St. Paul Personal Injury Law Blog | Paige Donnelly Ltd.

On December 9th the Minnesota Association for Justice (MAJ) presented ‘Litigating with the Legends’. The event was hosted by the firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, LLP. with Mark D. Streed and Sheila Donnelly-Coyne as course co-chairs.

Promotion for the event explained, ‘Minnesota. Home of legendary heroes Paul Bunyan, Bronko Nagurski, Hubert Humphrey and Charles Lindberg. Also the home of living legends of the legal world, great lawyers with compelling courtroom stories and litigation lessons to share and tell. Come, you mere mortals – listen and learn from the Zeus-like voices of Minnesota’s most accomplished courtroom legends.’

One of those accomplished courtroom legends was our very own Paige J. Donnelly, who spoke on the topic of ‘Achieving Justice and Maximizing Pain and Suffering for the Challenging Client or Case’.

Other speakers at the event included; Harry Sieben, Jeff Anderson, Terry Wade, John Sheehy, Jim Schwebel, Ron Meshbesher, Bill Sieben, Bill Harper, Paul Peterson, Michael Ciresi, Kathleen Flynn Peterson, Ed Matonich and Shawn Bartsh.

L to R: John Sheehey, of Meshbesher & Spence, Ltd. Paige J. Donnelly, of Paige J. Donnelly, Ltd. Joseph Friedberg, Joseph S. Friedberg, Chartered Kathleen Flynn-Peterson, of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, LLP Terry Wade, of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & ciresi, LLP William Sieben, of Schwebel, Goetz & Sieben, P.A. William Harper, of Harper & Peterson, PLLC

L to R: Michael Ciressi, of Robins, Caplan, Miller & Ciresi, LLP Shawn Bartsh, of Bartsh Law Office, P.A. William Harper, of Harper & Peterson, PLLC Edward Matineach, of Matonich & Persson, Chartered Paul Peterson, of Harper & Peterson, P.L.L.C. Paige Donnelly, of Paige J. Donnelly, Ltd.

The Minnesota State Bar Association recently announced the certification of Sheila Donnelly-Coyne, of Paige J. Donnelly Ltd., as a MSBA Board Certified Civil Trial Law Specialist.

The certified specialist designation is earned by leading attorneys who have completed a rigorous approval process, including an examination in the specialty area, peer review, and documented experience. Certified attorneys have demonstrated superior knowledge, skill and integrity in their specific field and can use the designation of specialist to advertise their credentials. The MSBA has been accredited as an independent professional organization for certifying attorneys as Criminal Law Specialists, Real Property Law Specialists, Civil Trial Law Specialists and Labor and Employment Law Specialists. This achievement has been earned by fewer than 3% of all licensed Minnesota attorneys.

With over 16,000 members, the MSBA is the state’s largest and most influential voluntary organization of attorneys, providing continuing legal education and public service opportunities for lawyers, and assistance to the legal system. The MSBA has been accredited as an independent professional organization for certifying attorneys as Civil Trial Law Specialists since 1989. More information about Certified Legal Specialists is at http://www2.mnbar.org/certify.

This achievement by Sheila Donnelly-Coyne is consistent with our firm’s commitment to serve every client with the highest possible degree of professionalism, respect and individual attention.

 The Paige Donnelly Law Firm is pleased to announce we will be partnering with The Minnesota Association for Justice in accepting toys to be donated to this year’s United States Marine Corp annual Toy For Tots drive.

Please feel free to drop off an unwrapped toy any time you visit our firm. A receptacle, clearly marked with the Toys For Tots official logo and poster, will be prominently displayed in the firm’s reception room. Donations will be accepted through December 16, 2011, after which all toys will be collected and delivered to the Toys For Tots warehouse by volunteers from The Minnesota Association for Justice. Toys will be distributed by active members of the United States Marines Corps throughout the week of December 19, 2011.

We would like to wish each and every one of you a safe and warm holiday season, and thank you for your thoughts and support of a very worthy cause.

For all our friends and clients who live and travel in Wisconsin, last year’s reforms in Wisconsin insurance law have been repealed.

The “Truth in Auto Insurance” bill has been repealed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and replaced by Assembly Bill 4, which greatly reduces the minimum insurance coverage.  As of November 1, 2011, the mandatory minimum liability limits will go down from $50,000/$100,000 to $25,000/$50,000.

