Archive for August, 2009

At least two dozen people were injured by an ammonia leak at a meat-processing plant in San Francisco, accoridng to officials.

Fire officials say an anhydrous ammonia leak was reported early Friday at the Columbus Salame plant. Twenty-four people were treated for exposure to the chemical.

Exposure to anhydrous ammonia, a refrigerant, can cause burning of the eyes, nose, and throat after breathing even small amounts. With higher doses, coughing or choking may occur. Exposure to high levels of anhydrous ammonia can cause death from a swollen throat or from chemical burns to the lungs. Eye exposure to concentrated gas or liquid can cause serious corneal burns or blindness.

The leak has since been capped.

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

Nursing homes shouldn’t be in the business of making high-interest loans to their workers. But in Missouri, more than 90 of them are. They routinely charge annual interest rates exceeding 300 percent. In one case, workers are charged a jaw-dropping 912.5 percent.

That’s absurdly high, but not as high as it could be. Missouri law allows payday loan companies to charge fees and interest of as much as 75 percent of the original loan amount — 1,950 percent on a two-week loan. That’s the highest allowable rate in any of the 43 states that have capped payday lending interest rates or banned payday lending entirely.

With rates like that, workers would be better off taking high-interest cash advances from credit cards. But economists have found that many payday loan borrowers don’t fully appreciate just how much they’re paying.

Here’s the best part, at least for nursing home owners: Payments are deducted directly from workers’ paychecks. That makes borrowing easier and repayment all but certain.  Nursing home payday loans are anything but rare. Officials at one nursing home with 100 employees told the Better Business Bureau that they make 12 to 15 loans per day; another with 63 workers makes eight or nine loans a day.

Three years ago, then-Gov. Matt Blunt vowed to shut down payday loan operations in Missouri nursing homes. “Employers should not be making a profit off the wages they pay their hard-working long-term care facility employees,” he said.

At the time, 74 nursing homes were loaning money to their workers. Today, the Better Business Bureau says at least 90 offer the loans.

Source:  St. Louis Today (21 August 2009)

Full story: Click here.

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 is the largest in the state and has successfully represented abused and neglected nursing home residents throughout Wisconsin.

This is a British public service announcement on the dangers of texting while driving. Warning: The following content is graphic and may be disturbing for some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

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

Two men from Hobart, Wis. were killed in a single-vehicle rollover crash earlier today just outside the city of Green Bay in Brown County.

The two men, ages 43 and 35, were traveling on County Highway J when the vehicle left the roadway on a curve. The vehicle flipped several times, ejecting both men before coming to rest in a field. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities believe speed and alcohol may be contributing factors.

The investigation is still pending.

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

by Jack Zemlicka for the Wisconsin Law Journal

August 24, 2009

Attorneys Look to Get Clients Out of a Bind

Binding arbitration clauses are nothing new, popping up in everything from cell phone agreements to credit card contracts.

But they are becoming increasingly more common in Wisconsin, especially in the nursing home industry.

Trial lawyers claim that many nursing home residents and their families are being faced with mandatory arbitration clauses when they try to take the corporations to court.

According to attorney Jeffrey A. Pitman, in many instances clients are unaware of what they have signed.

“It’s not until something tragic happens that the nursing home raises the issue of ‘well, you signed a binding arbitration agreement even if you had no recollection of doing it,’” said Pitman, who leads the nursing home abuse and neglect practice at Pitman, Kyle & Sicula SC in Milwaukee.

Generally, challenges to these agreements have been unsuccessful.

Attorney M. Angela Dentice represents clients in nursing home negligence cases, but has yet to challenge an arbitration clause.

“My understanding is they are difficult to get out of,” she said.

Pitman said that one of the few arguments that might allow a plaintiff to successfully challenge an arbitration agreement is if one of the parties failed to properly fill out the paperwork for admittance.

“I actually had a situation where a facility moved to enforce an agreement, but they hadn’t signed it,” he said. “They agreed not to move to enforce.”

Attorney Robert F. Johnson of Cook & Franke SC in Milwaukee, who represents nursing homes, agreed that an arbitration clause can generally only be avoided due to a “technical issue.”

He said that patients are not required to accept binding arbitration to be admitted to a nursing home, but once someone agrees to the terms, any claims, “no matter how simple or complicated,” are subject to arbitration.

“From our perspective, they are enforceable,” Johnson said.

But that could change.

In March, Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl introduced the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act, which provides that a pre-dispute arbitration agreement between a long-term care facility and a resident, or person acting on the resident’s behalf, shall not be valid or specifically enforceable.

The legislation has been referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

Unfair to the vulnerable?

Mark L. Thomsen, President of the Wisconsin Association for Justice (WAJ) recently issued a statement in support of the measure.

He said that if the bill passes, it “will ensure that arbitration is voluntary and not coerced to resolve disputes.”

Dentice argues that it’s unfair for an elderly person or his or her family not to have the ability to present a claim at trial, simply because at an emotionally vulnerable moment someone agreed to something that wasn’t fully explained.

“I’m shocked that someone actually puts this agreement in front of people who simply sign them and have no idea,” she said.

In his statement, Thomsen recommended that attorneys advise their clients to thoroughly read contracts prior to signing them, or have counsel review them.

