WTMJ MACC Fund Make-A-Wish Story

I heard from several people about TMJ4's recent news story, MACC: Nollenn's Wish, which narrates a young Milwaukee boy's battle against cancer and the Make-A-Wish Foundation celebration of his remission. His sister was seen by Wisconsin viewers wearing her Brookfield Soccer Pasternak & Zirgibel jersey.

Obviously, my law firm supports the Brookfield Soccer Association, and after seeing this young girl proudly wearing her jersey in this story, it made donations to support both the MACC Fund and Make-A-Wish Foundation of Wisconsin.

The WTMJ story was a precursor to the upcoming MACC Fund Sports Auction to be held on TMJ4 this Saturday, December 12, 2009 at Noon.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Habush v. Cannon - part VI

Wonder if the media is following up on the Habush v. Cannon lawsuit. Checked CCAP, Robert L Habush et al vs. William M Cannon et al, Milwaukee County Case Number 2009CV018149, and there's a phone conference right now with Judge Kahn.

For those who have not seen it yet, the Habush, Habush & Rottier vs. Cannon & Dunphy Complaint.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Habush v. Cannon - part V

A quick note too, the recent Journal-Sentinel article is wrong in asserting that the "Sponsored link [is] gone."

I again just searched Yahoo! and Google as well as Bing and all three have sponsored links when you search for "Habush" or "Rottier" that lead to the website of Cannon & Dunphy.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Habush v. Cannon - part IV

JS Online now as an article about the war of words and a quote from Cannon saying of the lawsuit and Habush, "It's ridiculous. He looks like a buffoon." Personally, I don't think either is true here. Let's take a look at the legal basis for the Habush v. Cannon lawsuit:

Wisconsin's Right to Privacy law, Wis. Stats. §995.50, states:

(1) The right of privacy is recognized in this state.
***
(2) In this section, “invasion of privacy” means any of the following:
***
(b) The use, for advertising purposes or for purposes of trade, of the name, portrait or picture of any living person, without having first obtained the written consent of the person or, if the person is a minor, of his or her parent or guardian.
***
(3) The right of privacy recognized in this section shall be interpreted in accordance with the developing common law of privacy, including defenses of absolute and qualified privilege, with due regard for maintaining freedom of communication, privately and through the public media.

Thus, it seems to me, that the question here is whether Cannon's use of Habush's name through Google is permissible under subsection (3). Certainly, there's a possibility it was permissible. The question though is whether that's a question of fact (for a jury to decide) or a question of law (for a court of law to decide). Lawyers may want to see H & R Block E. Enters. v. Swenson, 2008 WI App 3, 307 Wis.2d 390, 745 N.W.2d 421. The bottom line is that we might eventually see this case in front of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, or perhaps the U.S. Supreme Court.

Consumers curious about the legal issues in Habush v. Cannon may want to review the Citizen Media Law Project's Using the Name or Likeness of Another.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Habush v. Cannon - part III

AP has a story on this now in which the two reputable Wisconsin pesonal injury attorneys are now having what can only be described as an ugly war of words. Per the story, among other things, Attorney Bob Habush said: "If Bill Cannon thinks this is a correct way to do business he needs to have his moral compass taken to the repair shop." Conversely, Attorney Bill Cannon is quoted as saying: "This is equally available to Habush if he weren't so cheap to bid on his own name." Though mildly entertaining, I'd venture to guess that lawyers for both attorneys might advise against this public display.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Habush v. Cannon - part II

Given the Chicago Tribune's report that Attorney Bill Cannon "calls the lawsuit "laughable" and without merit," perhaps my speculation that Habush and Rottier believed that Cannon wouldn't stop the practice was dead on and they could have been wasting their time if they had expressed concern before filing the lawsuit. More interesting to lawyers though is probably whether or not the practice is legal.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Habush, Habush & Rottier sues Cannon & Dunphy

Habush, Habush & Rottier, an old-guard Wisconsin personal injury law firm, is suing Cannon & Dunphy, another such firm for paying Google to link to the Cannon & Dunphy website when Google user searchs the name Habush or Rottier. It's actually quite interesting given that the Habush law firm was one of the first to advertise quite heavily on T.V. here in Wisconsin, but was one of the last among major Wisconsin personal injury law firms to start advertising on the web. For example, this attorney is aware of the fact that within the last year or so the Habush law firm paid someone to create a network of somewhat generic blogs on the web.

Apparently, some of the underlying facts of the Habush, Habush & Rottier lawsuit are true. I just went to both Google and Yahoo and searched Habush and Rottier and the sponsored results on both searches had the Cannon & Dunphy website listed as "sponsored results." Per the MJS article, Habush has asked a Wisconsin court to stop the Cannon firm from paying for such search results.

