Archive for April, 2009

A Racine man fleeing from a Kenosha County sheriff’s deputy caused a crash that killed a 31-year-old Pleasant Prairie man.

The sheriff’s deputy attempted to stop Jerry Holliman, 21, for suspected drunk driving when he sped off in his Dodge Durango. Fleeing down 22nd Avenue near 27th Street, Holliman struck Anibal Tellez’s Chevy Beretta, killing him.

Holliman fled the scene on foot, but was later apprehended. Holliman was taken to a local hospital where he is expected to make a full recovery.

Authorities are recommending charges of homicide by intoxicaed use of a vehicle, hit and run causing death, knowingly fleeing an officer and three counts of bail jumping.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling car accident cases through out the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

A second person has died as a result of injuries suffered in a multivehicle accident on U.S. 41 last Monday morning.

Peggy Bauman, 37, of Greenville was flown to Theda Clark Medical Center Intensive Care Unit shortly after the accident. She succumbed to her injuries late Tuesday night.

The Outagamie County Coroner said the cause of death was a fractured neck and multiple other injuries.

The accident occurred early Monday morning when the late Matthew Yost’s car was struck from behind by a semi truck owned by Marathon Cheese Transport of Marathon and driven by 66-year-old Michael Kaiser.

The collision spun Yost’s car into several other vehicles, including a pick-up truck driven by James Wodill. Wodill was also flown to Theda Clark Medical Center where he was listed in serious condition.

Authorities are still investigating the crash that invovled the semi truck and six other vehicles.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling car accident cases through out the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

A car accident took the life of one man and injured three others in what authorities are calling a chain-reaction crash involving six vehicles on northbound Highway 41 near Holland Road in Outagamie County.

The man who was killed was 42-year-old Matthew Yost from the Germantown area.

The crash also left a 27-year-old Greenville woman in critical condition, a 44-year-old Appleton man in serious condition and a 66-year-old Mosinee man in good condition.

Initial reports indicate traffic was slowing possibly for a crash when a vehicle hit one of the rear vehicles and set off a chain-reaction accident.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling car accident cases through out the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

Southeastern Wisconsin law enforcement agencies arrested another 7 drunk drivers last weekend, bringing their weekly total to 29.

The overnight checkpoint, which ran from 8 p.m. Saturday to 4 a.m. Sunday, made 42 stops. The average alcohol concetration was .17, or twice the legal limit.

The officers also issued 152 citations and arrested 4 people on outstanding warrants.

The recent success has convinced authorities to conduct more checkpoints throughout the year.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling cases through out the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

The Southeast Wisconsin Drunk Driving Task Force welcomed the Wauwatosa Police Department to its team yesterday.

The task force is a group of 13 police and two sheriffs’ departments and will officially start operating Saturday, April 25th.

The task force began a pilot program on April 10th, the same day as the Milwaukee Brewers home opener. Thirty-one drivers were arrested, including 8 by Wauwatosa officers.

According to Wauwatosa Lt. Tim Sharpee, the task force will be very visible. Officers will wear bright-colored vests, marking streets with enforcement zones and utilizing eight Wauwatosa officers “just looking for all the tell-tale signs of drunk drivers.”

Many consider the multi-jurisdictional approach a much needed change. Authorities have said that prior to the task force, drunk drivers would avoid freeways and opt to take lesser patrolled side streets or exit the freeway and evade the pursuing officers. The new approach will blur municipal boundaries and officers will use a special radio frequency to respond to incidents.

According to a 2007 Department of Transportation report, there were 8,327 alcohol-related accidents and 337 fatalities statewide. There were 991 accidents involving alcohol in Milwaukee County and 22 fatalities.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling cases through out the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

In the past few months, the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing has disciplined a number of doctors and nurses in south-central Wisconsin for a wide variety of infractions.

Click here to read the full article.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling cases through out the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

A recent investigation found that a number of residents of assisted living facilities run by Assisted Living Concepts had been forced out of facilities when their money ran out, even though they had been given oral promises that they would be able to use Medicaid funds.

