Recently, Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C. (MWL) successfully argued an appeal regarding a firefighter’s claims of defamation. The dispute stemmed from a local television broadcast in which a reporter discussed the disabled status of local firefighter. The firefighter had injured…
Every year, property insurers write checks totaling nearly $15 billion in response to fire losses, large and small. Fire claims average nearly $50,000 and are the most expensive type of claim filed, followed by hail claims at $11,000. Claims professionals…
It seems that there are no lengths parties won’t go to in order to destroy what they perceive as the evil known as “subrogation.” Workers’ compensation subrogation professionals in Pennsylvania are familiar with the saga of the Domtar case, which…
Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C. (MWL) proudly announces the opening of its new branch office in California. The office is located at 500 N. State College Blvd, Suite 1100, Orange, California 92868, with convenient access to state and federal courts…
Recently, in Kaitlin Woods Condominium Ass’n v. Kaitlin Woods, LLC, et al., 2017 WL 3234370 (Wis. 2017), the Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld a “synthetic stucco” (also known as Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS)) exclusion in a commercial general…
Subrogation is the legal doctrine which allows one party, usually an insurance company, that pays a loss by its insured which was caused by a third party, to take over the rights of its insured against the third party and…
“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes,” Oscar Wilde famously said. Having represented the subrogation interests of insurance companies and self-insured companies around the world for the past 33 years, I’ve seen enough bad subrogation decisions to create…
Plaintiff-friendly judges and legislators in various states have gained strength and influence over the last twenty years, resulting in statutes and court decisions inimical to the subrogation and reimbursement rights of workers’ compensation carriers. North Dakota is fighting back. On…
Some states, including Missouri, are known as “anti-subrogation” states. Missouri’s public policy prohibits the assignment of a personal injury claim, whether it is called an assignment, subrogation interest, or agreement to reimburse. Hays v. Missouri Highways and Transp. Comm’n, 62…
A recent 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals decision interpreted New York’s General Obligations Law § 5-335, which provides that personal injury settlements “shall be conclusively presumed” not to include “any compensation for the cost of health care services, loss of…