In reading the article, what I found interesting was attorney Pat Dunphy's comment the Habush firm didn't call the Cannon & Dunphy firm to express its concern before filing the lawsuit. I too find that interesting given the storied history of these two firms and it makes me think that either Bob Habush and Dan Rottier believed that Cannon & Dunphy wouldn't stop the practice or that the former was possibly looking for some "free press." Certainly, this is an interesting lawsuit among Wisconsin personal injury attorneys.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Top 50 Wisconsin Super Lawyers in Milwaukee Magazine

Milwaukee Magazine is out with its December 2009 issue, which again this year has the Super Lawyers list of attorneys in Wisconsin. Super Lawyers tries to identify the top 5% of all Wisconsin attorneys and its Rising Stars list tries to identify the top 2.5% of Wisconsin attorneys under age 40. Super Lawyers also publishes a Top 50 list, which I discuss here. If you wish to browse the whole list by area of practice, you may do so here. I referred to the publication back in July posting on Top Wisconsin Lawyers and with last year’s publication in Wisconsin Personal Injury Super Lawyers.

This Wisconsin personal injury lawyer is again honored to be on the list and more so this year as I was chosen to be among the Top 50 Super Lawyers in Wisconsin. Only eight plaintiffs personal injury law firms are represented in that Top 50:

Cannon & Dunphy, Brookfield
Domnitz & Skemp, Milwaukee
End, Hierseman & Crain, Milwaukee
Habush Habush & Rottier, Various
Laufenberg Law Group, Milwaukee
Murphy & Prachthauser, Milwaukee
Pasternak & Zirgibel, Brookfield
Previant, Goldberg, et al., Milwaukee

A Wisconsin accident victim (car accident, medical malpractice, products liability, premises liability, etc.) could do much worse than interviewing these law firms to help with his or her personal injury case. How? Well, they could go to Wisconsin attorneys who advertise "have wreck, get a check" or chase ambulances with letters or just dabble in personal injury.

The twelve plaintiffs Wisconsin personal injury lawyers in the Top 50 are:

Larry B. Brueggeman
William M. Cannon
Merrick R. Domnitz
Patrick O. Dunphy
J. Michael End
Laurence J. Fehring
Robert L. Habush
Robert L. Jaskulski
Lynn R. Laufenberg
Frank T. Pasternak
Don C. Prachthauser
Daniel A. Rottier

Though all different, some common professional traits we have include being Peer Review Rated: AV® Preeminent™ 5.0 out of 5 (see The Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings),
and active members of The American Association for Justice and Wisconsin Association for Justice.

In alphabetical order, below are all the Top 50 Wisconsin lawyers found in the list, including their law firm and main area of practice:

Steven A. Bach, Cullen Weston Pines & Bach, Family Law
Emile H. Banks, Jr., Emile Banks & Associates, Insurance Defense
Stephen C. Beilke, Murphy Desmond, Family Law
Peter C. Blain, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, Bankruptcy
Bruce T. Block, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, Real Estate
Larry B. Brueggeman, Previant, Goldberg, et al., Personal Injury
Brian E. Butler, Stafford Rosenbaum, Dispute Resolution
William M. Cannon, Cannon & Dunphy, Personal Injury
Michael J. Cohen, Meissner Tierney Fisher & Nichols, Business
Gregory B. Conway, Liebmann, Conway, et al., Business
Barrett J. Corneille, Corneille Law Group, Insurance Defense
Claude J. Covelli, Boardman Suhr Curry & Field, Litigation
Randall D. Crocker, von Briesen & Roper, Bankruptcy
Michael P. Crooks, Peterson, Johnson & Murray, Insurance Defense
Merrick R. Domnitz, Domnitz & Skemp, Personal Injury
Patrick O. Dunphy, Cannon & Dunphy, Personal Injury
J. Michael End, End, Hierseman & Crain, Personal Injury
Laurence J. Fehring, Habush Habush & Rottier, Personal Injury
Nathan A. Fishbach, Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, Criminal Defense
Michael J. Fitzgerald, Glynn, Fitzgerald & Albee, Criminal Defense
Robert H. Friebert, Friebert, Finerty & St. John, Business Litigation
Lori Gendelman, Otjen, Van Ert & Weir, Insurance Defense
Stephen M. Glynn, Glynn, Fitzgerald & Albee, Criminal Defense
Robert L. Habush, Habush Habush & Rottier, Personal Injury
Philip J. Halley, Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, Estate & Probate
Scott W. Hansen, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, Business Litigation
Gregg M. Herman, Loeb & Herman, Family Law
Stephen P. Hurley, Hurley, Burish & Stanton, Criminal Defense
Jesse S. Ishikawa, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, Real Estate
Robert L. Jaskulski, Habush Habush & Rottier, Personal Injury
Terry E. Johnson, Peterson, Johnson & Murray, Insurance Defense
J. David Krekeler, Krekeler Strother, Bankruptcy
Dean P. Laing, O'Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong, General Litigation
Lynn R. Laufenberg, Laufenberg Law Group, Personal Injury
Michael P. Malone, Hinshaw & Culbertson, Insurance Defense
Stephen J. Meyer, Meyer Law Office, Criminal Defense
James T. Murray, Jr., Peterson, Johnson & Murray, Insurance Def.
Timothy F. Nixon, Godfrey & Kahn, Bankruptcy
Frank T. Pasternak, Pasternak & Zirgibel, Personal Injury
Bruce M. Peckerman, Peckerman & Klein, Family Law
Charles I. Phillips, Phillips & Gemignani, Family Law
Don C. Prachthauser, Murphy & Prachthauser, Personal Injury
Daniel A. Rottier, Habush Habush & Rottier, Personal Injury
Thomas W. St. John, Friebert, Finerty & St. John, Family Law
Carlton D. Stansbury, Burbach & Stansbury, Family Law
Marie A. Stanton, Hurley, Burish & Stanton, Dispute Resolution
Dean A. Strang, Hurley, Burish & Stanton, Criminal Defense
Daphne Webb, Stafford Rosenbaum, Family Law
Todd M. Weir, Otjen, Van Ert & Weir, Insurance Defense
Brady C. Williamson, Godfrey & Kahn, Business/Corporate

