Posted by rozeklawoffice on May 17, 2010 under Jury Duty | 
The most common complaint of jurors after a personal injury trial is that they were not told the ramifications of their answers to certain questions on the final verdict form. In Wisconsin, the law prevents the judge or the lawyers involved in the case to explain, in plain language, the effect of jurors answers on the ultimate outcome of the case. Below are some of the questions that will be asked of you if you are chosen to serve on a Wisconsin jury. After each question, there is an explanation of how a juror’s answers affect a personal injury claim.
QUESTION 1: Was The Defendant Negligent?
This question is usually relatively easy to answer. Personal injury attorneys rarely take cases unless they can prove the defendant was negligent. Negligence is simply the failure of the defendant to use ordinary care under the particular circumstances. Negligence is NOT the intentional harming of someone else. The jury, however, is not told is that if they answer “No” to this question, then the plaintiff recovers zero dollars, regardless of how the jurors may have answered Question 6. No Negligence on the Defendant = No Recovery for the Plaintiff.
QUESTION 2: Was The Negligence Of The Defendant A Cause Of Plaintiff’s Injuries?
This also should be easy to answer, but many times the jury is confused by this question and incorrectly answers it “no,” when in fact they should have answered it “yes.” Rarely will personal injury lawyers take cases where the negligence of the defendant didn’t cause at least one of the plaintiff’s injuries, but many insurance company attorneys have made a very nice living by confusing jurors on this question.
When answering this question, jurors must pay careful attention to the exact language of the question. The key word in the question is actually one simple letter “A.” The question does not ask if the negligence of the defendant was the sole cause of all of plaintiff’s injuries. Instead, the question simply asks whether the defendant’s negligence was “A” cause of any of the plaintiff’s injuries. The plaintiff’s injuries may have many causes, but if the negligence of the defendant was one such cause, then this question must be answered “Yes.” Under Wisconsin law if the negligence of the defendant was a “substantial factor” in producing any of the plaintiff’s injuries, then it can be said the defendant’s negligence “caused” the injuries. Again, there may be countless “substantial factors,” but if the defendant’s negligence was one such factor, then this question must be answered affirmatively.
What the jury is not told is that if they answer “No” to this question, then the plaintiff recovers no money, regardless of how the jurors may have answered Question 6. No Cause = No Recovery for the Plaintiff.
QUESTION 3: Was The Plaintiff Negligent?
In a manner similar to Question 1, the jury must decide whether the Plaintiff was negligent. Many times jurors are confused by this question, because they have heard that someone is partially negligent for just being involved in an accident. This is not true and this is not the law in Wisconsin. The defendant must actually present evidence that shows the Plaintiff was negligent. Driving down the road in a car and following the rules of the road does not, by itself, establish that a Plaintiff was negligent.
QUESTION 4: Was The Negligence Of The Plaintiff A Cause Of Her Injuries?
If the jury answers Question 3 “yes,” then they must answer this question. The same considerations should be taken into account as when answering Question 2. If the Plaintiff was actually negligent, then the jury must determine if the Plaintiff’s negligence actually caused any of her injuries. If the jury answers Question 3 and Question 4 “yes,” then they must attribute percentages to each party.
QUESTION 5: Assign to each party such percentage, or part of 100%, which you find is attributable to each party.
Jurors often complain that this question calls for nothing more than speculation on their part, but nevertheless Wisconsin law requires the jury to answer it. The jury must allocate a percentage to each party, and that percentage must equal 100%. The jury is not told the ramifications of their answer.
Wisconsin follows the modified comparative fault rule, which means that a Plaintiff’s damages, as determined in Question 6, will be reduced by the percentage of fault attributed to the Plaintiff in the jury’s answer to Question 5. This rule also means that if a Plaintiff is determined to be 51% at fault or more, then they recover nothing, regardless of the damages awarded in Question 6.
For example, if a Plaintiff is injured when entering an intersection on a green light and making a left hand turn on a yellow light, while the defendant driver entered the intersection on a yellow light and striking the Plaintiff once the light had turned read, a jury could apportion percentage of fault to each driver. A typical fault determination in such a case could be 10% fault on the Plaintiff and 90% of fault on the Defendant who had entered on yellow and struck the Plaintiff on red. The injured Plaintiff’s total damage award would be reduced by 10% by the judge after the jury was dismissed. The jury is never told of this reduction during the case and many times jurors mistakenly reduce damages on their own in answering Question 6.
QUESTION 6: What Sum Will Reasonably Compensate The Plaintiff For Her Injuries?
This question must be answered by the jury regardless of how they answered any of the other questions. The question of reasonableness of the compensation should be answered in a manner that makes the Plaintiff whole for ALL of their harms and losses suffered as a result of the incident. Jurors should not reduce these damages by any portion of fault they believe is attributable to the Plaintiff, because the judge will do this automatically after the jurors are dismissed. Jurors get frustrated because they take the Plaintiff’s own negligence into account when calculating damages, then they learn that the judge had further reduced the juror’s award of damages and they are outraged. Unfortunately, our legislature and court system has decided that jurors should not be told of the effect of their verdict.
Recently, the legislature attempted to introduce a bill that would allow for transparency of jury verdicts, but the Wisconsin big business and insurance lobby successfully prevented the passage of this legislation. This begs the question, why wouldn’t big businesses and insurance companies want jurors to know the ramifications of their decisions?
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For more legal information, contact a Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney.
