I have been representing injured workers for the majority of my 26 years of practice. Over the years, I have kept track of the most frequently asked questions and find that they continue to be as concerned to people injured on the job. I remind you that if you have any questions or concerns about your right as an injured worker under Wisconsin worker’s compensation laws please contact us for a free, no obligation consultation to discuss your rights.

Some of the most frequently asked questions are as follows:

• Do I need an attorney?

            Many times, you do not need an attorney. However, there are certain events that, when they occur, you should immediately consult an attorney. One of those times is when neither your employer nor the insurance carrier answers your questions. If you are not receiving your benefits you should consult an attorney. In the event the worker’s compensation insurance company wants you to go see one of their doctors under the title “Independent Medical Exam” you should consult an attorney. In the event that your treating doctor is of the opinion you need surgery or medical care and the insurance company will not pay for it, consult an attorney. In the event the insurance company denies responsibility or payment of any benefits you should consult an attorney.

• What do I do if I know I need an attorney but cannot afford one?

            First, we will review your case at no charge or cost. If we decide to accept your case, you can hire us on a contingency fee basis which is set by the State of Wisconsin at 20% of any additional disability benefits that you receive. We also ask to be paid our costs which often times are paid for by the insurance company. If there is no recovery, there is generally no cost to you.

These are just a couple of the questions. Hopefully, they may have answered yours. If not or if you feel you need to further discuss work-related injuries please contact me for a no cost, no obligation consultation.  I’ll be posting more answers, so be sure to follow our blog and leave your comments.

When I am asked out in the real world what I do for a living, I often remark that I am a lawyer, “but not that kind of lawyer”.  Of course I understand that attorneys have a bad reputation in general; in fact, I always keep a copy of Jess M. Brallier’s book entitled Lawyers and Other Reptiles displayed in plain sight in my office.  After all, it is important to have a sense of humor!

Today, I met with a wonderful couple who left my office happy that they had finally taken the plunge and started creating their estate plan.  We had a wonderful time in our meeting, and somehow discussing death and taxes for over an hour was completely effortless.  Recently, another couple cheerfully left my office after the final review and signing of a prenuptial agreement.

I am a firm believer that legal matters don’t need to be unpleasant, and I consider myself extremely fortunate that I enjoy my profession and that I look forward to coming to work each day.  My goal is never to create disputes, but rather to help my clients resolve their legal issues in the best way possible.  Not all lawyers create problems – some of us actually seek to solve them!

I’ve done numerous medical mediation sessions for  my clients who have been seriously injured due to the negligence of  hospital staff. In Wisconsin, a person who feels they have been injured as a result of the negligence of a health care provider must go through mediation before they can proceed with a lawsuit. The mediation process consists of a panel with three members consisting of an attorney, a lay person and a medical provider, hopefully, with some expertise in the area of medicine that is in question. Generally, the session starts and ends with the panel attempting to convince the claimant, our client, that they should seriously consider not filing a lawsuit for a variety of reasons. I am not sure if the legislator intended the purpose of the mediation to be to discourage lawsuits or not, but over the past 26 years and in representing hundreds of people with these types of claims it is apparent to me that the purpose of the session has little to do with helping an injured person. 

The argument always is that the claimant (injured person) should consider both the emotional and financial costs associated with a lawsuit against a health care provider. That is sound advice because a lawsuit of any nature is emotionally difficult for a person going up against big corporations and insurance companies and it can also be very expensive. For the most part, most individuals cannot afford the cost of litigation if they had to pay the attorney by the hour and pay for the cost and expenses, which can be in the tens of thousands of dollars, in advance or at the time they are incurred.

 Our law firm, as do many law firms that represent victims injured as a result of professional negligence, front the expenses and do not get paid anything unless and until there is a recovery. That is not the point of this blog.  The point is that over the past 26 years, I have had to sit in a room and listen to lawyers on behalf of doctors and other health care professionals deny any responsibility for their negligent acts. Even when presented with uncontroverted facts, they generally take the position that they didn’t do anything wrong, that it is probably the patient’s fault that something happened to him or her.  Even if they admit the claimant is injured, they certainly are not injured nearly enough to warrant any substantial money to compensate them for their injuries.

One of the reasons that I get up every morning and go to work with excitement and anticipation is helping people even the “playing field” with big companies, hospitals, medical clinics and other people with a lot more money than my clients, especially in the Madison and Sauk County areas.   Call it helping the underdog – in America we have always been for the underdog. In sports, fans love an underdog, unless it’s the Green Bay Packers and then they are always the favor, but you still love them! Our lawyers and staff would have a difficult time representing major corporations and hospitals in supporting a position of a denial of any responsibility for wrongdoing.  If we meet with people who want to file lawsuits for their injuries and the facts do not warrant proceeding, we do not take those cases.

We take difficult cases but cases in which we believe in our client’s right to have their story heard and difficult cases when they are entitled.  This is the reason we do what we do.

 Although disappointed that many mediation sessions do not resolve the case in favor of our client, they do remind me that without our help, our clients, many times “underdogs”, would never have their day and voices heard.

We’ve come up with a new category for our blog:  “Real Life at KH Law Firm.”  This category will contain the general thoughts and beliefs of the team members of Krueger & Hernandez Law firm. The idea behind it is that we felt that it is difficult to explain to others some of the core beliefs of our business.  In a nutshell, Why do we do what we do?  Primarily, because what we do represents who we are.  We take that pretty seriously. 

To kick off the Real Life at KH Law Firm blog category, I’d like to share my thoughts regarding the USA Today article that stated 41% of our nation’s births are from unwed parents. I cast no judgment as to this statistic.  However, I do foresee critical legal issues for the unwary.  While the parents are getting along,  living together and mutually raising their child, there are no problems.  However, what if the parents’ relationship with eachother ends?   What I fear most is the child will suffer and pay the ultimate price – loss of a parent and family.  Wisconsin law will control the outcome of placement issues, child support issues and paternity issues.  But many times, a parent could lose their parental rights merely for economical reasons because he or she is unable to afford an attorney.   When a child loses a parent and the parent loses a child, it’s a no win situation.  My mind then immediately moves to the poor grandparents of these children.  In many instances, the grandparents are at the mercy of their child maintaining a relationship with their grandson or granddaughter.  Many of these grandparents are establishing strong emotional bonds with the child.  The unfortunate result for these grandparents could be that when the parent loses his/her parental rights or finds himself/herself within the legal battles,  the grandparents will pay the price of not being permitted to see their grandchild. 

The good news is that there is always a solution when you approach issues proactively rather than reactively. Therefore, we are rolling out a seminar in August in Madison regarding this very topic. We are trying to get the message out that there are things you can do now while everyone is getting along to ensure your parental rights and rights to see your child or grandchild stay intact.  Protecting your legal rights is something that we all strongly believe in.  We’ve always come from the adage of “Where Children Matter Most”.  Go to this link to read more about our program and please share your comments. http://kh-law.net/estate-planning/news.aspx?cid=11210