Congratulations to all who made Super Lawyers! It surely is an honor to be listed given that there are about 14,000 lawyers in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Wisconsin Informed Consent Law

Wisconsin medical malpractice law has a doctrine known as informed consent. This was recently addressed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Bubb v. Brusky. Maryland personal injury lawyer Ron Miller has a very good post on the Bubb decision here. The basic take away from the decision is that physicians have a duty to fully inform patients of treatment alternatives that reasonable patients may choose. Thus, the failure of a doctor to give a patient those options may be found to be medical malpractice in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Top Wisconsin Lawyers List

I blogged on Wisconsin personal injury Super Lawyers before. But I just received great news from one of Super Lawyers editors via email. Specifically, I was told that in 2009, I will be rated one of the TOP 50 Wisconsin Super Lawyers.

This honor is pretty cool considering that the answer to the question How many lawyers are in Wisconsin? is about 14,000. After the full top lawyers in Wisconsin list is published in the December 2009 issue of Milwaukee Magazine, I'll try to let you know specifics. Based on last year's list though, I feel honored since among Wisconsin lawyers, I appear to be the youngest by about 17 years with only 10 or less Wisconsin attorneys who limit their practice to plaintiff's personal injury law appearing in the Top 50.

No surprise, none of the "have a wreck, get a check" suspects are on last year's list and no more than two partners at any large personal injury firm made that list (see, How many lawyers do you need?).

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Medical Malpractice Double Standard

Estate of Genrich v. OHIC Insurance Company is the latest example of the double standard present in Wisconsin's medical malpractice cases. Supreme Court Justice Crooks really sums up that decision where he states in his dissent: "The approach adopted by the majority in this case----that a three-year statute of limitations on a wrongful death claim somehow runs before three years have elapsed after the date of death----unfortunately may foster a public perception that common sense sometimes is lacking in court decisions."

For some reason, courts at all levels seem to make special rules and exceptions for cases involving Wisconsin medical malpractice.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Wisconsin asbestos mesothelioma decision

Wisconsin Asbestos & Mesothelioma Blog has a post on a recent decision from the Court of Appeals in a Wisconsin mesothelioma car brakes case.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Help Increase Auto Insurance Liability Limits in Wisconsin

With the legal minimum insurance in Wisconsin at $25,000, you could easily be seriously injured in a car accident through no fault of your own and later find out the other driver doesn't have enough car insurance to pay for your medical bills. Governor Doyle has proposed increasing the liability limits for auto insurance. Wisconsin has had the same minimum rates of liability coverage since 1982.

Higher limits are necessary and even automobile insurers admit that higher liability limits will make it easier for health insurers and healthcare providers to be paid. Please take time to send a short email to your State Representative and State Senator just by clicking here to read the message and send it.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Wisconsin Car Insurance Reform

Driving Auto Insurance Reform in Wisconsin discusses Governor Doyle's car insurance proposal. It makes excellent points about the fact that car accident victims are greatly effected by (1) health care costs skyrocketing 250%-300% and (2) the cost of cars increasing since 1982, the last time Wisconsin addressed its minimum car insurance limits. I've heard Milwaukee area talk-show pundits complain about the bill, but I'm sure the two most popular - Sykes and Belling - both have limits that exceed those proposed by Gov. Doyle - $100,000 per individual, $300,000 per incident.

Call your state legislator and senator and tell them to support reforming car insurance in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Two Die in Marinette County Car Accident

A single-vehicle car accident in Marinette County claimed two lives Friday evening in Lake, Wisconsin. According to the County Sheriff, the car veered off the road entering a ditch and striking a tree. Law enforcement believes the driver was driving too fast for conditions. If you or a loved one are involved in a serious accident causing injury or death, contact me.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Wisconsin IME Doctors

In Defense "Independent" Medical Examinations and Medical Defense Doctors, I blogged on IME doctors in Wisconsin and an outfit brokering Wisconsin IME docs. Today's New York Times' Exams of Injured Workers Fuel Mutual Mistrust peaked my curiousity and so this time, instead of picking on the same firm as the last two posts, I'm blogging on Medical Systems, Inc. and Medical Impressions, two "IME" brokers here in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

