Archive for the ‘Community Service’ Category

Halloween is almost here and so are countless warnings for child and adult holiday safety.

Hausmann-McNallly urges our readers to take all sensible precautions, but hopefully have some fun too.

The fun of Halloween is to step into the scary unknown. We test our bravery against strange noises and sights, creatures and characters we would never see any other time of the year. Facing down a warty witch or creepy clown for the first time is a right of passage in many places. Let’s admit…it is fun to be scared (if you know you are safe).

Warnings for Halloween safety generally fall into three categories:
•    Dangerous treats, razor blades in apples, poison candy
•    The hazards posed by costumes which make seeing difficult and the excitement, which causes kids to forget about traffic and safety rules
•    Perverts who might use Halloween as an opportunity to hurt kids

It is impossible to predict where a danger might come from, but generally parents who talk to their kids about safety and keep an eye on the action will have a better outcome. If you just turn the kids loose in a neighborhood, you are likely to receive back a frazzled, overexcited kid on a sugar high. Some parents let their younger kids trick or treat, but stand back at a discreet distance so they can observe where they go and who they interact with. Older kids would rather die than go with their parents, so set strict limits on where and how long the evening goes on. Parents might have to insist that only wrapped treats are consumed, but that will depend on the safety of the neighborhood and the individuals who give out the treats.

Traffic can be problematic. Adults may be driving home from parties where they drank too much alcohol. Trick or treaters need to be warned. And drivers need to remember that kids may be snaking through the streets in costumes that impair their side vision.

The warnings of not talking to strangers or going with anyone you don’t know is hard to enforce on Halloween, so parents are urged to be aware of neighborhood conditions, news reports and to network with other parents to ensure their children don’t  fall into the wrong hands. It’s all about caution. And then, it’s all about being dressed up as something else, scaring and being scared, lots of treats and excitement.

Take the precautions necessary and then have a great scary fun night.

Hausmann-McNally S.C. takes a look at the business strategies of one of the country’s biggest insurance companies

There are many excellent reasons to engage a personal injury attorney after you have been injured in an accident, the main reason being you will find yourself dealing with insurance companies, their adjustors and vehicle damage appraisers and their tactics which you will scarcely be able to believe.

Here is a prime example.

With profits nearing $5 billion and a law staff that could rival an Attorney General’s office, Allstate insurance is a formidable opponent to claimant and consumer interests. The company uses hardball tactics to try and force victims to accept its lowball offers.

The company’s motive for doing this is obvious: it cares more about its bottom-line than its customers and people injured by its policyholders.

Insurance is essential to any economy, ensuring that no single accident or personal disaster could financially ruin an individual’s life. An important and often times forgotten concept of insurance is that it is not only to protect the insured, but to compensate the injured victim. Compensation and restitution to injured victims and protection of the assets of insured policyholders are the only justifications for the existence of insurance companies. They do not exist solely for the benefit of their stockholders and profit generation, but to provide a very vital and crucial service in the functioning of the American economy. Again, that is to protect its insured from economic losses and to compensate its victims for economic losses.

The business model of insurance companies is that of group sharing of risk. Basically, the risk is low that you will get in a serious car accident or have your house burn down, but the potential financial costs of those incidents are devastating.

It’s for that reason we pool our money together through insurance companies so that everyone will assume a little bit of that risk. The insurance companies are licensed to conduct business under the assumption that they will treat their customers and the victims of its policyholders fairly and quickly.

The insurance companies are allowed to make a profit from the premiums that its policy holders pay under the assumption that they will provide protection for their insured and pay the just claims that their policyholders are responsible for. Again, payment of claims in a timely, fair and equitable manner is what insurance companies are supposed to do and what policyholders pay them for.

Third party assessments of Allstate have been brutal in this department.

Recently, the American Association for Justice named Allstate the worst insurance company in the United States. A study conducted by the non-partisan Consumer Federation of America (CFA) cited Allstate as a leader in “anti-consumer insurance practices.”

“Allstate is certainly not the only insurer pursuing these anti-consumer practices, but it has
been in the vanguard in developing and implementing many of them,” said J. Robert Hunter, CFA’s Director of Insurance and former Texas Insurance Commissioner and Federal Insurance Administrator.

How did a major insurance company earn this reputation?

With a vast number of claims it receives, Allstate has an anti-payment policy of low-ball offers, and uses the three “D’s”, (delay, deny, defend), to minimize payouts to claimants. Allstate uses the three “D’s”, delay payment, denying claims, and defending it in court, with the hope that the injured claimant gets frustrated or desperate enough to accept whatever lowball offer Allstate has offered. This strategy has proven hugely successful since Allstate has seen its earnings skyrocket after it implemented these practices in the 1990’s.

Another reason Allstate delays payments is its bank accounts. Everyday Allstate does not send out a check is another day of a victim’s money sitting in an Allstate bank account accruing interest and investment income. Over time this practice adds millions to Allstate’s coffers.

