They say that life imitates art. Or, if you prefer Woody Allen’s slant on it, “Life doesn’t imitate art, it imitates bad television.” Both statements appear to be true in light of the recent Utah Supreme Court decision in Barbara Bagley v. Barbara Bagley, 2016 WL 6299507 (Utah 2016). Barbara Bagley, the wife of an accident victim, was allowed to sue herself for negligently causing the death of her husband and simultaneously win and lose.

The use of expert witnesses has become an integral and indispensable aspect of American litigation, and it is often the side with the best expert who wins the day. The importance of choosing the right expert at the right price is greater nowhere than it is in the area of subrogation. Claims professionals, in-house counsel, and outside subrogation attorneys should all be informed about the best practices in finding and selecting expert witnesses. A link to our newest chart detailing the law in all 50 states regarding the admissibility of expert testimony can be found in this article.

Trial lawyers in Nebraska had high hopes that a questionable Court of Appeals decision from early 2016 might reinject the equitable Made Whole Doctrine into Nebraska workers’ compensation subrogation and eliminate any right of the carrier to a future credit whenever the injured employee files and pursues a third-party action. On December 16, 2016, the Nebraska Supreme Court decision in In Re Estate of Evertson, 295 Neb. 301 (Neb. 2016) appears to have dashed those hopes, but perhaps not as forcefully and authoritatively as the workers’ compensation insurance industry and Nebraska employers would have liked.

Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C. (“MWL”) is pleased to announce that Caleb Katz has become an associate of the firm after a couple years serving as a paralegal and law clerk. Caleb will continue to practice insurance litigation and subrogation within all lines of insurance, with an emphasis on occupational accident subrogation. Caleb obtained his B.A. in History from Ohio Welseyan University in May 2013 and his J.D. in May 2016 from Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Prior to joining MWL, Caleb worked as a Legislative Intern in Madison for Wisconsin State Representative Evan Goyke, a law clerk with the Wisconsin National Guard JAG’s office in Madison, and a law clerk for Chief Judge James Shadid in the U.S. Federal District Court of Central Illinois. Caleb can be reached at ckatz@mwl-law.com.