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Recent Blog Posts
Wearable Computers: Anything You Wear Can and Will Be Used against You in a Court of Law
Wearable computers have been hailed as a major technology breakthrough over the past few years, and the technology industry has been betting heavily on their success. From the Google Glass to the Apple Watch, these new computers are slowly making their way into people's lives. Now, they have started making their way into the courtroom. A plaintiff in a personal injury case in Canada is now using evidence from a Fitbit, a wearable computer that tracks a person's activity level, to prove that a person's quality of life changed after an accident.
What Fitbits Are
Fitbits are a wristband that contains a small computer display. Fitbit was designed as an exercise and weight loss aid, a sort of pedometer plus. It links up with a person's smartphone to measure his or her activity, how he or she eats, how he or she exercises, and even his or her quality of sleep. This essentially creates a record of how active someone is throughout the day.
Wisconsin Law Mandates Independent Review of Officer-Involved Deaths
In the wake of the tragic deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, a Wisconsin law that was passed back in April is getting new scrutiny across the country. The law requires an independent set of professionals to review officer-involved deaths, and many people are viewing it as a necessary check on police power. The law itself came to pass largely due to the efforts of a father, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, whose son was shot by a police officer.
What the Law Requires
The law creates two new bodies, a board for reviewing officer-involved deaths and a special investigative team for each individual death. The board is comprised of five members: a retired or reserve judge, a former police official such as a sheriff or chief of police, an assistant attorney general, a professor from a Wisconsin college or university who has experience in criminal law or justice, and a former district attorney or assistant district attorney with at least 10 years of experience. The members of the board serve for four-year terms and are appointed by the attorney general.
Foiled Crimes: The Crime of Attempt in Wisconsin
What happens when a murderer forgets to load his or her gun or a mugging is interrupted in the act? The person never succeeded in committing the crime, so he or she cannot actually be charged with it. After all, it would not make sense for a murder victim to be able to testify in a trial. Instead, there is a special crime that can be charged in these circumstances, the crime of attempt.
Attempt is a catchall crime that can be applied to most other crimes. This is how murder becomes attempted murder and robbery becomes attempted robbery. However, attempt is a thorny crime to enforce. The United States does not punish people for thought crimes, so finding exactly how far along in a crime someone must be before he or she is guilty of attempt is an issue that different states actually vary substantially on.
Welfare Drug Testing and the Constitution
Governor Walker announced during his recent campaigning that he was planning on introducing drug testing for people who receive welfare or unemployment benefits. The idea behind the plan is to weed out the recipients of government funds who are using those funds to support drug habits. This has led to much debate about whether the policy is a good idea, but it has an even more basic hurdle to clear; it may not be legal. The core of Governor Walker's problem is the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from unreasonable searches. The fact that a person is receiving state benefits likely does not give the government the right to assume they are engaging in criminal activity.
Constitutionality of Suspicionless Drug Testing
Transportation Projects Commission Recommends Three Major Highway Projects
Preventing the deadly crashes that lead to personal injury lawsuits is the responsibility of a lot of different parties. Drivers have a duty to use caution whenever they get behind the wheel. Automotive manufacturers are obliged to design and build safe cars for the drivers to use. Even state and local governments play a role, making sure that the roads and bridges are up to proper safety standards.
As a part of that ongoing effort, the Transportation Projects Commission has recently recommended three separate highway projects to the governor and the legislature. These three projects each focus on roads that have accident rates that exceed the national average. All told, the total price tag for the projects would be $670 million.
The Transportation Projects Commission
Deer Collisions and Car Crashes
Deer collisions are a common problem for Wisconsin drivers, but it pays to be extra vigilant during the end of the year since it is their mating season, the time when deer are most active. In fact, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's statistics, there are over 18,000 deer collisions in Wisconsin every year, making it a high-risk state for deer collisions. Deer collisions can be surprisingly dangerous because of a combination of their large size and sharp antlers. Especially important is the fact that deer can even be responsible for crashes between two cars. Given these dangers, drivers should learn how to minimize their risk of deer collision and what to do if they are involved in one.
Tips for Handling Deer Crashes
The optimal way to handle a deer collision is to avoid it in the first place. While some accidents are unavoidable, drivers do have strategies available to them if they want to make the collision less likely. For instance, deer tend to be the most mobile during the evening hours, so extra vigilance during those hours can help, especially in dark or forested areas or in areas with signs posted about the presence of deer. Similarly, the use of extra bright headlights in dark, low-traffic areas may help to make deer more visible. If a driver does spot one deer, then he or she should also keep in mind that deer are herd animals, so it is likely there are others roaming around in the area.
Lawmakers Consider Changes to John Doe Proceedings
Ordinarily, criminal prosecutions begin with a crime and a person accused of committing it, but that does not necessarily have to be the case. In fact, under certain circumstances, district attorneys can start legal proceedings without a defendant and possibly without even a crime. These proceedings, known as “John Doe proceedings,” are special investigative processes by which Wisconsin law allows prosecutors trigger to determine if a crime has been committed and who may have committed it. However, after two lengthy John Doe probes into Governor Walker's campaigns and fundraising, some lawmakers are proposing changes to a John Doe process that they think has gotten out of hand.
What John Doe Proceedings Are
John Doe proceedings are part of an old legal process that was originally designed to protect people from baseless prosecutions. In the past, prosecutors could begin prosecutions based on nothing more than suspicions, and many of these prosecutions would eventually turn out to be without merit. In order to put an end to these sorts of overly aggressive prosecutions, legislators introduced the John Doe proceeding.
Supreme Court Rules on Driving Away from Traffic Stop
A recent Wisconsin Supreme Court decision sheds more light on the complex question of regading a police officer detaining a person. Police stops come in two forms, voluntary and mandatory. If the interaction is voluntary, then the person is free to leave at any time, but if the interaction is mandatory, then the person must stay. These interactions come with important legal differences, such as when a person must be informed of his or her rights and when the police are allowed to detain someone. The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently ruled in Grant County v. Vogt that a driver was free to drive away when a officer tapped on the window of the driver's parked car without turning on his squad car's lights.
The Case
Social Hosts and Dram Shop Liability in Wisconsin
Social hosts and dram shop owners are two groups of people who often end up bearing responsibility for the intoxicated actions of others. Social hosts are people who have others over to their home or otherwise throw a party and end up getting other people dangerously drunk. Dram shop is an outdated term for bars and other establishments that serve liquor. Many states have laws that hold social hosts or dram shops accountable for the damage done by the people that they served alcohol to. Ordinarily, Wisconsin law provides immunity for people who provided alcohol to others. However, there is an important exception to that immunity: serving alcohol to minors. Social hosts or bars who provide alcohol for underage drinkers may end up facing both criminal penalties and civil liability for their actions.
What Makes Truck Accident Cases Different?
Any traffic accident has the potential to cause death or serious injury, but truck accidents can be especially problematic. A truck’s sheer size and weight can mean that truck accidents are especially likely to result in fatalities. In fact, according to statistics compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, large trucks represented only four percent of vehicles on the road, but they were involved in eight percent of fatal accidents.
There are a host of factors that make truck accident lawsuits different than lawsuits about ordinary traffic accidents, however many of them stem from two causes. First, truck drivers are professionals, which mean that they have different regulations and legal duties. Second, collecting and managing evidence in cases with large truck accidents is very different.