And then there is the McKinsey report. New York consulting firm McKinsey & Company was hired by Allstate to advise the insurance company on how it could increase profits. McKinsey reportedly recommended Allstate use “boxing gloves” instead of its “good hands” when dealing with filed claims, which led to the practices listed above.

According to the American Association for Justice’s report, Allstate agents were even given special incentives to keep “claims payments low, even if they had to deceive their customers.”

Adjusters who tried to deny fire claims by blaming arson were rewarded with portable fridges, said former Allstate adjuster Jo Ann Katzman in the report.

“We were told to lie by our supervisors,” Katzman said. “It’s tough to look at people and know you’re lying.”

One goal Allstate has in quickly trying to get victims to accept lowball offers is to prevent them from hiring lawyers. According to a 1995 Allstate training manual, research shows that for cases worth under $15,000, unrepresented victims recovered an average of $3,464 while victims who were represented by an attorney were paid $7,450.

That means even for basic cases, represented clients received an average of $4,000 more than non-represented clients. That is why Allstate does its best to get victims to sign a release before they get lawyers like the experienced personal injury lawyers at Hausmann-McNally S.C. to represent them.

Take a recent Hausmann-McNally client who had the unpleasant experience of dealing with Allstate. This 36-year-old woman was hit by an automobile running a stop sign, and her medical bills were expected to top $20,000.

Despite this, Allstate, the offender’s insurer, offered our client just $4,181. The lawyers at Hausmann-McNally were not impressed.

After a three day trial, a jury awarded our client $70,224. The difference between the two numbers demonstrates the value of hiring an experienced law firm like the personal injury attorneys at Hausmann-McNally S.C.

Allstate is one of the most influential insurance companies in the country, and it is changing the way that all insurance providers do business. An injured individual should not have to fight over the simplest of claims just because Allstate thinks it’s right to do so because it will add to their bottom-line profits. Insurance companies have an ethical and moral obligation to pay claims in a timely, fair and equitable manner.

That is what citizens have paid their premiums to have their insurance companies do and it is high time that Allstate starts protecting its insured by paying the claims that they’ve hired Allstate to protect them from. It is high time that Allstate stop the weaseling, chiseling, minimizing and delaying, and start trying to live up to its advertised “Good Hands” policy versus using those hands to economically strangle its claimants.

Are you in good hands????

Attorney Mike Donovan leads personal injury firm into the Hawkeye State

Hausmann-McNally S.C. only hires the best and brightest lawyers. This strategy is crucial to giving our clients the best possible representation, leading to some of the highest settlements in Wisconsin.

Apparently, people are noticing. Attorney Michael Donovan, who has been at Hausmann-McNally since 1977, and is our firm’s senior trial attorney and a shareholder in the firm, has been named to the very exclusive and highly prestigious list of Wisconsin Super Lawyers multiple times in years past. Only five percent of Wisconsin attorneys are given the honor each year.

Donovan and his wife Jean were born, raised and educated in Dubuque, Iowa. He has been licensed to practice in Iowa and Wisconsin since 1973 and is excited about the firm expanding into his home state.

Donovan graduated with honors from Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa in 1970 and with distinction from The University of Iowa College of Law in1973.

Donovan’s expertise with dealing with insurance companies stems from the very beginning of his legal career. His first job as a lawyer was with the law firm Borgelt, Powell, Peterson & Frauen, a Milwaukee firm that specialized in defense for insurance companies and other large corporations. In his four years at that firm, Donovan learned all the tricks of the trade when it comes to defending insurance companies, knowledge he now uses to protect client from insurance companies.

In his thirty plus years as a trial lawyer, Donovan has tried over 100 jury trials and has settled thousands more. His broad base of experience includes auto accidents, slip and fall, dog bites, sexual assaults, products liability, workers compensation and Social Security disability cases.

He has been involved in several key cases that have lead to groundbreaking decisions by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In Brown v. Maxey he successfully argued for insurance coverage for punitive damages for a severely burned African-American client who was the victim of a careless landlord. He also argued for insurance coverage for a child sexually assaulted in the landmark case, N.N. v. Moraine Mutual. Recently he obtained a large verdict for a construction foreman who was seriously injured by a truck driver whose insurance company denied liability and refused to pay any damages.

Donovan is certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. His accomplishments have been recognized in Who’ Who In America, Who’s Who in American Executives and Professionals and Who’s Who in American Law. Donovan is also admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States.

His family includes Jean, his wife of 37 years, and two adult children, Jon and Jodi. He has been active in his community, coaching youth sports as well a holding civic positions.

Most recently, Donovan was recognized for his community involvement as the Attorney of the Year by the Career Youth Development, a community based social service agency.

Donovan said he was humbled by the Super Lawyer selection, and feels it was more of a reflection on the firm he has worked at the last few decades than on himself.

“I don’t do anything differently than all the other great lawyers here at Hausmann-McNally,” he said. “We all work our hardest to ensure that our clients get the best representation and service possible from our firm.”