general personal injury | InjuryBoard Milwaukee

Ardisam, Inc. of Cumberland, Wisconsin is paying $420,000 to settle a suit by the Consumer Product Safety Commission alleging that it failed to report personal injuries suffered by hunters using its tree stands when the stands unexpectedly detached from trees. Even though the company allegedly became aware of at least nine injury incident reports as early as 2000, the company did not report the...

Brain injury can result in physical limitations, such as quadraplegia or paraplegia, as well as mental limitations, such as loss of memory and other cognitive functions. An interesting and tragic account of one man's traumatic brain injury appears in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Elliot Lubar, a well known executive of a social services agency that provides counseling services to...

A column in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Jim Stingl describes a dog owner's problem obtaining liability insurance following an incident in which her dog ran out of the yard and bit a neighbor. Because Wisconsin has a statute (174.02, Wis.Stats) that awards double damages to a victim of a dog that has bitten before, most liability insurers will refuse to insure a homeowner who does...

The Associated Press has reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is contemplating intervening in a New Orleans lawsuit accusing several major insurance companies of fraud for paying off engineers in order to falsify claims. The "whistleblower" suit filed in the name of two sisters who worked for a company that contracted with State Farm, names State Farm, Nationwide Insurance Co.,...

While various government spokespersons have taken to the airwaves to calm the nerves of American drivers after the tragic collapse of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis, the media are already examining bridge inspection and maintenance records bearing upon whether officials knew or should have known that the bridge was in poor condition, with one early report making some rather unsettling...

The Washington Post reports that a man in Arlington County Virginia was surprised to receive notice that he had overpaid his second mortgage http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20044213/ because . . . he did not have a second mortgage. It turns out that a thief had stolen his wallet a year earlier and had used his identity to buy a $419,000 house with no money down! Fortunately, this identity thief...

Last weekend I wrote about an amusement ride accident in which a 16 year old girl from Menasha, Wisconsin died when she fell more than 40 feet from a ride called Air Glory while attending a Christian music festival in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.The Wisconsin Journal Sentinel website reports this afternoon that the local district attorney is saying that criminal charges against the amusement ride...

Declaring that Wisconsin does not need more "ambulance chasing lawyers", Rep. Frank Lasee, Republican from Green Bay, has proposed a measure that would end public support for the University of Wisconsin Law School. The measure gained approval from the Republican controlled Wisconsin Assembly and became part of the recently approved Wisconsin Assembly's budget bill.Appropriately, Governor Doyle...

Court decisions by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1995 and 1997 closed the door to the courthouse for childhood victims of sex abuse by priests, holding in John BBB Doe v. Archdiocese of Milwaukee that the statute of limitations had expired three years after the last incident of abuse and, in a case called Pritzlaff v. Archdiocse of Milwaukee, that the Archdiocese of Milwaukee was not liable for...

Today's New York Times has published a piece by legal affairs columnist Adam Liptik raising questions about state and local governments' use of contingent fee lawfirms to handle major litigation, such as tobacco and environmental pollution cases. Most of the criticism of the fee arrangements comes out of the mouths of lawyers defending the polluters and other corporate interests, who would...

Millions of Americans enjoyed fireworks displays yesterday. But I suspect that some families today are struggling with the aftermath of injuries from fireworks. It's not just those foolish enough to buy and use these products themselves. It's the danger of fireworks to bystanders that gives cause for concern. Bystanders are more often injured by fireworks than operators themselves. A...

The Associated Press has published a startling report about brain injury and death of schoolchildren due to pesticide spraying near schools. The report focuses on California, one of eight states that require a buffer zone around schools to protect children from "pesticide drift". There there were 590 pesticide-related illnesses at schools from 1996 to 2005, according to state records obtained...

Traumatic brain injury is a frequent and devastating consequence of a car accident. A column by award winning writer Crocker Stephenson in today's Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel provides a poignant account of a couple driving their car on a foggy day, broadsided by a delivery truck, and each left with serious consequences of brain injury from the force of the brain slamming into the skull that...

Here I am, Monday morning in the Milwaukee County Courthouse-- a familiar time and location. But this time I am sitting in the jury assembly room with a jury summons in my hand. This is my first opportunity for jury service, and one that I am looking forward to. We are sitting in auditorium type seating, unacquainted with one another, no one talking, all somewhat uncomfortable in these strange...

Nail guns are easy to use, but not necessarily easy to use safely. Today's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report issued by the Center for Disease Control reveals that over the five year period between 2001 - 2005, emergency departments saw 37,000 patients annually for nail gun injuries. This represents a remarkable surge in the occurrence of nail gun injuries, particularly in the consumer...