Medical Systems, Inc. website is medicalsystemsusa.com. They hold themselves out as a resource to insurance claims adjusters and corporate defense lawyers. They publish online dates doctors are available for IMEs for the next 3 months, and as can be seen, some Wisconsin doctors have little time to see real patients. Perhaps physicians can make a lot of money doing IMEs for insurance companies and corporate defense lawyers. As of the date of this blog, the current list of Wisconsin physicians being brokered by Medical Systems, Inc. included:

Dr. Steven Anderson
Dr. Hany Afran
Dr. James Agre
Dr. Aftab Ansari
Dr. Mark Aschliman
Dr. Paul Barkhaus
Dr. David Bartlett
Dr. James Barnett
Dr. Stephen Barron
Dr. Gita Baruah
Dr. Barry Bast
Dr. Benjamin Begley
Dr. James Berman
Dr. Henry Bernstein
Dr. David Blake
Dr. Crain Bliwas
Dr. Robert Braco
Dr. Arlene Braker
Dr. Russell Brethauer
Dr. Fredrik Broekhuizen
Leo Bronston (Chiro)
Dr. Dennis Brown
Dr. Steven Brown
Dr. Joseph Burgarino
Dr. Robert Buss
Dr. Paul Caillier
Dr. Paul Cederberg
Dr. Gorden Clark
Dr. Steven Cohen
Dr. Edward Coleman
Dr. Gary Conger
Dr. Thomas Connor
Dr. Curtis Crimmins
Dr. Steven Dankle
Dr. Omar Darr
Dr. Walter Davison
Dr. Jack Deckard
Dr. John DeGiovanni
Dr. Steven Donatello
Dr. David Dorman
Dr. Thomas Drake
Dr. Roy Dunlap
Kevin Dunn (Chiro)
Dr. William Dzwierzynski
Dr. Dennis Elmergreen
Dr. Donald Feinsilver
Dr. Anthony Ferguson
Dr. Marvin Fetter
Dr. Bradley Fideler
Dr. Richard Fleck
Dr. Robert Friedrich
Dr. Kimball Fuiks
Danny Futch (Chiro)
Dr. Eric Gaenslen
Dr. Balaraju Gandhavadi
Dr. James Gmeiner
Dr. Daniel Goeckner
Dr. David Goodman
Dr. Steven Grindel
Dr. Brad Grunert
Dr. Gary Guten
Dr. Ahmad Haffar
Dr. Jerome Hagens
Dr. Thomas Hammeke
Dr. Jerome Hanson
Dr. Gerald Harris
Dr. David Haskell
Dr. Patrick Healy
Dr. Eric Heiligenstein
Dr. Bruce Herman
Dr. Sidney Herszenson
Tony Hielle (Chiro)
Dr. Robert Hirschmann
Dr. Sang Hong
Dr. Jacques Hussussian
Mark Jacquette (Chiro)
Dr. Subbanna Jayprakash
Dr. Richard Karr
Dr. Sean Keane
Dr. William Kelley
Dr. Thomas Kidder
Dennis King (Chiro)
Dr. Steven Klein
Dr. Jennifer Klopfstein
Dr. Steven Koenig
Dr. Harvey Kohn
Dr. John Krebsbach
Dr. James Langenkamp
Dr. Calvin Langmade
Dr. Mark Lanser
Dr. Allan Levin
Dr. Scott Levin
Dr. Stuart Levy
Dr. Jonathan Lewis
Dr. Michael Lischak
Dr. Boyd Lumsden
Dr. Thomas Lyons
Dr. Daniel Maryland
Dr. Hani Matloub
Dr. Robert McCabe
Dr. Peter Medved
Dr. Mark Meier
Jay Meverden (Chiro)
Dr. Jeffrey Minikel
Dr. Aroor Moorthy
Dr. Craig Moe
Dr. James Mullen
Dr. David Nash
Robert Newman (Chiro)
Dr. Christopher Noonan
Dr. Michael Nordstrom
Dr. Marc Novom
Gregory Nystrom (Chiro)
Dr. Ellen O'Brien
Dan Olson (Chiro)
Dr. Reid Olson
Dr. Michael Orth
Dr. David Osmon
Daniel Page (Chiro)
Dr. Douglas Palmer
Dr. Steven Pals
Dr. Thomas Pietrocarlo
Dr. Neal Pollack
Dr. Kenneth Robbins
Dr. Stephen Robbins
Dr. Rajit Saluja
Dr. Marvin Sattler
Dr. Steven Schnoll
Dr. Donald Schuster
Dr. James Sehloff
Dr. James Self
Robert Servias (Chiro)
Dr. Andrew Seter
Frederick Sheppard (Chiro)
Dr. Mysore Shivaram
Dr. John Siegert
Dr. Jane Sliwinski
Dr. Kwang Soo
Dr. Morris Soriano
Dr. Michael Spierer
Dr. Ron Stark
Dr. Richard Steliga
Dr. Robert Stern
Dr. James Stiehl
Dr. Cass Terry
Dr. David Toivonen
Dr. Sridhar Vasudevan
Dr. Patrick Walsh
Dr. Kevin Weidman
Dr. James White
Dr. Mark Wikenheiser
Dr. Terrence Wilkins
Dr. John Williams
Dr. Alison Wilmeth
Dr. William Wirostko
Randall Wojciehoski (D.O.)
Dr. Walter Wong
Dr. Jeffrey Zigun
Dr. Diane Zwicke

