Elkhorn Wisconsin Legal Blog

Wrong way driving is rampant in Wisconsin

On behalf of Godfrey, Leibsle, Blackbourn & Howarth, S.C. posted in motor vehicle accidents on Tuesday, September 10, 2019.

Traffic accidents involving wrong-way drivers can be catastrophic because these types of accidents involve head-on collisions and high speeds. Yet, wrong way driving is an epidemic throughout Wisconsin, according to the state police, and it is increasing the risk of serious and fatal motor vehicle accidents.

There were over 500 wrong way driving crashes in the state last year. These accidents usually caused death, personal injury or serious property damage. Wrong way driving usually involves an impaired motorist, according to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department. That agency alone stopped 56 wrong-way drivers during the last three years. In these stops, 50 motorists were impaired by alcohol or drugs and the remaining drivers were confused.

Injury victims have choices

On behalf of Godfrey, Leibsle, Blackbourn & Howarth, S.C. posted in personal injury on Tuesday, September 3, 2019.

Drivers, business owners, doctors, manufacturers and others must act with reasonable care to others or face legal action. Victims of negligence or malpractice may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit seeking compensation or damages.

Motorists who are impaired, texting and driving, speeding or engaging in other reckless or negligent conduct may be liable for injuries caused by auto accidents. An injury or insurance lawsuit may be filed against them when their conduct caused an accident.

Protecting your company in commercial lease negotiations

On behalf of Godfrey, Leibsle, Blackbourn & Howarth, S.C. on Thursday, August 15, 2019.

Once you find a space that will work for your Wisconsin business, you may want to go ahead and sign the lease so you can move forward, but that may not be wise. There are many reasons why moving cautiously through this process is the smartest move for your company. You can negotiate the terms of a commercial lease, and you want to make sure it's right before you agree to anything.

Unlike a residential lease, it's possible to negotiate the terms of a commercial lease. You can work with the landlord to ensure that the terms you agree to are fair, reasonable and sustainable for your company for the life of the lease. This is a legal contract that will affect your operations for a considerable amount of time – it's prudent to make sure you understand everything in that agreement before you move forward.

Malpractice in emergency rooms

On behalf of Godfrey, Leibsle, Blackbourn & Howarth, S.C. posted in personal injury on Tuesday, August 13, 2019.

Emergency medical departments are designed to provide immediate life-saving care and treat trauma. A recent report, however, revealed that treatments in emergency departments are the fourth most-common cause of personal injury claims related to medical care because of the unique circumstances surrounding the care that is provided.

Emergency room care provides distinctive medical malpractice risk to health care providers because they are providing care to strangers. This may lead to communication breakdowns. The medical liability insurer Coverys reviewed emergency department claims from 2014 to 2015. According to the report, 56% of claims concerned failure or delay with making a diagnosis. The most cited conditions in legal actions were cardiac or vascular illnesses, which constituted 23% of claims, and infections, which comprised 18& of claims. Diagnostic claims, in particular, revealed breakdowns in emergency room procedures. 44% of those claims showed deficiencies with taking the patient's initial history and physical examination.

Fix could have stopped elevator injuries

On behalf of Godfrey, Leibsle, Blackbourn & Howarth, S.C. posted in personal injury on Monday, July 29, 2019.

Products often pose unintentional risks to their users. But an elevator installation defect known for almost 70 years to companies and regulators has caused personal injury to children that could have been prevented.

Small children were caught between elevator doors and killed and injured when the upper door frame above hit them or when they fell into the elevator shaft. A $100 space guard would have eliminated the gap that caused these accidents.

Head-on crash near Fairfield sends 2 to hospital

On behalf of Godfrey, Leibsle, Blackbourn & Howarth, S.C. posted in motor vehicle accidents on Thursday, July 18, 2019.

One of the worst mistakes that can be made after a traffic accident involving personal injury is the attempt to escape from the scene without being identified or arrested. Such attempts usually fail, and the would-be escapist only worsens his legal predicament. A head-on crash near Fairfield, Wisconsin produced a similar result when two people were observed running from the scene of the accident.