This means that if a negligent driver inflicts personal injury on you or your loved ones, that negligent driver’s insurance coverage could soon be cut in half.   Even a brief stay in a hospital may cost more than these new minimal limits, leaving you or your loved ones responsible for uncompensated medical expenses.

There are also other drastic reductions: Stacking of automobile insurance policies will soon be prohibited as well.  Under the previous reform law, a person who owned up to three vehicles could stack the insurance coverage of those vehicles.  This meant that if a person owned two cars, that person could add their two policies together to increase his or her coverage.  In such a case there would effectively be at least twice the minimal coverage available.  If a person owned three cars, there could be three times the minimal coverage or more depending on the coverage on each of the vehicles.   The new law will prohibit stacking or adding one’s insurance policies together.

In short, as of November 1, 2011, you and your loved ones will be exposed to much greater risk by negligent and drunken drivers when traveling in Wisconsin.   It would be prudent to protect yourself and your family by consulting your insurance agent to discuss your options.

Damage can occur to the brain from a car collision, from being shaken

or as our returning military are finding from the blast wave of a bomb.

A new Harvard study shows the blast from an explosion creates a surge

in blood pressure, this stretches the walls of the blood vessels in the

brain,  When the brain is exposed to a jarring force its fragile tissue

slams against the skull. This can result in a temporary concussion, a

more dangerous hemorrhage, or long-term Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

memory problems, difficulties controlling emotions. This damage can lead

to the early onset of Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s diseases.

Click here to read the full article:

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/07/new-approach-to-traumatic-brain-injuries/?utm_source=alumniaffairs&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hag_8_2011

Although the last legislative session in Minnesota is primarily remembered for the budget impasse and the resulting government “shut-down,” the Legislature passed and Governor Dayton signed numerous laws which took effect August 1, 2011.  Some of the new laws are briefly summarized below:

Employers can organize tip sharing:
This law allows employers, at their employees’ request, to safeguard and disburse tips according to a sharing agreement and to report the amounts received for tax purposes.
Employers may not coerce employees to share gratuities.

Pawn shop regulations eased:
A new law will make it easier for pawn shops to manage their inventory. The law standardizes a 60-day maximum redemption period for a pawn transaction. It allows pawnbrokers to return, sell or remove inventory from display after the redemption period is reached, or after 31 days for inventory purchased other than through a pawn transaction.

It also repeals a state requirement that pawn shops be located at least 10 driving miles from any casino.

Except for the standardized redemption period, municipalities may regulate pawn businesses or transactions more restrictively.

Home repair contractors:
A new law modifies a 2010 law relating to contracts for residential home repair, and it offers more consumer protection from “fly-by-night” contractors, including those from out of state, who compete for Minnesota contracts after storms or natural disasters.

The law adds siding contractors and roofing contractors to those prohibited from offering to pay for an insured’s deductible or to compensate an insured as an incentive to gain a contract.  The law gives commissioner of the department of labor and industry authority to enforce the law.

Alternative pathways to be licensed as a teacher:
This law received a lot of press coverage leading up to its passage.

Beginning with the 2011-2012 school year alternative licensing programs may be created by a school district or charter school in partnership with a college or university with a Board of Teaching-approved alternative teacher preparation program.

The law directs the board to approve qualified programs offering alternative pathways to teacher licensing.

Alternative licensing candidates who meet all criteria will be granted a two-year limited license that the board may renew for an additional year, and may prepare for a standard teaching license. Alternative teacher licensing candidates must have a 3.0 or higher grade-point average or a waiver from the board; pass basic reading, writing and math skills exams; and obtain qualifying scores on board-approved content and pedagogy exams.

CPR requirements at child care centers:
All teachers and assistant teachers at a child care center must successfully complete CPR training, including CPR techniques for infants and children. At least one staff person with training must be present during field trips and when transporting children.

The training must occur within 90 days after the start of employment.

Food inspection exemptions:
A new law exempts meals served by faith-based organizations (church dinners) from certain health department food inspection regulations.

The law grants certain tax-exempt organizations exemption from food regulation statutes.  It also applies to organizations that are affiliated with or related to a sportsman organization. However, the event must be held in the organization’s building or on its grounds.

Vulnerable adult protections:
A new law makes reforms to the Vulnerable Adult Act and makes it a crime for vulnerable adult care facility workers or care-givers to engage in sexual conduct or penetration with a vulnerable adult in their care. However, the law does not require someone convicted of these crimes to register as a predatory offender.