Medical Impressions website is medicalimpressions.com. They don't publish online dates doctors are available for IMEs. However, they do have the current list of Wisconsin doctors being brokered by Medical Impressions:

Allergy
Steven Cohen, M.D. Milwaukee
Gary Steven, M.D. Milwaukee

Anesthesiology
Steven Donatello, M.D. Milwaukee

Cardiology
Syhas Shelgikar, M.D. Milwaukee
Melish A. Thompson, M.D. Milwaukee
Diane Zwicke, M.D. Milwaukee

Chiropractic
Kelly Andrews, D.C. Madison
Greg Bernard, D.C. Hudson
Kevin Dunn, D.C. Milwaukee, Madison, Fond du Lac
Gary Fischer, D.C. Onalaska
Daniel Futch, D.C. Madison
Dane Laughlin, D.C. Superior
Craig Martin, D.C. Appleton
Jay Meverden, D.C. Wausau
Robert Newman, D.C. Milwaukee, Madison
Gregory Nystrom, D.C. Appleton, Green Bay, Wausau
Daniel Olson, D.C. Madison
Robert Servais, D.C. Green Bay
Michael Utschig, D.C. Madison
Gregory Whitcomb, D.C. Milwaukee

Dentistry
Jeff Jones, D.D.S. Rice Lake
Michael Kowalski, D.D.S. Waukesha
Steven Schnoll, D.D.S. Milwaukee

Dermatology
James Barnett, M.D. Milwaukee
Sidney Herszenson, M.D. Milwaukee
Donald Schuster, M.D. Madison

Ear, Nose & Throat
Steven Dankle, M.D. Milwaukee
Roy Dunlap, M.D. Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids
David Friedland, M.D. Milwaukee
Peter Medved, M.D. Milwaukee
Michael Nordstrom, M.D. Milwaukee
Frederic Schmidt, M.D. Green Bay

General Surgery
Steward Gifford, M.D. Green Bay
William Kelley, M.D. Milwaukee
Michael Rainiero, M.D. Janesville
Richard Steliga, M.D. Milwaukee
Brent Wogahn, M.D. Rice Lake

Hand Surgery
Jon Cherney, M.D. Appleton
Curtis Crimmins, M.D. Milwaukee
Andreas Doermann, M.D. Milwaukee
William Dzwierzynski, M.D. Milwaukee
Steven Grindel, M.D. Milwaukee
Boyd Lumsden, M.D. Appleton
Hani Matloub, M.D. Milwaukee
John Schneider, M.D. Milwaukee
John Siegert, M.D. Milwaukee
David Toivonen, M.D. Appleton
James White, M.D. Milwaukee
Terrence Wilkins, M.D. Milwaukee

Hematology
David Blake, M.D. Milwaukee

Infectious Disease
David Wagner, M.D. Milwaukee

Internal Medicine
David Blake, M.D. Milwaukee
James Levin, M.D. Madison
Reid Olson, M.D. Madison
Randal Wojciehoski, D.O. Stevens Point, Milwaukee, Eau Claire, Duluth, Wausau, Green Bay, Appleton, Madison

Neurology
Paul Barkhaus, M.D. Milwaukee
Conrad Nievera, M.D. Milwaukee
Mark Novom, M.D. Milwaukee
L. Cass Terry, M.D. Milwaukee

NeuroPsychology
Paul Caillier, Ph.D. Eau Claire

NeuroSurgery
Jack Deckard, M.D. Milwaukee
Steven Delheimer, M.D. Waukesha
Yash Pannu, M.D. Milwaukee
Marc Soriano, M.D. Madison

Occupational Medicine
Donald Bodeau, M.D. Eau Claire
Michael Borkowski, M.D. Milwaukee, Green Bay
Gina Buono, M.D. Milwaukee
Robert Braco, M.D. Beloit
Scott Dresden, M.D. Burlington
David Drury, M.D. Milwaukee, Appleton
Andrew Floren, M.D. Eau Claire
Brian Harrison, M.D. Appleton
Stephen Lindahl, M.D. Janesville
John Williams, M.D. Wausau

Occupational Therapy
Eric Blankenheim, O.T. Appleton
Julie Peeters, O.T. Appleton

