Back in September 2013, we posted an article entitled “Do Liability Waivers Really Work?” The article served as a primer and cautionary tale regarding the enforceability of common liability waivers. These are the agreements required by gyms, martial arts facilities, climbing gyms, trampoline parks, and similar businesses geared toward physical activity that can be inherently…
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has recently had occasion to clarify the issue of whether extrinsic evidence can be considered in determining an insurer’s duty to defend in the case of Water Well Solutions Serv., Inc. v. Consolidated Ins. Co., 2016 WI 54 (2016). In this case, the Court refused to modify the longstanding “four-corners” rule…
Hawai’i. There is no place like it on earth. It is the most remote population center on the face of the planet, 2,400 miles from the nearest anything. It has the most diverse population on earth, with no racial or ethnic group constituting a majority and a continuing effort underway to create a separate region…
In 2010, researchers at the University of Michigan hypothesized that it is theoretically possible to conjure particles from a complete vacuum under the right circumstances. Performing such a feat in the world of subrogation might seem improbable, but subrogation theory has become subrogation law where MCS-90 Endorsements are concerned. Have you ever spent countless hours…
As a means of raising revenue, particularly during times of economic crisis, a handful of states employ, and many states repeatedly revisit, the dubious and counter-productive scheme of imposing a tax on professional services, whether as a sales tax (including lifting an exemption in many states’ sales tax code for professional services), use tax, excise…
When a product fails and causes damages to other property, a straightforward property damage claim takes on a whole new dimension. Recovering property damage claims related to a product liability defect are some of the most complicated, challenging, and difficult recoveries to make in the field of subrogation. Often, you are dealing with a manufacturer…
Until recently, Connecticut’s Workers’ Compensation Subrogation Statute, § 31-293, labored under the judicial interpretation by which an employer was allowed to file a third-party action, but its workers’ compensation carrier was not. Subrogated carriers had to hope that the employee or employer was willing to bring an action because if the employee didn’t file, and…
Ronald Reagan famously said, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Government has become almost synonymous with ineptitude. So it should be no surprise that every day people are injured, killed, or sustain property damage at the hands of careless government employees. Damages available to…
Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C. (“MWL”) is pleased to announce that Richard Schuster has been made a partner of the firm. Rich has been with MWL since 2012, concentrating his practice on large loss subrogation and product liability cases, including overseeing the firm’s involvement with the subrogation litigation surrounding the 2013 ammonium nitrate explosion at…
Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C. has consistently advised its Louisiana clients to always intervene in third-party tort suits to recover workers’ compensation benefits, as some published opinions have suggested that a workers’ compensation carrier waives its right of recovery if it does not intervene after receiving notice of suit. A recent case from the Louisiana…