The law also increases from a misdemeanor to a gross misdemeanor for those who know or have reason to know their target is a vulnerable adult and still assault that person because of the perceived vulnerability and cause bodily harm to that person in the act.

In Minnesota, a “vulnerable adult” is defined as someone who receives nursing home care services or has impairments that make it impossible for them to care for themselves on a daily basis and are sufficiently impaired that they cannot protect themselves from maltreatment.

Protecting law enforcement assistants:
A new law adds to the word “statutory,” the definition of law enforcement reserve officers and will make it a gross misdemeanor to assault such a person.  Additionally, horse-mounted reserve officers or trail horses will be given the same protection afforded to mounted peace officers and their horses, “while the reserve officer is operating at the direction of, under the control of, or on behalf of a peace officer or a law enforcement agency.”

The law also expands the gross misdemeanor fourth-degree assault crime to include attacks against utility employees and contractors, as well as postal carriers while involved in their professional duties.

Tougher penalty for fleeing peace officer:
The crime of fleeing a peace officer when the result of doing so results in a death that does not constitute murder or manslaughter has been modified.

A new law extends current law to situations where a suspect initially flees police in a motor vehicle, but abandons the vehicle and continues to flee in another way.

The current flee-on-foot statute does not address penalties for causing serious harm or death to others if pursuit of a felonious criminal goes from vehicle to foot.  However, if the occupants are still in the car, they can be charged for all the harm caused by their actions.

Sex offender residency restriction clarified for courts:
A new law authorizes a court to bar a juvenile found guilty of a sex crime from residing within 1,000 feet, or three city blocks, of the victim.

A judge has the option to issue such restraining orders in cases where the juvenile offender is over age 15 and does not live in the same home as the victim.

The law also states that the residency restriction can be ordered for all or part of the time that the offender is under court jurisdiction.

Harming a police dog:  
A new law increases the penalty for injuring public safety dogs and imposes mandatory restitution on offenders who harm these animals. It also extends the gross misdemeanor offense of harming a public safety dog to cases where the dog suffers demonstrable bodily harm.  The law creates a new offense whereby it is a misdemeanor to assault a public safety dog where the animal does not suffer “demonstrable bodily harm.”

The impetus for the law was “Major,” a German Shepherd stabbed November 12, 2010, as Roseville police assisted Maplewood officers responding to a break-in.

After finding a suspect, officers heard Major crying in pain. He had been stabbed four times. He was rushed to the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center for emergency surgery. While Major survived, he did not regain use of his back legs.

Disability placard usage changes:
The new law allows the disability certificate to be placed anywhere on the dashboard.

Under current law, an original permit holder can get any ticket dismissed if they are cited for using an expired placard. The law limits that to 90 days. If a person is ticketed for this, they will have to surrender the permit if it’s more than 90 days expired.

TRAVEL ALERT!

For all our friends and clients who live and travel in Wisconsin, last year’s reforms in Wisconsin insurance law have been repealed.

The “Truth in Auto Insurance” bill has been repealed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and replaced by Assembly Bill 4, which greatly reduces the minimal insurance coverage.  As of November 1, 2011, the mandatory minimum liability limits will go down from $50,000/$100,000 to $25,000/$50,000.

This means that if a negligent driver inflicts personal injury on you or your loved ones, that negligent driver’s insurance coverage could soon be cut in half.   Even a brief stay in a hospital may cost more than these new minimal limits, leaving you or your loved ones responsible for uncompensated medical expenses.

There are also other drastic reductions: Stacking of automobile insurance policies will soon be prohibited as well.  Under the reform law, a person who owned up to three vehicles could stack the insurance coverage of those vehicles.  This meant that if a person owned two cars, then that person could add their policies together to increase his/her coverage.  Thus, if a person owned two cars, there would be twice the minimal coverage.  If a person owned three cars, there would be three times the minimal coverage.   The new law will prohibit adding one’s insurance policies together in this way.

In short, as of November 1, 2011, you and your loved ones living or traveling in Wisconsin will be exposed to much greater risk by negligent or drunken drivers.   It would be prudent to protect yourself and your family by consulting your insurance agent to discuss your options.