Opthalmology
Walter Gager, M.D. Milwaukee
James Wise, M.D. Madison

Orthopedic Surgery
Aftab Ansari, M.D. Green Bay, Milwaukee
Mark Aschliman, M.D. Milwaukee
Stephen Barron, M.D. Eau Claire, Wausau, Oshkosh, Milwaukee, Madison, LaCrosse
David Bartlett, M.D. Madison
Paul Cederberg, M.D. Eau Claire, Wausau, Oshkosh, Milwaukee, Madison, LaCrosse
Gorden Clark, M.D. Milwaukee, Madison, Wausau, Appleton, Green Bay, Eau Claire, Tomah
Roger Daley, M.D. Milwaukee
Omar Darr, M.D. Milwaukee
Eric Gaenslen, M.D. Milwaukee
James Gmeiner, M.D. Appleton
Gary Guten, M.D. Milwaukee
Jerome Hagens, M.D. Appleton
Jacques Hussussian, M.D. Milwaukee, Fond du Lac
Roger Johnson, M.D. Milwaukee
Richard Karr, M.D. Milwaukee
Sean Keane, M.D. Milwaukee
Navjot Kohli, M.D. Milwaukee, Madison, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Wausau, Eau Claire
James Langenkamp, M.D. Milwaukee
Robert McCabe, M.D. Milwaukee
Donald Middleton, M.D. Milwaukee
Jeffrey Minikel, M.D. Milwaukee
Craig Moe, M.D. Milwaukee
Christopher Noonan, M.D. Milwaukee
Michael Orth, M.D. Madison, Green Bay, Wausau, Eau Claire, Milwaukee
Douglas Palmer, M.D. Madison
Raj Rao, M.D. Milwaukee
Stephen Robbins, M.D. Milwaukee
James Rydlewicz, M.D. Milwaukee
Rajit Saluja, M.D. Milwaukee
James Self, M.D. Madison
James Stiehl, M.D. Milwaukee
Mark Wikenheiser, M.D. St. Croix Falls

Physiatry
Dennis Brown, M.D. Milwaukee
Steven Kirkhorn, M.D. Marshfield, Wausau
Jerome Lerner, M.D. Milwaukee
John Revord, M.D. Appleton
Sridhar Vasudevan, M.D. Milwaukee, Madison, Wausau, Eau Claire, Green Bay

Physical Medicine
John Revord, M.D. Appleton
Randall Schultz, M.D. Appleton
Richard Staehler, M.D. Appleton
Robert Zoeller, M.D. Oconomowoc

Podiatry
Keith Beck, D.P.M. Milwaukee
Magali Fournier, D.P.M Wausau
Ian Furnes, D.P.M. Fond du Lac, Chilton
Randal Wojciehoski, D.O. Milwaukee, Stevens Point, Eau Claire, Duluth, Wausau, Green Bay, Appleton

Psychiatry
David Black, M.D. Milwaukee
Donald Feinsilver, M.D. Milwaukee
Brad Grunert, Ph.D. Milwaukee, Eau Claire, Wausau
Kenneth Robbins, M.D. Madison
Michael Spierer, M.D. Madison

Psychiatry (Neuro)
Paul Caillier, M.D. Eau Claire

Psychology
Calvin Langmade, M.D. Milwaukee

Pulmonology
Steven Brown, M.D. Milwaukee
Stuart Levy, M.D. Milwaukee
Reid Olson, M.D. Madison
James Sehloff, M.D. Madison
Linus Santo Tomas, M.D. Milwaukee

Radiology
Albert Alter, M.D. Madison

Rheumatology
David Blake, M.D. Milwaukee

Urology
Elliott Silbar, M.D. Milwaukee

Aside from noting how often some Wisconsin doctors appear on Medical Systems, Inc.'s calendar, it's interesting to see how much travelling some physicians are willing to do - as indicated by Medical Impressions "city" designation - just to get IME business from insurance claims adjusters and corporate defense lawyers.

Check out Randall Wojciehoski, he appears quite often on the Medical Systems calendars and on Medical Impressions page he'll travel 400 miles going from Duluth, MN to Milwaukee, WI. Randall Wojciehoski also appeared on my Defense "Independent" Medical Examinations and Medical Defense Doctors blogs. Curiously, he also has more areas of expertise than most of the listed Wisconsin IME doctors.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Phone Call and A Check

In How many lawyers do you need? I discussed hiring attorneys and lawyer advertising. Now, I'm going to rip a specific form of lawyer advertising, which is the former client or an actor holding a check and saying something like: all I did was call personal injury attorney ____ and I got $____. Those commercials and similar ones make me sick. They make those of us who represent real victims who were badly injured and who respect the legal profession and our civil justice system look like leeches, which may be a fair description for lawyers running those ads, but not for real Wisconsin personal injury lawyers.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Wisconsin Police may be Listening

In a loss for child molesters or those attempting to molest children (and advertising that on the Internet), the Wisconsin Court of Appeals handed down State v John David Ohlinger, 2008AP135. Ohlinger's horrific personal legal history can be see (partially) on Wisconsin's Circuit Court Access. In any event, the Ohlinger decisions upholds Wisconsin law, which allows police to listen to any phone conversation as long as one party consents to the police listening. If the person consenting to the police listening happens to also be a police officer (rather than a private citizen), that doesn't matter as long as they are a party to the phone call.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

How many lawyers do you need?

