Wisconsin Personal Injury Claims—Milwaukee Lawyers
Work with a Milwaukee personal injury lawyer who gets results
The personal injury attorneys at Hayes & Rothstein develop a specific plan for each personal injury case. We seek settlements through negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. If these efforts do not result in a satisfactory offer of compensation, we litigate your personal injury case in court.
Our Favorite Verdict
"We’ve agreed to hold for the plaintiff, Deborah Anne Kaye, and against the defendants St. Catherine Labouree and Drs. Towler and Marx. But, your honor, are we limited on the size of the award? What I mean, sir, is are we permitted to award an amount greater than the plaintiff asked for?"
Foreperson of the jury at the close of The Verdict, 1982 movie starring Paul Newman as Frank Galvin.
$100,000 - $100,000 - $100,000
Within a matter of months in 2010, we settled three injury claims for the policy limits of $100,000 in each case. The amount of the settlement in your case depends on the facts in your case and the quality of the attorney representing you. Call us for an evaluation of your case.
What to Do If You Have an Accident
When you are involved in an accident, you want to make sure you follow the correct procedure. You should first do a quick assessment regarding any injuries to you or to anyone in your vehicle. You should then immediately ask the occupants of any other vehicles whether there are any injuries. If so you are obligated by law to render reasonable assistance, including making arrangements for medical care. You must remain at the scene until you have done this and until you have provided your name and address and the registration number of your vehicle to the operators or occupants of the other vehicles and to any injured pedestrians. You must also show your driver’s license if requested.
After you have fulfilled these legal obligations, you should take action to protect your rights. Secure the witnesses. Talk to any motorists who have stopped or any passersby who have seen the accident
Ask for their help. Write down the name, address, and phone number of any of these witnesses. Give the witnesses your name, address and phone number. Take pictures using your cell phone camera of the damage to both vehicles and the position of both vehicles on the road so that the accident can be reconstructed. If you want a police officer to note the exact location of the vehicles because of a causation issue, you should insist that the other operator(s) leave the vehicles in the same position until an officer arrives. If your vehicles are severely impeding traffic and an officer does not promptly respond, consideration should be given to moving the vehicles to the side of the road or to a nearby parking lot after the photos are taken.
If it appears that the damage to any vehicle exceeds $1,000, if there are any injuries, or if it appears that there is damage exceeding $200 to any state or other government owned property, you must immediately by the quickest means of communication (911 call) give notice of the accident to the police department or sheriff’s department. If the accident does not require that the police be contacted or if the police fail to respond, you can immediately go to the police department to complete a Wisconsin Department of Transportation form called "Driver Report of Accident." The best procedure is to encourage the other operator(s) to accompany you to the police department so that all information can be accurately recorded. You will need the other operator’s full name, address, date of birth, phone number, and driver license number. Regarding the owner of the vehicle you will need the full name, address, phone number, license plate number, vehicle make, color, VIN, and the name and policy number of the operator’s and/or owner’s insurance carrier.
If you strike an unattended vehicle, you must stop and either locate and notify the owner regarding all your information or you must leave in a conspicuous place a written notice providing all your information.
If you strike property adjacent to a highway (a building, sign, or other property), you must take reasonable steps to locate and notify the owner or person in charge of the property and provide all your information.
After you have fulfilled all these legal requirements and secured your witnesses, it is a good idea to make detailed notes regarding what occurred prior to the accident, at the time of the accident, and after the accident, including a summary of what the other operators, occupants, and witnesses said to you.
At Hayes & Rothstein, S.C. we represent individuals who are injured in auto accidents and we defend individuals who are issued citations because of auto accidents. Regardless of whether you were injured and regardless of whether you were at fault, it’s best to call 414-291-9911 to discuss what occurred and how to proceed.
Making the case for your Wisconsin personal injury claim
In Wisconsin, to receive compensation for an injury claim you must prove the person who caused the injury was negligent:
- The person who caused your injury owed you a duty of reasonable care
- The other person failed to carry out that duty
- You suffered damages
- The injury was caused by the other person's failure
Contributory negligence
Even if you were partly at fault, you can still recover damages for an injury. Wisconsin has a modified comparative fault rule. In most auto accident cases, if you were 50 percent or less at fault, your personal injury lawsuit can move forward.
Comparative negligence
Under Wisconsin comparative negligence law, any damages that are awarded will be reduced by the percentage of negligence that is attributed to you.
Car accident injuries
Most of the Wisconsin personal injury cases that we handle involve traffic accidents:
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If your loved one was killed in an accident due to someone else's negligence, we file a wrongful death suit to help your family recover financially from your loss.
Get UM/UIM coverage
Effective November 1, 2009, Wisconsin law requires that if an insurance policy contains under-insured motorist coverage (UM) and/or under-insured motorist coverage (UIM), the minimum policy limits must be $100,000 each person and $300,000 each accident. We strongly advise our clients to carry at least these minimum limits based on the number of and danger posed by drivers without any liability insurance.
If you or a family member is injured by an uninsured motorist, the only likely source of recovery for your injury claim is against your uninsured motorist coverage. If the motorist that injures you has only a minimum liability policy, you will be limited to that recovery unless you have under-insured motorist coverage. We have had many cases over the years where our clients have recovered the policy limits against their own insurance company after being injured by an uninsured or under-insured motorist. It only makes sense to protect yourself and your family.
Engage a persistent Milwaukee personal injury lawyer
If you were injured in a car accident in Wisconsin and the other driver was at least 50% at fault, we help you recover damages for—
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We offer a contingency fee for personal injury cases. You do not pay us until we get you a damage award. For a free initial consultation with a Milwaukee personal injury lawyer who gets you compensated, make an appointment at the law firm of Hayes & Rothstein.
