WE RESPOND TO YOUR NEEDS 414-271-1440
Recent Blog Posts
The Dangers of Drowsy Driving by Truck Drivers
The roads of the United States are filled with 18-wheelers and tractor-trailer trucks, and these vehicles provide an essential service for moving cargo throughout the country. However, the large size and massive weight of these trucks makes them incredibly dangerous to other vehicles.
Since drivers and passengers of smaller vehicles are at risk of serious injuries in truck accidents, commercial truck drivers must meet a number of requirements to ensure they are safely operating their vehicles. Unfortunately, failure to follow these requirements can result in truck driver fatigue, which can lead to deadly accidents.
Drowsy Driving Truck Accident Statistics
Of the over 30,000 people who die in motor vehicle collisions across the United States, more than 4,000 of these fatalities result from crashes involving semi-trailer trucks. According to a study performed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), 13 percent of truck drivers involved in accidents were considered to be fatigued at the time of the crash. This means that more than 500 people are killed each year as the result of drowsy driving by truck drivers.
New Wisconsin Assembly Bills Aim to Protect Wisconsin Schools from Gun Violence
By: Kenneth Baker
The traumatic horrors of school shootings have become all too familiar in American education. Most recently, on Tuesday March 20, 2018, there was a high school student who entered a Maryland high school with a firearm and killed two innocent classmates. This also comes in the wake of the Parkland shooting in Florida that left 17 innocent students dead.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have spoken out for various forms of response to these shootings. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students have led nationwide school walkouts in an attempt to change current gun laws to prevent assault weapons from getting into the hands of suspect individuals. The response has been wide spread and sustained. It finally seems as though something is going to be done to prevent mass shootings.
This past week, Governor Scott Walker signed an executive order to call a special session of the Wisconsin Assembly. This special session was aimed at reforming and creating new school safety measures. The first bill introduced (2017 WI A.B. 1 (NS)) creates a grant program for schools to use money to retrofit existing buildings with new technologies to tighten security. In a Facebook post, Representative Todd Novak (R - Dodgeville) , who introduced the Assembly Bill, claims that the bill will create a $100 million grant program to fund school safety initiatives, and will be used for things like security personnel or safety upgrades to our schools.
What is a Federal Criminal Appeal, and How Long Does the Process Take?
Many people are familiar with the idea of appealing a verdict in a criminal trial and taking a case to a higher court if they did not receive a satisfactory outcome. However, the actual appeals process is complicated. Thus, it is important to understand the requirements that must be met and the process that must be followed during a federal appeal.
The Federal Appeals Process
A case cannot be appealed simply because one of the parties did not agree with the verdict; there must be a legal basis for the appeal, such as errors made during the trial or an incorrect interpretation of the law. Furthermore, in criminal cases, only a defendant is typically allowed to appeal a verdict—an appeal by the prosecution could result in the defendant being tried twice for the same crime (known as double jeopardy), which is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.
Defending Against Criminal Allegations of Fraud
When a person deceives someone with the intent of causing him or her harm, this is considered fraud—a serious criminal offense. Fraud can take many forms, including writing bad checks, forging documents, making false insurance claims, identity theft, using another person’s credit card without his or her permission, or misrepresenting the value of property being sold. If you are accused of fraud, it is important to understand the nature of these crimes and the potential defenses against the charges.
What Constitutes Fraud?
For an act to be considered fraud, the act must meet the following requirements:
- The person must have misrepresented a material fact;
- The person must have known that his or her statements were false and intended to commit an act of deception;
Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving
Drunk driving is a serious threat to the safety of everyone who uses the road. Across the United States, there are an average of more than 10,000 fatalities every year in car crashes involving a driver who is under the influence of alcohol.
The penalties for driving while under the influence are severe, and an arrest for operating while intoxicated (OWI) can result in substantial fines, jail time, driver’s license suspension, mandatory alcohol addiction assessment and counseling, and the requirement to use an ignition interlock device (IID) in one’s vehicle.