Tags: comparative fault, Jury Duty, jury questions, jury verdict, negligence, negligence of the defendant, Neligence, Percentage of Fault, resonable compensation, wisconsin injury attorney, wisconsin injury law, wisconsin jury instructions, wisconsin jury questions, Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney
Posted by rozeklawoffice on April 6, 2010 under Bicycle Accidents, Wisconsin Law |
Spring in Wisconsin is finally here and summer is quickly approaching. The snow has melted making way for greener pastures and clear bike routes. By now, you have heard the safety message, “Wear A Helmet” so we will only repeat it once…”Wear A Helmet”… it’s the #1 form of protection from injuries resulting from bicycle accidents.
The second most important protection you can have is adequate uninsured/under-insured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage. If you are an active Wisconsin bicyclist and have the misfortune to be hit by a car and the driver flees the scene, the vehicle is considered under-insured; therefore, your UM/UIM insurance will likely cover your damages, medical bills, lost pay, and pain and suffering.
It is recommended that your UM/UIM limits are at least as great as your bodily injury limits. In short, UM/UIM protects you from the negligent actions of others while bodily injury protects others from your negligence. Both equally as important, not only for drivers, but for bicyclists as well.
If you have been injured in a bicycle accident and want to understand your rights to under-insured/uninsured motorist coverage, be sure to contact an experienced Wisconsin Bicycle Accident Attorney.
Posted by rozeklawoffice on March 12, 2010 under Personal Injury Cases, Wisconsin Law |
The most important decision you must make following a personal injury is choosing your lawyer. Finding the right Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer for your case can be a daunting task and it is hard work. It should not be taken lightly, especially in Wisconsin, because the law here makes it very difficult to fire your lawyer and find a new one to take over your case.
The key to finding the right lawyer for your case is to develop an organized system to assist you and to stick to that system. The following 5 steps will help you in your decision-making process.
1. Determine the Type of Case You Have
In order to know what type of lawyer you need, you must know what type of case you have. For example, if you are injured on the job, then you likely need a worker’s compensation lawyer. If you are injured in an accident with a semi-truck, then you need a lawyer with experience handling truck accidents. The Internet is a great resource for general information.
2. Identify the Type of Injury You Have
Research your particular injury. Personal injury lawyers insist on running generic, catch-all ads, instead of focusing their ads on particular injuries. Many “run-of-the-mill” personal injury lawyers believe they can make more money by handling every injury case that comes in the door. While almost all personal injury lawyers have experience handling neck and back injuries, most personal injury lawyers do not have experience with more specialized injuries, like traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, RSD, amputations, scars, etc.
Instead of handling all types of injury claims, many highly successful personal injury lawyers limit their practice to specific types of injuries. This allows them to better focus their time. They are not learning new medicine for every case. They are very comfortable with the best experts in the fields of medicine in which they practice and they are not intimidated when faced with medical experts that have been retained by the insurance companies to say that their client was not injured. As a result, they are in a much better position to obtain the appropriate amount of damages for their clients with those particular types of injuries because they have a better idea as to the amount a jury may award for these kinds of injuries.
3. Search for Names of Potential Lawyers
Once you know what type of case you have and what type of injury you have, you can start searching for lawyers that have experience in those types of cases with those types of injuries. Again, the Internet is a great resource. The Yellow Pages may also be of benefit, however, not as much help just because there is a limited amount of information that can fit on one or two pages. Television is even less helpful, because of the time limit on the ads.
Once you have your list of possible lawyers, you should do the following:
- Read their particular websites closely
- Check out the organizations to which they belong. They may belong to particular organizations that deal with your particular case or your particular injury
- Ask around. The majority of quality personal injury lawyers get most of their cases from referrals.
4. Call and Request Written Material From the Lawyer
It is absolutely critical that you choose the right lawyer the first time in Wisconsin. You obviously have the option of calling the lawyer and setting up an appointment, however, if you first get written material from the lawyer, then you cannot be pressured into signing something you may later regret. You will be able to first read the lawyer’s educational materials and then decide on your own time whether this lawyer is right for you and your case.
If you call a law firm for written materials and instead of politely sending some information they attempt to get you into their office, then beware. If they do not have informative, written materials, or if they are pressuring you to come in and sign a retainer, then they are probably not reputable.
Keep in mind that the ethics rules prevent lawyers from directly contacting you in person, by telephone, or by email. If this happens you should report it to the Office of Lawyer Regulation.
5. Set Up an Appointment and Ask Questions
Now that you are comfortable that you have done the necessary background research, it is time to set up a face to face meeting with the lawyer. Think of this meeting as your chance to cross-examine a lawyer. Ask the tough questions and don’t let the lawyer side step around any important questions. If they are competent, they will appreciate your persistence and answer your question much more directly.
So what questions do you ask? Here are some suggestions:
- How long have you been practicing law?
- Have you ever had a case like mine, i.e. auto accident, truck accident, motor cycle accident, slip and fall, products liability, medical malpractice, etc.? How many? How did they turn out?
- Have you ever represented people with my type of injuries before? How did those cases turn out?
- Do you belong to any professional organizations that are pertinent to my case? (Examples include accident or injury-specific groups, such as the American Association for Justice (AAJ) Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, AAJ Interstate Trucking Litigation Group, etc.)
- Have you ever been disciplined by the State Bar of Wisconsin? If so, for what?
- How do you obtain most of your cases?
- How many active cases are you personally handling at the present time?
- What is the most difficult thing about my case?
- What is the process involved in handling my case, i.e. what steps will you go through?
- Who will be working on my case?
- When will my case be ready to be resolved?
- How much money is my case worth? (No lawyer can answer that question with any specificity but you should still ask. If the lawyer does give you a specific number walk, no run out the door).
- How much is your retainer fee and how is it structured?
Hopefully, this post will enable you to make an informed decision in hiring the right lawyer for your Wisconsin Personal Injury case. Click on the link for more information on Choosing a Personal Injury Attorney in Wisconsin.