The article highlighting the investigation mentioned John and Mae Myers who went through $180,000 of their savings in three years at an Assisted Living Concepts facility. Like many other Americans, John recently lost a lot of money in the stock market. Hoping to go Medicaid, allowing them to pay about 20% less, they were evicted.

During the Myers stay at the facility, there was a change in ownership. Along with that change came a change in commitment to residents who had gone through their savings. While the original ownership promised

The investigation found that dozens of elderly people were promised they could stay, only to be evicted.

Shortly after the eviction notice, John Myers was hospitalized. His family believes the stress was responsible for the decline in his health. He died last February. His wife, Mae, also had a decline in health and now lives in a nursing home.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula, S.C. is a Wisconsin law firm with a devoted nursing home abuse practice.  Our nursing home abuse and neglect trial team has successfully represented abused and neglected nursing home residents in almost every county.  We know Wisconsin.

General Motors is recalling 1,497,516 vehicles after a defect was detected. According to the U.S. government’s webiste, www.SaferCar.gov, the following vehicles are being recalled:

• 1997-2003 BUICK REGAL
• 1998-2003 CHEVROLET LUMINA, MONTE CARLO AND IMPALA
• 1998-1999 OLDSMOBILE INTRIGUE
• 1997-2003 PONTIAC GRAND PRIX

All of these vehicles are equipped with a 3.8L V6 naturally aspirated engine. Some of these vehicles have a condition in which drops of engine oil may be deposited on the exhaust manifold through hard braking.

If the manifold is hot enough and the oil runs below the heat shield, it may ignite into a small flame and may spread to the plastic spark plug wire channel and beyond, increasing the risk of an engine compartment fire.

Dealers will remove the spark plug wire retention channel at the front of the engine and install two new spark plug wire retainers free of charge. The recall is expected to begin during May 2009.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling faulty product cases through out the state.  Our personal injury lawyers have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.

Source:  Des Moines Register (3 April 2009)

Congress is considering legislation that would eliminate taxpayer-funded bonuses to nursing homes.

The legislation is an amendment to the budget bill that has been debated by Congress.

The amendment was accepted by unanimous consent of the Senate on Thursday, but the bill itself has yet to be approved. 

The Des Moines Register reported last November that nursing homes throughout the country are earning hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bonuses despite violations of basic health-and-safety standards.

Iowa’s nursing home bonus program, now seven years old, was one of the first in the nation. 

Nationally, the total cost of the bonuses is unknown.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which approves and helps fund each of the bonus programs, does not track the payments.

Currently, there are 81 bonus-payment programs in 36 states. 

The Register examined eight programs in the seven states where recent regulatory violations don’t disqualify a nursing home from receiving a bonus that is touted as being directly related to quality care.

Those eight programs cost taxpayers $312 million per year. 

Some of the largest bonuses to poor-performing homes have been in Oklahoma, the home of Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, a medical doctor.

Coburn authored Thursday’s amendment, telling his Senate colleagues that taxpayers shouldn’t be billed for bonuses paid to inferior care facilities.

Coburn’s amendment would prohibit federally funded bonuses to nursing homes and any other government contractors that “fail to meet basic performance requirements.”

Coburn has likened the bonuses to those paid to executives at American International Group, or AIG, the insurer that has received $182 billion in federal bailout money.

Rudolph resident, Julia A. Davis, 58, was hit and killed by a car while walking along a highway in Rudolph, Wisconsin yesterday afternoon.

According to Wood County Sheriff Deputy Ryan Bannerman, Julia Davis was walking east along Highway P shortly before 3:30 p.m. when Davis was hit from behind by an eastbound vehicle driven by 19-year-old Nekoosa resident Alexa Webb. Webb did stop her vehicle at the scene following the crash.

Julia Davis died before emergency responders could respond. A traffic reconstruction is being performed by Wisconsin State Patrol investigators.

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula is a Wisconsin personal injury law firm handling cases through out the state.  Our Wisconsin injury attorneys have successfully represented injured people in almost every county. We know Wisconsin.