Habush, Habush & Rottier sues Cannon & Dunphy

Habush, Habush & Rottier, an old-guard Wisconsin personal injury law firm, is suing Cannon & Dunphy, another such firm for paying Google to link to the Cannon & Dunphy website when Google user searchs the name Habush or Rottier. It's actually quite interesting given that the Habush law firm was one of the first to advertise quite heavily on T.V. here in Wisconsin, but was one of the last among major Wisconsin personal injury law firms to start advertising on the web. For example, this attorney is aware of the fact that within the last year or so the Habush law firm paid someone to create a network of somewhat generic blogs on the web.

Apparently, some of the underlying facts of the Habush, Habush & Rottier lawsuit are true. I just went to both Google and Yahoo and searched Habush and Rottier and the sponsored results on both searches had the Cannon & Dunphy website listed as "sponsored results." Per the MJS article, Habush has asked a Wisconsin court to stop the Cannon firm from paying for such search results.

In reading the article, what I found interesting was attorney Pat Dunphy's comment the Habush firm didn't call the Cannon & Dunphy firm to express its concern before filing the lawsuit. I too find that interesting given the storied history of these two firms and it makes me think that either Bob Habush and Dan Rottier believed that Cannon & Dunphy wouldn't stop the practice or that the former was possibly looking for some "free press." Certainly, this is an interesting lawsuit among Wisconsin personal injury attorneys.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Top 50 Wisconsin Super Lawyers in Milwaukee Magazine

Milwaukee Magazine is out with its December 2009 issue, which again this year has the Super Lawyers list of attorneys in Wisconsin. Super Lawyers tries to identify the top 5% of all Wisconsin attorneys and its Rising Stars list tries to identify the top 2.5% of Wisconsin attorneys under age 40. Super Lawyers also publishes a Top 50 list, which I discuss here. If you wish to browse the whole list by area of practice, you may do so here. I referred to the publication back in July posting on Top Wisconsin Lawyers and with last year’s publication in Wisconsin Personal Injury Super Lawyers.

This Wisconsin personal injury lawyer is again honored to be on the list and more so this year as I was chosen to be among the Top 50 Super Lawyers in Wisconsin. Only eight plaintiffs personal injury law firms are represented in that Top 50:

Cannon & Dunphy, Brookfield
Domnitz & Skemp, Milwaukee
End, Hierseman & Crain, Milwaukee
Habush Habush & Rottier, Various
Laufenberg Law Group, Milwaukee
Murphy & Prachthauser, Milwaukee
Pasternak & Zirgibel, Brookfield
Previant, Goldberg, et al., Milwaukee

A Wisconsin accident victim (car accident, medical malpractice, products liability, premises liability, etc.) could do much worse than interviewing these law firms to help with his or her personal injury case. How? Well, they could go to Wisconsin attorneys who advertise "have wreck, get a check" or chase ambulances with letters or just dabble in personal injury.

The twelve plaintiffs Wisconsin personal injury lawyers in the Top 50 are:

Larry B. Brueggeman
William M. Cannon
Merrick R. Domnitz
Patrick O. Dunphy
J. Michael End
Laurence J. Fehring
Robert L. Habush
Robert L. Jaskulski
Lynn R. Laufenberg
Frank T. Pasternak
Don C. Prachthauser
Daniel A. Rottier

Though all different, some common professional traits we have include being Peer Review Rated: AV® Preeminent™ 5.0 out of 5 (see The Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings),
and active members of The American Association for Justice and Wisconsin Association for Justice.

In alphabetical order, below are all the Top 50 Wisconsin lawyers found in the list, including their law firm and main area of practice:

Steven A. Bach, Cullen Weston Pines & Bach, Family Law
Emile H. Banks, Jr., Emile Banks & Associates, Insurance Defense
Stephen C. Beilke, Murphy Desmond, Family Law
Peter C. Blain, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, Bankruptcy
Bruce T. Block, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, Real Estate
Larry B. Brueggeman, Previant, Goldberg, et al., Personal Injury
Brian E. Butler, Stafford Rosenbaum, Dispute Resolution
William M. Cannon, Cannon & Dunphy, Personal Injury
Michael J. Cohen, Meissner Tierney Fisher & Nichols, Business
Gregory B. Conway, Liebmann, Conway, et al., Business
Barrett J. Corneille, Corneille Law Group, Insurance Defense
Claude J. Covelli, Boardman Suhr Curry & Field, Litigation
Randall D. Crocker, von Briesen & Roper, Bankruptcy
Michael P. Crooks, Peterson, Johnson & Murray, Insurance Defense
Merrick R. Domnitz, Domnitz & Skemp, Personal Injury
Patrick O. Dunphy, Cannon & Dunphy, Personal Injury
J. Michael End, End, Hierseman & Crain, Personal Injury
Laurence J. Fehring, Habush Habush & Rottier, Personal Injury
Nathan A. Fishbach, Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, Criminal Defense
Michael J. Fitzgerald, Glynn, Fitzgerald & Albee, Criminal Defense
Robert H. Friebert, Friebert, Finerty & St. John, Business Litigation
Lori Gendelman, Otjen, Van Ert & Weir, Insurance Defense
Stephen M. Glynn, Glynn, Fitzgerald & Albee, Criminal Defense
Robert L. Habush, Habush Habush & Rottier, Personal Injury
Philip J. Halley, Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, Estate & Probate
Scott W. Hansen, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, Business Litigation
Gregg M. Herman, Loeb & Herman, Family Law
Stephen P. Hurley, Hurley, Burish & Stanton, Criminal Defense
Jesse S. Ishikawa, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, Real Estate
Robert L. Jaskulski, Habush Habush & Rottier, Personal Injury
Terry E. Johnson, Peterson, Johnson & Murray, Insurance Defense
J. David Krekeler, Krekeler Strother, Bankruptcy
Dean P. Laing, O'Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong, General Litigation
Lynn R. Laufenberg, Laufenberg Law Group, Personal Injury
Michael P. Malone, Hinshaw & Culbertson, Insurance Defense
Stephen J. Meyer, Meyer Law Office, Criminal Defense
James T. Murray, Jr., Peterson, Johnson & Murray, Insurance Def.
Timothy F. Nixon, Godfrey & Kahn, Bankruptcy
Frank T. Pasternak, Pasternak & Zirgibel, Personal Injury
Bruce M. Peckerman, Peckerman & Klein, Family Law
Charles I. Phillips, Phillips & Gemignani, Family Law
Don C. Prachthauser, Murphy & Prachthauser, Personal Injury
Daniel A. Rottier, Habush Habush & Rottier, Personal Injury
Thomas W. St. John, Friebert, Finerty & St. John, Family Law
Carlton D. Stansbury, Burbach & Stansbury, Family Law
Marie A. Stanton, Hurley, Burish & Stanton, Dispute Resolution
Dean A. Strang, Hurley, Burish & Stanton, Criminal Defense
Daphne Webb, Stafford Rosenbaum, Family Law
Todd M. Weir, Otjen, Van Ert & Weir, Insurance Defense
Brady C. Williamson, Godfrey & Kahn, Business/Corporate

Congratulations to all who made Super Lawyers! It surely is an honor to be listed given that there are about 14,000 lawyers in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Wisconsin Informed Consent Law

Wisconsin medical malpractice law has a doctrine known as informed consent. This was recently addressed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Bubb v. Brusky. Maryland personal injury lawyer Ron Miller has a very good post on the Bubb decision here. The basic take away from the decision is that physicians have a duty to fully inform patients of treatment alternatives that reasonable patients may choose. Thus, the failure of a doctor to give a patient those options may be found to be medical malpractice in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Top Wisconsin Lawyers List

I blogged on Wisconsin personal injury Super Lawyers before. But I just received great news from one of Super Lawyers editors via email. Specifically, I was told that in 2009, I will be rated one of the TOP 50 Wisconsin Super Lawyers.

This honor is pretty cool considering that the answer to the question How many lawyers are in Wisconsin? is about 14,000. After the full top lawyers in Wisconsin list is published in the December 2009 issue of Milwaukee Magazine, I'll try to let you know specifics. Based on last year's list though, I feel honored since among Wisconsin lawyers, I appear to be the youngest by about 17 years with only 10 or less Wisconsin attorneys who limit their practice to plaintiff's personal injury law appearing in the Top 50.

No surprise, none of the "have a wreck, get a check" suspects are on last year's list and no more than two partners at any large personal injury firm made that list (see, How many lawyers do you need?).

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Medical Malpractice Double Standard

Estate of Genrich v. OHIC Insurance Company is the latest example of the double standard present in Wisconsin's medical malpractice cases. Supreme Court Justice Crooks really sums up that decision where he states in his dissent: "The approach adopted by the majority in this case----that a three-year statute of limitations on a wrongful death claim somehow runs before three years have elapsed after the date of death----unfortunately may foster a public perception that common sense sometimes is lacking in court decisions."

For some reason, courts at all levels seem to make special rules and exceptions for cases involving Wisconsin medical malpractice.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Wisconsin asbestos mesothelioma decision

Wisconsin Asbestos & Mesothelioma Blog has a post on a recent decision from the Court of Appeals in a Wisconsin mesothelioma car brakes case.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Help Increase Auto Insurance Liability Limits in Wisconsin

With the legal minimum insurance in Wisconsin at $25,000, you could easily be seriously injured in a car accident through no fault of your own and later find out the other driver doesn't have enough car insurance to pay for your medical bills. Governor Doyle has proposed increasing the liability limits for auto insurance. Wisconsin has had the same minimum rates of liability coverage since 1982.

Higher limits are necessary and even automobile insurers admit that higher liability limits will make it easier for health insurers and healthcare providers to be paid. Please take time to send a short email to your State Representative and State Senator just by clicking here to read the message and send it.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney