Since 1939, § 15 has provided that a workers’ compensation carrier receives first priority recovery from a third-party settlement or judgment. In particular, it provides that “the sum recovered” in the third-party action (also defined as the “gross sum received in payment for the injury…shall be for the benefit of the insurer, unless such sum…
As someone whose childhood winter chores included “shoveling the roof”, I have an intimate familiarity with the concept of the potential for roof collapse from the weight of excessive snow and ice. Winter storms this season have produced all-time record snowfall records in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and parts of New York. Winter Storm Jonas is the…
During my first decade of practicing law in Texas, I enjoyed a good professional relationship with Texas Governor Greg Abbott. In those days, Greg, who is my age and earned his law degree one year after me, was a young defense attorney with the Houston law firm of Butler Binion, and was opposite me in…
Dealing with a situation that is annoying, if nothing else, to quite a few businesses, a Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision recently upheld an exclusion within an insurance policy that precluded coverage for allegations that it’s insured violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by continually sending faxes (“blast faxes”) without the permission or consent…
Wisconsin’s so-called dog bite statute entitled “Owner’s Liability for Damage Caused by Dog” is currently set forth in Wis. Stat. § 174.02. Section 174.02(1)(a) deals with a “first bite” of a dog while § 174.02(1)(b) deals with a “second bite” of a dog with the owner or keeper of the dog being required to have…
In the case of Lyle and Carol Hird v. American Family Mutual Insurance Company, Appeal No. 2014AP2402, a 2015 Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision dealt with allegations of (1) bad faith; (2) Wis. Stat. § 628.46(1) statutory interest; and (3) Wisconsin’s Offer of Settlement Statute – Wis. Stat. § 807.01. Taking into account the very…