Saw an outstanding Wisconsin employment discrimination lawyer today and one topic was a personal injury attorney who boasts about the size of his law firm. The discrimination attorney (who's firm has about 10 employees or so) said overhead would concern him there and I've always had issues with unusually large personal injury firms. One concern I've had in Milwaukee is that personal injury lawyers use paid advertising excessively adding to overhead and causing some injury firms to need thousands of clients. At a certain point, partners in these firms lose the ability to see to it that paralegals and lawyers give top level service even if named partners are great lawyers. The next thing that may happen is that associate lawyers feel a need to bring in money and then because they have hundreds of clients at a time, these injury atttorneys settle cases cheaply, which may turn a law firm into a personal injury mill.

I don't know the perfect way how to hire a Wisconsin personal injury lawyer, but I gave direction in Wisconsin personal injury Super Lawyers too. Let me add, that unlike Milwaukee's corporate law firms (e.g. Michael Best, Reinhart, Whyte) where companies need lots of "specialists" (e.g. real estate, regulation, intellectual property, tax, etc.), personal injury clients don't. Rarely, if ever, will an injured party need more than two lawyers at any one injury law firm, so you really shouldn't care "how big" a firm is or "how many" lawyers such a firm has, only whether the one or two attorneys you hire are the ones you're willing to live with for your personal injury case.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Corporate Employees Email Legislators

Wisconsin's insurance corporations are so afraid of losing profits over Governor Doyle's Car Insurance Proposal that the companies are attempting to make employees email and phone all members of the Wisconsin State Assembly and Wisconsin State Senate.

If you want to get fair car insurance coverage, then call the Legislative Hotline at (608) 266-9960 or (800) 362-9472 and tell your State Representative and State Senator to make sure that the TRUTH IN AUTO INSURANCE PROVISIONS are included in the budget.

I haven't done any new research but I blogged about American Family's $564,400,000.00 (Five-Hundred-Sixty-Four-Million-Four-Hundred-Thousand-Dollars) profits and AIG's Greenberg's $4,400,000,000.00 (Four-Billion-Four-Hundred-Million-Dollars).

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Governor Doyle's Car Insurance Proposal

In 1995, insurance companies in the Wisconsin Insurance Alliance conned state legislators and the governor into believing that if they changed the law Wisconsin citizens would pay less in car insurance rates. Well, the bill became law and car insurance rates never went up. Oh, does that sound to good to be true? Exactly. What really happened was that Wisconsin citizens LOST many rights they had under their insurance policies and of course, car insurance rates WENT UP.

Here are WIA's members:

A I G
Allied Insurance
Allstate Insurance
American Family Insurance
Ameriprise Auto & Home Ins
Auto Club Insurance Assn
Badger Mutual Insurance
Capitol Indemnity Corp
C N A
Church Mutual Insurance
CUNA Mutual Insurance Group
Farmers Insurance
1st Auto & Casualty Insurance Co
General Reinsurance Corp Kemper Auto & Home
Germantown Mutual Insurance
Homestead Mutual Insurance Co
Integrity Mutual Insurance
Ixonia Mutual Insurance Co
Jewelers Mutual Insurance
League of Wisc Municipalities Mutual
Liberty Mutual Group
Manitowoc Mutual Insurance
Maple Valley Mutual Insurance
McMillan/Warner Mutual Ins
Mount Morris Mutual
Nationwide Indemnity
Old Republic Surety Co
Partners Mutual Insurance Co
ProAssurance Progressive Northern Insurance Cos
QBE Regional/General Casualty
Racine County Mutual Insurance Co
Rural Mutual Insurance Co
SECURA Insurance
Sentry Insurance
S F M
Sheboygan Falls Insurance
Society Insurance
State Auto Insurance Cos
State Farm Insurance
Sugar Creek Mutual Insurance Co
Travelers
United Wisconsin Insurance Co
Waukesha Cty Mutual Insurance
WEA Property & Casualty Co
West Bend Mutual Insurance
Western National Mutual Ins Co
Wilson Mutual Insurance
Wisconsin American Mutual Insurance Co
Wisconsin Assn of Mutual Insurance Cos
Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Co
Wisconsin Mutual Insurance Co
Wisconsin Reinsurance Corp

Recall Insurance Company Tricks and my recent Car Insurance post.

The Governor's bill, which is in the budget, reverses the insurance companies' 1995 nonsense giving back Wisconsin citizens the rights that were taken away and raises car insurance limits from the 25-year-old $25,000 minimum to $100,000. Who's looking out for you? It's not Wisconsin’s property and casualty insurers. Here, it is absolutely Governor Doyle!

Contact your legislator and let him or her know that you SUPPORT Governor Doyle's Truth in Auto Insurance Law.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Preemption Garbage Strikes Wisconsin

Blunt v. Medtronic, 2009 WI 16, is another bad example of how the U.S. Supreme Court has screwed up products liability law for consumers. Blunt is likely consistent with the litany of horrific decisions from federal courts, but the result is simply unfair to consumers. Bottom line, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that this personal injury case was preempted because the FDA approved a defective product that Medtronic effectively recalled. Yeah, that's great, let's assume that the FDA always gets it right and bar consumers from suing for injuries received from an "approved" product even after the manufacturer has essentially admitted the product was bad.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Unethical Ambulance Chasing?