Even though the potential consequences of drunk driving are well-known, many people continue to get behind the wheel after drinking, believing that if they have had just one or two drinks, they will be able to drive safely. However, this type of activity, known as “buzzed driving,” is incredibly dangerous. Moreover, even if a driver’s blood alcohol content (BAC) is under the legal limit of .08 percent, he or she is still putting himself or herself and others at risk.
What Happens if Your Child is Subject to a CHIPS Action?
By Max Stephenson and Ray Dall’Osto
A child in need of protection or services (CHIPS) action is brought under Chapter 48, Wis. Stats., when a child (person under age 18) is believed by the government to be in need of protection and/or services. Such cases are initiated, and juvenile court jurisdiction exists under section 48.13, over a child when the child is:
1. Without a parent or guardian;
2. Abandoned;
2(m). When a parent has relinquished custody;
3. Victim of physical or sexual abuse or injury, including self-inflicted injury;
3(m). Who is at substantial risk of becoming the victim of abuse or being injured, based on reliable and credible information that another child in the home has been the victim of abuse;
How Federal Tax Reform Affects Spousal Support
In December 2017, Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which made the most significant changes to the federal tax code in the last three decades. Since the tax reform law was passed, the news has been filled with discussion of its impact on people in the United States.
While many reports have focused factors such as corporate tax rates, one less-discussed update to the law will have a major impact on divorcing couples, changing the way taxes apply to spousal maintenance (also known as alimony or spousal support).
How is Spousal Maintenance Taxed?
Currently, the alimony and child support payments that spouses pay or receive following divorce are taxed differently. While the payor of child support cannot deduct these payments from his or her taxes, and payments are not considered taxable income for the payee, the opposite is true for spousal support, which is tax-deductible for the payor and taxable for the payee.
What Information Can I Include in an Employee’s Non-Compete Agreement?
As an “employment-at-will” state, Wisconsin provides employers and employees with the protection of an implied contract allowing either party to end employment at any point for any legally valid reason. However, many employers ask employees to sign employment contracts before they are hired or when they are terminated.
These contracts often contain a non-compete agreement (also known as a non-compete clause) which provides protections for an employer following an employee’s discharge. When creating these agreements, employers should be sure that they are correctly following Wisconsin employment law.
Creating Valid Non-Compete Agreements
A non-compete agreement can restrict an employee from taking certain actions after leaving a company, such as revealing the company’s trade secrets or other sensitive information, working for the company’s competitors, soliciting the company’s current or prospective customers, or contacting the company’s current employees. A noncompete agreement should include:
Protecting Your Digital Assets Through Power of Attorney
Proper estate planning allows someone to protect his or her assets, pass the assets on to his or her heirs, and ensure that the individual’s wishes are carried out correctly after his or her death. However, in today’s society, this process has become more complicated—the assets people own often extend beyond physical property and financial resources. During the estate planning process, it is important to consider digital assets and understand how they can be protected through power of attorney.
What Are Digital Assets?
Digital assets include any information that is stored electronically. These assets can include:
- Email and social media accounts;
- Photos, videos, documents, or files stored in an online service or on a personal computer, tablet, or smartphone;
We Must Stop the Epidemic of Violence Against Our Children
By Ray Dall’Osto of Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown, LLP, Milwaukee
Our nation is once again reeling in shock and horror, after the Valentine’s Day 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. How was a former student suffering from depression, who previously exhibited violent tendencies, able to arm himself with a military assault rifle and go on a shooting spree killing 17 innocent students and teachers? Why are such military-grade weapons available to persons who have no business having such in their possession? Why isn’t the President, Congress and Wisconsin’s Legislature doing anything effective to address and prevent gun violence victimizing our youth?
The Parkland shooter used an Armalite (AR-15) semi-automatic rifle to kill the 17 on Valentine’s Day. So too did the Orlando, Florida shooter, who killed 49 people at a nightclub, as well as the shooters at a community college in San Bernardino, California and at the Sandy Hook elementary school. The AR-15 is a weapon of war, and used to be illegal. President Bill Clinton’s assault weapons ban, which was in effect from 1994 to 2004, banned the AR-15 and other guns that were too similar to military-style weapons. Former President Obama’s attempts to reinstitute the assault weapon ban was blocked by Congress, and the carnage needlessly goes on and is accelerating.
