BUY Uninsured & Underinsured Car Insurance!

Today's news had a scary story about how the bad economy is causing drivers to let their car insurance lapse. On my firm's web site, we talk about Wisconsin Car Insurance & Umbrella FAQs.

In light of today's news, I can't impress on you enough the urgent need to have Uninsured Motorist Coverage (“UM”) as well as Underinsured Motorist Coverage (“UIM”) in case you are in a Wisconsin car accident (or car accident elsewhere for that matter). I've seen some horrible car accident injuries and the worst accidents are very frequently caused by someone who has minimal car insurance limits of say $25,000 or $50,000. Often my clients think their agent gave them "full coverage," but that's far from true.

UM and UIM car insurance protects you! Buy it for yourself to protect you from Wisconsin drivers who have no car insurance or little car insurance. I tell friends to carry UM and UIM car insurance limits of at least $250,000. With the increased cost of medical car and horrible changes in Wisconsin law (lobbied for by companies like American Family, State Farm, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, Sentry, etc.), limits of $100,000 are not enough. In fact, if your family income is more than $100,000, it certainly makes sense to have an umbrella insurance policy with UM and UIM coverage for $1,000,000 or $2,000,000.

Why so much? If your family is driving to Grandma's for Christmas and an uninsured driver crosses the center line and hits you head on, which I've seen, you can easily have insurance claims that amount to $1,000,000 or $2,000,000. And if such a horrific car accident should happen, don't trust the good hands of your insurer to pay your family fairly because as Allstate Claims Manual shows those represented by personal injury lawyers settle claims for about 3 times more than those who do not have reputable personal injury lawyers.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Drunk Driving Car Accidents in Wisconsin

Wisconsin has a severe problem with drunk driving and to reduce that problem, Wisconsin is considering interlocking systems. Clearly, this is a good idea to prevent Wisconsin car accidents and wrongful deaths.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Dangerous Toys

U.S. PIRG is a federation of state Public Interest Research Groups that stands up for our health and well-being addressing issues involving product safety, prescription drugs and other consumer issues. It recently published two papers that are quite informational for those shopping for toys during Christmas: Toy Shopping Guide and Trouble In Toyland: The 23rd Annual Survey of Toy Safety. The basic theme is "buyer beware" as dangerous toys are still sold in stores across the country. Toys sent more than 80,000 children under 5 to emergency rooms in 2007 for serious injuries causing 18 deaths.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

What's the big deal about calling someone back?

A common complaint with many clients is that their lawyer does not return phone calls. Regardless of the firm size this is all to common. There are two types of lawyers that do not return your phone calls, the busy lawyer and the lawyer that just neglects his or her clients. On any given day a lawyer’s schedule can be quite busy. A typical day for a Personal Injury Lawyer may involve conducting a deposition, preparing for a trial, writing a motion , signing up a new matter or a combination of these. Most busy negligence lawyers find themselves in many places in the course of a day. Its a simple fact that should not be taken for granted as many Personal Injury Lawyers litigate cases (many do not) and this creates a tremendous amount of paper work and court appearances.

Sometimes a lawyer is just too busy to return your phone call immediately. If they are on trial or preparing for one it could be a few days before your lawyer returns your phone call. If it is a true emergency then a phone call should be returned immediately. If a lawyer is not on trial or preparing for one then you may expect a return call within a reasonable amount of time. The policy in my office is simple: Take the phone call now and if you cant return it within 24 hours.

Other lawyers just neglect their clients without any real reason. They either do not return their clients phone calls in a reasonable time or they do not return their calls at all. Besides trying to win your case a lawyer’s job does includes keeping the client updated and informed about the status of the case.
It is essential that at the start of any relationship the ground rules are discussed.
-How often will your lawyer communicate with you?
_Does the lawyer have a policy with respect to client communication,such as, he will only take calls in the morning or in the afternoon.
_Have you given your lawyer more than one way of contacting you? Make sure he has a friend or relatives number. There will be no excuses at that point.
-What is the best method of communicating? (Phone, email or visit)
-If your lawyer is not available when can you reasonably expect a return phone call?
-If your lawyer is not available what other staff members can help you?
It is important at the outset that you tell your lawyer what your expectation are. I have had clients tell me that they want to be informed about everything and some clients who don't want to hear from me unless its really important.
The relationship you have with your lawyer is no different and is based on open, honest and direct communication. These sound like easy concepts but many lawyers violate what appears to be a constant number one complaint. Take a look at this article from a few years ago.It amazes me that almost 100% of the clients who see me that tell me they want to switch their lawyers because nobody talks to the.

If you want to hire an accident lawyer visit my website and order my FREE report. There is tons of FREE information about lawyers and how to find the right one for you.

Remember: FAILURE to communicate will damage any relationship.