In the past I talked about Wisconsin personal injury attorneys sending letters to recent car accident victims, similar Wisconsin law firm's letters, and accident lawyers who post about recent accidents.

In the newest twist, NY injury attorney Eric Turkewitz talks about the ethics of personal injury lawyers creating Flight 3407 related websites and buying related Google Adwords in Flight 3407 (Buffalo Crash) Web Site Established By Law Firm (Contravening Ethics Rules?) and DC Firm Jumps Into Cyber-Solicitation Fray, Chasing Buffalo Air Crash Clients.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Wisconsin Car Accident Deaths Down

According to this report from the Governors Highway Safety Association, Wisconsin car accident deaths were down 20% in 2008 from the year prior. This article from the Wall Street Journal explains that nationally car accident deathss were down about 10% in 2008. Interestingly, the WSJ article sets forth various speculative reasons for the decrease, including the fact that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety uses "the power of shame to push car makers to beef up their designs for crash-worthiness." What about the power of product liability lawsuits holding car manufacturers responsible for failing to incorporate reasonable crashworthy designs? Not that I'd expect the WSJ to ever give personal injury lawyers any credit for positive change.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Dangerous Car Accident Vehicles

Forbes caught my attention today with Most Dangerous Vehicles Of 2009. The vehicles listed were the Chevy Aveo, Chevy Colorado, Chevy Trailblazer, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Dodge Nitro, Ford Ranger, GMC Canyon, GMC Envoy, Hummer H3, Hyundai Accent, Jeep Liberty, Jeep Wrangler, Kia Rio, Mazda B Series, Nissan Frontier, and Suzuki Equator.

Wisconsin Car Accident Lawyer

Wall Street! How do you like CAPS now?

President Obama wants to limit certain CEO's pay to $500,000 so I'm wondering now how Wall Street likes caps now. Wall Street CEOs like ex-AIG man Hank Greenberg and the Wall Street rag are always asking for tort reform and love CAPS on personal injury damages!

Wisconsin has caps in nearly all wrongful death, medical malpractice, and municipality cases. Citizens here usually aren't aware how the caps effect them - until they or someone close to them is injured or killed. For example, the cap on all damages in many personal injury cases against Wisconsin municipalities is $50,000. How fair is that? It's not; it's total garbage.

Wall Street now is on the receiving end of caps. An arbitrary number chosen by politicians limiting their right to compensation. I think it's wrong too, but I wonder if Wall Street recognizes how unfair caps are - in personal injury cases.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Wisconsin Cheerleading Lawsuit

Wisconsin's Supreme Court issued Noffke v. Bakke yesterday and it's been discussed in the news, Wall Street Journal's Blog, and by legal professors, Legal Profession Blog and Sports Law Blog. The Blogosphere discussion seems to focus on cheerleading as a contact sport, which I'm sure law scholars can debate ad infinitum.

Simple lawyers like me though wonder, why didn't a jury get to decide whether this fellow cheerleader and school district acted reasonably? I ask that rhetorically because I know the reason is because a prior Wisconsin legislature and governor decided to give IMMUNITY.

Noffke v. Bakke shows two types of immunity statutes in Wisconsin - governmental immunity (school districts, cities, villages, etc.) and recreational immunity (certain sports, activities, etc.). In my opinion, immunity laws are a horrible form of tort reform, which occurs too often in Wisconsin personal injury law.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

True Justice from the new Dept of Justice?

In a prior post, I explained how federal agencies can and have been used to strip Americans of legal rights. In Revival of Justice: What Obama's DoJ appointees should do first, Yale Law School's Judith Resnik sets forth some ideas for the new administration to revive true justice.

The highlights from my perspective are:

• Acknowledge that the courts are for all citizens;
• Stop government lawyers from cutting off access to courts for civil litigants;
• Don't use support "tort reform" laws ("reform" is really short for deform);
• Give consumers, employees and tort victims more access to court;
• Stop mandatory arbitration (see e.g. your credit card contract);
• Let consumers with tiny claims aggregate in classes so they can get lawyers; and
• Eliminate immunities for government officials and private contractors.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Ingenix Lawsuit Settled

UnitedHealth Care through an outfit called Ingenix allegedly engaged in some insurance company behaviors I've mentioned. So it settled the lawsuit relating to that paying $350,000,000.00 to resolve class action lawsuits and $50,000,000.00 to the NY AG.

I found one interesting aspect of such lawsuits to be the hypocrisy of doctors bringing the cases since they are typically the ones seeking to limit your rights in medical malpractice litigation.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Olbermann Countdown Gets 3 Cheers

Almost missed posting on this well done piece. Unbeknowst to many Americans, sometimes an administrator at some federal agency can strip them of their rights.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney