehicle insurance statutes. Built specifically for lawyers, judges, and legal professionals navigating Oregon law concerning UM/UIM, UMPD, and PIP insurance coverage, our mission is to enable these practitioners to uphold the legislature's core promise: protecting the insurance-buying public and ensuring Oregon consumers receive the full protection they are owed under the law.
onthepolicy was born out of necessity.
A few years ago, while researching a complex auto insurance coverage issue, our founder, Dave, learned how time-consuming tracing statutory history could be, because it required manually piecing together text across dozens of PDF files organized separately on the legislature's website. Dave envisioned a streamlined alternative: a single web platform compiling every historical version of Oregon's UM/UIM, UMPD, and PIP statutes organized by year. The project remained an idea until generative AI models advanced enough to bridge the technical gap for Dave to bring his vision to life.
Today, onthepolicy gives practitioners the tools to provide legal analysis grounded in the textual history of the Oregon motor vehicle insurance-related statutes. It is exactly the tool Dave wished he had years ago.
In sum, onthepolicy was researched, assembled, and verified by Dave. But it was coded by AI.
David E. Smith is a partner at Spooner Staggs Trial Lawyers, where he has practiced law since 2017. His work focuses on first-party auto insurance, such as UM, UIM, and PIP claims. He is also an active member of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association's Amicus Committee. Before law school he worked as a claims adjuster, an experience that still shapes how he approaches UM/UIM or PIP insurance-related disputes.
Most people call him Dave. His free time is spent with family, either playing videogames or traveling to various Disney properties.