Noting that facilities cannot mandate that incoming residents agree to an arbitration clause, Dentice recently advised a client’s daughter to strike an arbitration clause out of an agreement.

“I recommend providing a copy of any agreement required to be signed to counsel, so at the very least the client can be apprised of what it is they are signing,” she said.

Pitman takes his advice one step further when it comes to arbitration clauses.

“Just say no,” he said.

______________________________________

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 is the largest in the state and has successfully represented abused and neglected nursing home residents throughout Wisconsin.

A crash between a car and a train occurred near Highway W and BB in Sheboygan County on Sunday.

Authorities say Joaquin Pucheta, 34, of West Bend was driving under the influence when he and his passenger Blanca Romero, 21, of Fredonia were injured in the crash.

Both individuals were taken to Froedtert Hospital. The accident is still under investigation.

The Random Lake Fire Department said there are no gates by the railroad tracks but there is a sign.

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

A 45-year-old motorcyclist was flown to a hospital with serious injuries after being struck by a vehicle in Oak Creek Wednesday afternoon.

According to a Oak Creek Police Department press release, a vehicle was pulling out of a parking lot on S. Howell Avenue and hit the motorcyclist who was headed southbound on Howell.

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

Take a moment to read the following article that highlights an emerging form of elder abuse. The article was written by Joan Aragone for the San Mateo County Times.

_____

Imagine yourself leaving a rehab or long-term care facility to recuperate at home. Once there, the driver helps you inside, and that afternoon there’s a knock on the door.

A friendly person says he has been sent by the facility to help at home. You invite him in. How convenient! You need assistance, and here it is.

Payment is discussed. Maybe you write a check. And one of the newest variations of elder fraud is under way.

“It’s my biggest peeve,” said Melissa McKowan, deputy district attorney for San Mateo County, referring to the relatively recent practice of scammers tracking people coming out of long-term care facilities.

“These people wait outside the hospital and follow the transportation vehicle to the home,” said McKowan, a member of her department’s Elder Fraud Unit. “Then they ring the bell and claim to be sent by the hospital or facility to provide in-home care. They quote an inflated price … and get into the house. And they go on from there.”

What happens next varies, but the client rarely benefits.

“People knock on the door and in time weave themselves into the lives of the senior,” she said. “They may steal a checkbook or take cash from a forgetful client who can’t remember if (she) has paid them or not. They may eventually get into the will. Once in the house, they are like termites — they can clean you out from the inside.”

This latest twist reflects increasingly brazen patterns of local elder abuse. Meanwhile, at the international level, McKowan noted increasingly complex telephone pyramid schemes and solicitations from all over the world using sophisticated methods to block identification.

McKowan advises the elderly at home to keep visitors outside unless they know or expect them.

“Keep them at the door and tell them you will get back to them and check,” she said. “If you’re leaving a hospital and the hospital says it will send a caregiver, you should still check. Normally, the patient calls the caregiver.”

Wariness should extend to protecting personal information, including Social Security number, address and phone numbers. She advises shredding all financial information, including statements and bills: “Just tearing things up is not enough.”

Detective Glenn Teixeira, of the San Mateo Police Department’s Fraud Division, delivered a similar message at a recent presentation on elder fraud at Borel Bank.

Among his tips: Never leave mail in an unsecured mailbox — send mail through the post office or an official mailbox. Don’t leave personal information, including driver’s license, Medicare insurance card, AARP card or credit cards, in your car.

Don’t provide personal information to unsolicited requests by e-mail or over the telephone. If a nonprofit contacts you for a donation, ask them to send you a request by mail. Only verify personal information when you initiate the call.

Seniors are targeted for specific reasons, McKowan said: “They often live alone, they may have a nest egg, and, having grown up in different times, they are polite.”

And as the population ages and the economy remains in the doldrums, McKowan said elder abuse will continue to increase. To protect themselves, seniors need to apply words used in a different context but appropriate here: “Just say no.”

Sometimes, McKowan said, “Politeness can get you.”

_____

Pitman, Kyle & Sicula, S.C. is a Wisconsin law firm with a devoted nursing home abusepractice. Our nursing home abuse and neglect trial team is the largest in the state and has successfully represented abused and neglected nursing home residents throughout Wisconsin.

The Family Caregiver Alliance has launched a new website aimed at assisting families in identifying long term care resources available in individual states.

According to the welcome screen,

“If you are providing care to an older or disabled family member or friend, you know that navigating the long-term care system can be difficult. This state-by-state resource is intended to help you locate government, nonprofit, and private programs in your area. It includes services for family caregivers, as well as resources for older or disabled adults living at home or in a residential facility. It also includes information on government health and disability programs, legal resources, disease-specific organizations and much more.”

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 is the largest in the state and has successfully represented abused and neglected nursing home residents throughout Wisconsin.

Two boats, both full of teenagers, collided on Paddock Lake yesterday afternoon. One of the passengers was rushed to a local hospital.

According to witnesses, the victims saw a boat, operated by a 14-year-old, coming at them and jumped into the water for safety. Unfortunately, a teenage girl remained onboard and was hurt in the collision. She was taken to St. Catherine’s Hospital in Kenosha where she was treated for a broken collar bone.

The 14-year-old operator did have a boater’s safety certificate.

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