Year: 2019
Car owners in Wisconsin have rights even after they have defaulted on their car loans. Lenders who repossess your car in violation of those rights may have to give the car back and may face even greater penalties, including (under some circumstances) having to repay you all the money you’ve ever paid them. But those […]
Attorney Briane Pagel blogs about how you can reduce and protect yourself from student loan debt. Student loan problems often seem insurmountable, but in reality borrowers have numerous options for reducing or eliminating loan payments, curing defaults and avoiding garnishments, all without having to resort to bankruptcy. Eliminate student loans. Under some circumstances, it is […]
With the rise of websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, we are documenting and sharing more aspects of our lives than ever before. Litigators have quickly realized that an opposing party’s social media pages can contain valuable and easy-to-access evidence. For example, in a personal injury case, defendants often search plaintiffs’ Facebook and Twitter accounts […]
Almost everyone in our country has some familiarity with the Miranda warnings if for no other reason than they are repeated in almost every crime movie or criminal justice based television show. We all seem to intrinsically know that we have a right to remain silent and to consult with an attorney prior to speaking […]
We all know that texting while driving is dangerous, but teen drivers still do it at an alarming rate. Some studies show as many as 46% of teens admitted to texting while driving. 97% of these same teens agreed that texting and driving is dangerous. A person texting while driving has her eyes off the road […]
I read a statistic recently that approximately 80% of injured workers do not contest the insurance company’s denial of their claim. Seeing that number disappointed me because I know injured workers are getting the short end of the stick. Put simply, you work too hard and sacrifice too much to accept the insurance company’s denial of your […]
Children can be injured in a number of ways, from automobile accidents, to ATV injuries, to injuries from dogs. When a child is injured, the laws in Wisconsin provide some special protections. Children have a longer statute of limitations, special rules of negligence, and special protections from the court at the time of settlement. The […]
Currently, as a general rule in personal injury cases neither party can present any evidence regarding payments made to compensate the injured person from any other party besides the defendant. These third party payments are called “collateral source” payments. The “collateral source rule” has been the law in Wisconsin since 1908. Simply put, the rule allows […]
EXHIBIT 1: The Public Relations Campaign When the news broke in 1994 that 79-year-old Stella Liebeck won $2.9 million in punitive damages from McDonald’s for spilling hot coffee in her lap, the talk show pundits, comedians and news media went crazy. But instead of running from a story that many still believe epitomizes “jackpot justice,” […]