On Saturday evening, July 6, 2019, Police were called about a two-vehicle crash involving multiple injuries on County Highway A near Fairfield. As deputies were driving to the scene, a witness spotted a man and a woman running from the scene. Officers took only a few minutes to find the pair hiding behind a house.

Two semi-trucks crash and burn, killing two on I-94

On behalf of Godfrey, Leibsle, Blackbourn & Howarth, S.C. posted in motor vehicle accidents on Friday, July 5, 2019.

Anyone who has driven on the nation's Interstate Highway System can attest to the large number of semi-trailer trucks that use the same highways. Most semi drivers are well-trained and obey traffic laws, especially speed limits. Nevertheless, semi-trucks are frequently involved in serious motor vehicle collisions that injure or kill other drivers and their passengers. An especially serious semi-trailer truck crash south of Milwaukee on I-94 recently demonstrated the extent of the threat posed by these highway goliaths.

A semi heading south on I-94 attempted to make a lane change and hit a construction barrier. The driver over-corrected and hit the median wall. The wall was shoved into the northbound lanes, where it was struck by three other cars. The truck that hit the retaining wall burst into flames that quickly engulfed the three the northbound cars. A second semi that was traveling north swerved into a ditch in an attempt to avoid the burning vehicles. This truck also burst into flames. Both semi drivers died in the accident, and two other persons suffered serious injuries. A Flight for Life helicopter was ordered by the highway patrol, but it could not take off because of adverse weather conditions.

Suffering due to medical malpractice? Here's what's next

On behalf of Godfrey, Leibsle, Blackbourn & Howarth, S.C. on Tuesday, June 25, 2019.

When you go to a doctor for medical treatment or a diagnosis of your symptoms, you probably assume that you will receive quality care from a person concerned with your well-being. Most doctors and medical facilities strive to do that for their patients. Unfortunately, that is not the case everywhere, and patients end up suffering significant harm because of things like negligence, inaccurate diagnoses and more.

If you are a victim of medical treatment gone wrong, you may be unsure of what you can do next. After all, how can you adequately hold a medical professional accountable for mistakes he or she made? In cases involving different types of medical malpractice, victims have the right to speak up and seek to hold liable parties accountable for what happened to them.

Apparent negligent driver causes fatal car crash

On behalf of Godfrey, Leibsle, Blackbourn & Howarth, S.C. posted in motor vehicle accidents on Friday, June 21, 2019.

One-way streets were originally intended to speed up traffic and improve circulation on local streets. A recent fatal motor vehicle accident in Milwaukee was blamed by witnesses on the one-way streets in the neighborhood. One witness characterized the situation as "pretty savage out here."

According to police investigators, a sedan was headed west on Lincoln Avenue when another vehicle heading north on 33rd Street ran the stop sign at the Lincoln intersection and collided with the vehicle on Lincoln. The speed of the northbound vehicle caused the sound of the impact to be heard a significant distance from the intersection. One person in the northbound vehicle died in the collision, and three others were injured. News reports were not clear about whether the deceased person was the driver or a passenger in the northbound vehicle.

How bankruptcy can save property from foreclosure

On behalf of Godfrey, Leibsle, Blackbourn & Howarth, S.C. posted in real estate law on Wednesday, June 12, 2019.

For most people in the greater Milwaukee area, filing for bankruptcy is an admission of financial failure. This just simply isn't the case. While the circumstances which may have compelled a person to file bankruptcy are unpleasant, filing a bankruptcy petition under either Chapter 11 or Chapter 13 can have an important curative effect: saving real property from foreclosure.

Businesses typically file a bankruptcy petition under Chapter 11, which contemplates the preparation of a plan of reorganization under which the company's existing debts will be repaid over a period of either five years or seven years. Chapter 13 is used by individuals to achieve essentially the same outcome. In both cases, the filing of the bankruptcy petition invokes what is called the "automatic stay." The automatic stay is an order that is issued by the bankruptcy court immediately upon the filing of the petition. The stay requires all creditors of the debtor to immediately cease collection activity, including foreclosure proceedings.