Wisconsin Civil Litigation Legal Questions

Why not package the stuff and take it over to him? Otherwise, send him a certified (and regular) letter and mail it to him giving him 60 days advance written notice that if they don't come by and pick up their remaining items you are going to make arrangements to have the items junked. Make sure you keep a copy of the letter.... Read More

File a small claims lawsuit; you will need to weigh the cost of replacing the walker on your own against the cost of buying a small claims summons, paying for process of service, and the hassle  of going to court, perhaps several times to deal with your former neighbor. Most likely, they will argue that you gave them the walker as a gift.... Read More

I am not sure you need to be looing for "tribal lawyers." There are probably in Wisconsin a very small percentage of lawyers licenesed in the state who practice this area of the law. What is the underlying case? Maybe a general civil litigation attorney can help you with the case. I don't want to guess or speculate what the nature of your legal problem may be. ... Read More

If you are being sued, you certainly have the right to hire a lawyer to defend yourself in the lawsuit. Is this a Wisconsin case or is out of the area? One would need to know in what state they filed the lawsuit, and/or what county to make a recommendation to you to look for an attorney. The rules of Lawyers.com also prohibit our offering our own services to represent a prospective client or making a recommendatin of a specific attorney to you. Instead, you may want to start right here at Lawyers.com and search civil litigation attorneys to look for an attorney to help you, or Super Lawyer, Best Lawyers in America, or Martindale-Hubbell to find a lawyer. Also, make sure that you file a written  answer to the lawsuit or hire an attorney to do it, within the prescribed time line (in WI it is 45 days), or they can take a default judgment against you.... Read More

Malpractice means the lawyer did something that fell below the standard of other attorneys in the area practicing in that specific area of the law that caused you harm or damage. Maybe I am misunderstanding your post, but it seems to me your grievance against the lawyer or title company is not that they did something wrong, but that you were overcharged for the services. First off, is there a written fee agreement between you and the lawyer? Under WI SCR ethical rules, any fees that are to exceed $1,000 requires a written fee agreement. 2. Did you receive periodic billing statements to show how you were being billed and what you were paying for? You can file a grievance with the office of lawyer regulation (OLR) in Madison, if you feel the lawyer charged you an unreasonable fee for the service. If you were harmed by the lawyer, and your complaint is not one about the amount of money you were charged, you will need to gather up your complete file and have it reviewed by a malpractice lawyer to determine if you have a viable case. You can sue a lawyer under Wisconsin law for up to 6 years, since the agreement is grounded in contract from the date of the original service.... Read More

It would only make sense to spend money in hiring a lawyer to defend you on the lawsuit if you have a legitimate defense to owing the money. If you do not but simply admit that you owe it but lack the funds to pay for it, the lawyer you probably should be talking to is a bankruptcy lawyer to see along with this bill, and other bills that you may have, if you qualify for bankruptcy.... Read More

first off, it is not true or correct that your boyfriend cannot write his own answer to the lawsuit; pro se litigants sometimes do. complex appellate work on their own; as long as your boyfriend can figure out how to properly respond by doing the answer and insuring gets properly filed with the court on time, within the statutory 45 days allowed in Wisconsin in a civil lawsuit he should be o.k.        The second part to your question is lawyers are allowed under the limited scope representation rule in Wisconsin, to draft an answer for your boyfriend and for him to pay only for that service. Most attorney's do not like to do that however, as they would want to handle the entire case. One would have to see the lawsuit to determine how complex it is and do a time estimate about how long it might take a particular lawyer to drstt the answer; I would say probably an hour or two of time and expect an average hourly rate of $300 per hour.... Read More

The statute of limitations in Wisconsin for medical malpractice is 3 three years from the date of the occurrence. Further, if this is a claim against a governmental entity, you are also required to provide a  written notice of claim on the municipality by having the same personally served within 120 days of the occurrence, or the claim would be forever barred. There are strict time line rules for making a claim against a governmental entity and if they are not strictly complied with, the claim would be barred.... Read More

I am not sure I completely understand  your question or concern, but if you believe a fraud was committed on you or the court, file a motion to reopen the judgment or order. Under sec.806.07, WI stats., you must do so within 1 year of the entry of the judgment or order, or your claim for fraud will be forever barred.... Read More

If you have a defense to owing the money, hire a civil litigation lawyer to defend you on the lawsuit. If there is no defense and you legitimately owe it, but have no financial ability to pay it if pay a lawyer to help you fight it, you need to contact a bankruptcy lawyer to see what your options might be with considering for filing a bankruptcy petition to discharge the debt.... Read More