Summer is a very fun time of year filled with many activities.  However this active time is also a time to be aware of potential risks. To keep your family safe, here are a few safety tips to keep in mind.

On playgrounds make sure ground surfaces have at least 9 inches of energy absorbent material (ex: pea gravel, shredded rubber etc.) Be cautious of   screws and bolts. Check periodically for loose nuts and bolts and broken, rusty, or sharp parts as these can cut and cause serious injury to a child sliding or climbing.

Never attach ropes, jump ropes, clotheslines, or pet leashes to playground equipment as they can become a strangulation hazard for children. Be very careful with cargo nets as well, as they can also be a cause of strangulation.

Check for wood and deer ticks after being outdoors.  Be on the look out for rashes or a bulls-eye shape around tick bites. If found report to a doctor immediately as these can be signs of tick born illness.

An adult should always be present when children are in or near the water.  Do not let children sit on or put their fingers or other body parts on or over vents or water jets as this can lead to serious injury. Wear life preservers while in any boat.

Use helmets when using bikes, rollerblades, scooters etc.  Serious injuries can be avoided or minimized with this simple tip.

Keep children away from grills and bonfires.  Keep matches and kerosene out of reach of children.

ALL fireworks, including sparklers, should be kept out of the hands of children. Sparklers burn at a temperature of over 1,000 degrees.  There are an average of 7,000 injuries from fireworks a year, and over 50% of sparkler injuries occur to children under the age of 14.

Have fun this summer and keep yourself and your loved ones safe.

The constitutional and civil rights of injured people are constantly under attack by insurance companies and by those who side with big corporations against the individual.  Those threats to your rights often go unnoticed, unless you, your friends or a family member are injured and then have to make a legal claim against the person or company who caused the harm.

The special laws that protect injured people are changed, or an effort is made to change them, every year in Minnesota and in other states.  Many of those changes are sought only by powerful insurance and business interests, not the people.  The changes are presented as money-saving improvements to the law, but what they really are is unfair to injured people.

Often the proposed changes to a law are restrictive and work against the rights of injured people.  Instead, they benefit powerful moneyed interests only.  The intended purpose and impact of the changes are really to limit the cost to insurers and businesses when they are forced to pay for harm caused to the public.  When applied to real-world cases, the effect is a loss of citizen’s rights to receive fair compensation for harm they have suffered.

These efforts to deny people their rights in court are vividly shown in a new documentary, entitled “Hot Coffee.”  That film was made by a first-time filmmaker and attorney. It is presently available for viewing by HBO subscribers.  I would expect it to be released for rental and shown on other networks in the future.

“Hot Coffee” covers four kinds of ‘tort reforms’ that have been enacted as laws in some States.  As the film explains clearly, these ‘reforms’ are not benefiting injured people at all.  “Hot Coffee” shows the viewer that these reforms are passed into law because of extensive and expensive, deceptive and misleading campaigns by insurance companies and other business groups.

The title of the movie comes from the case we have all probably heard about where an elderly lady spilled her McDonald’s coffee on herself and a jury gave her “millions” of dollars.  The movie maker shows that the lady was, in truth, very seriously injured and that her case was the focus of an active campaign of false information designed to mislead the public about her claim.  I believe the audience will be surprised by the truth, and they will be offended by the smear campaign.

The other three segments illustrate, first, the unfairness of laws that set a maximum compensation for the injured, regardless of the degree of harm suffered; second, the money and political influence used by insurance and business interests to influence the election of judges in some states; and third, how some corporations secretly trick their employees and customers into unknowingly entering into contracts that prohibit the employees and customers from taking the company to court if it harms the employee or customer.  How these things are accomplished is fully exposed in “Hot Coffee”.

If you want to know the whole story so you can be an informed citizen and be armed to defend the attack on your rights, I encourage you to see this film and share it with your friends and families.

When the Minnesota Legislature is considering a vote on changes to the laws which protect you, like those in “Hot Coffee”, the Paige Donnelly Law Firm posts comments and information about the proposed changes on our Facebook page and on our website.  I encourage you to read those posts and call or write your State Senator and Representative with your opinion.  What you think matters to them.

The attorneys at the Paige Donnelly Law Firm will investigate the laws and use those laws and jurisdictions that will be most helpful to your situation.  Our goal is always to seek justice for the injured.  By opposing these harmful “reforms”, we as citizens preserve the right we have be treated fairly and protected equally by the law.

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