Gift or loan? These are always difficult issues. If it is truly a loan, is there anything in writing that would evidence the loan? a promissory note? a signed agreement? payment terms? interest charged? have you ever made payments back to him during the relationship? Absent those factors, he will have a difficult time proving that the money he gave you was a loan. If it was a gift, depending on the amount, did he file a gift tax return?  Was anyone present other than you two when there were discussions about his giving you the money and what the intention was? Under Wisconsin law, if an engagement is broken off, the ring has to be returned, regardless of fault or who broke off the engagement. In small claims court, it is possible that the court commissioner treats the money issue much in the same way, weighing the fairness and equity of your keeping the money claiming it was gifted to you, but is argument that it should be returned whether a loan or not, because the relationship is terminated. It is a very difficult case and one in which there is no clear answer on what the outcome might be.... Read More

 I am sorry for that you and your family went through. Your post is disturbing. This is a bit out of my area of expertise, but I am not sure you have a legal remedy. You should consider contacting the better business bureau and file a complaint. You could also take to writing an online "internet" review of this company and the way they responded to forewarn others of the shoddy work product and service you were provided. If you feel you have a legal claim, you will need to speciefically look for an attorney well versed in consumer law matters.... Read More

It is your home too, and absent a court order that requires you to be out of the home, you have every right to be in your own home; 'y only word of caution is that if you move back, be mindful of your wife trying to provoke you in such a way that she could call the police and allege that you may have engaged in domestic violence.... Read More

       You would have the right to sue your family member claiming they committed a fraud against you or engaged in undue influence by coercing you or forcing you to sign legal papers transferring your financial interests in your investments at a time when you may have been mentally incapacitated or otherwise incapable of understanding or knowing what may have been going on with you at the time from a medical perspective. You would have to prove fraud by clear and convincing evidence. It would also be helpful to know what they did with the money and whether it still exists or they have spent it. You will be hard pressed to find an attorney who will be interested in pursuing a case like this, without a substantial retainer paid up front and your paying hourly fees for the representation. That is just my opinion of course.... Read More

I don't know the practice in Wisconsin, but where I practice only the witness being deposed, the parties to the case, and their lawyers (plus the court reporter) have a right to be at the deposition.  It is possible, however, that the other party will not object to your bringing a friend, as long as they are not a witness in the case.... Read More

You have a judgment against the llc, not the llc's members, so you can only enforce the judgment against the llc's assets, not the assets of its members.  However, if the owners pulled money out of the llc without fair consideration, especially if they did so after you made your claim, the llc may have made fraudulent conveyances to its members, and you can go after the money that was transferred.  However, you will first have to get a judgment on a fraudulent conveyance claim.... Read More

Given these facts, you would lose, unless there is a Wisconsin statute (I assume that both seller and buyer live in Wisconsin) which allows you to back out of the situation within a given period of time.  Since the seller is not in the business of selling tv's, I doubt that any such statute would cover your situation, but I am not familiar with Wisconsin law so it is possible.  Absent such a statute, you would lose.  You made a contract.  You could have checked with your friend before you agreed, but you didn't .  You did not negotiate a provision allowing you to back out, or condition the contract on any subsequent event, such as another tv becoming available.... Read More

Wow, I didn't realize they were asking this sort of thing in law school applications these days.  It does not seem right to me that an applicant is being asked for such personal information.  Nevertheless, your situation does seem to fit squarely within the question; if you answered "no", you would be lying.... Read More

You can seek an injunction from the court hearing the divorce proceedings enjoining her from looking at any of your records, and also an order preventing her from using any of the improperly obtained records as evidence in your case.  However, although she may have obtained them improperly, she probably would have been able to get them, and will be able to get them in the future, through the discovery process in your litigation.... Read More

No.  The federal and state judicial systems are separate.  In some matters they have concurrent jurisdiction (meaning that a lawsuit involving those matters can be brought in either system) but even if, for example, your dispute involved a federal issue such as the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, you can't appeal from the state system to either a United States District Court or a United States Court of Appeal.  Depending on what the case is about, you might have the right to petition the U.S. Supreme Court for review.... Read More

You can sue this person for libel.  There are certain types of defamatory statements which are considered defamatory per se, that is, you don't have to prove that they caused you monetary damages in order to recover for defamation.  I can't tell whether the false statements this person made about you would fall into this category in Wisconsin.  If not, you will have to prove that the statements caused you to suffer direct monetary damages in order to recover.... Read More