Last Wednesday was the deadline to file claims against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As of the deadline, roughly 550 people have lodged sex-abuse claims againt the church, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported last week.  

 http://www.jsonline.com/features/religion/at-least-550-people-file-sexual-abuse-claims-qc41d68-138542119.html

Shocking as those numbers are, advocates for alleged priest abuse victims claim that the 550 understates the reality. They told the Journal Sentinel that there are many more victims in southeast Wisconsin, who feared filing or just didn’t think they could win against the archdiocese.

There will be a hearing next week, Feb. 9, on motions to dismiss claims by three men who charge they were molested as kids by a priest and choir from 1970 to the 1980s. 

The archidocese, according to the Journal Sentinel, does’t deny those particular allegations. But it still has plenty of excuses for having those claims tossed out — that they are outside the statute of limitations, include a victim who has already received a settlement, and because it claims the choir director didn’t work for the archdiocese.

The archdiocese also plans to argue that priests that were members of religious orders weren’t diocesan employees, the Journal Sentinel reported.

If the church wins on those motions, it would likely mean that many of the molestation victims’ claims in bankruptcy court would be  dismissed. That doesn’t seem quite fair, does it?

The latest case, filed by Judy Bennett of Tucson, Ariz., alleges that lubricating jelly from Triad and its sibling company, H&P Industries, gave her husband John a lethal infection. The lawsuit charges that Triad and Ohio-bases Edgepark Medical Supplies supplied the jelly, which was recalled for not being sterile. 

http://www.jsonline.com/business/new-suit-blames-triad-in-death-s63rv1u-137634643.html

The suit was filed Jan. 9 in Arizona. Triad has denied any link between its products and patient deaths.

In a classic case of too little too late, Judy Bennett received notice of the jelly recall after her husband’s Feb. 14 death, even though the recall had started two months before that, according to the Journal Sentinel.

The newspaper in December published an investigative report that alleged that the Food and Drug Administration knew about safety issues with Triad products for about 10 years, but never took any action.      

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/fda-falls-short-on-safety-checks-on-disposable-wipes-makers-2o3ck29-136294978.html

Federal officials have gotten reports of nearly one dozen deaths allegedly related to Triad’s alcohol pads and other kinds of products, according to the Journal Sentinel. One lawsuit blames Triad’s pads with giving a Texas couple’s son a bacterial infection that went to his brain, ultimately killing him.

The parents of a woman who died following a stay at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex, a case that lead led to a review of the way the mentally ill are treated in that locality, have received a $125,000 settlement, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported last week.

That $125,000 doesn’t sound like very much for the death of a 33-year-old woman, does it? But the case has ben credited with being the impetus for reform and change in the way the patients are treated at the Mental Health Complex.  

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/anczaks-mother-finds-no-happy-ending-in-settlement-in-mental-health-case-9e365h9-134473918.html

The story said that Myron and Jean Anczak “remain deeply dissatisfied and conflicted” about the 2006 death of their daughter Cindy. Part of the settlment will go toward paying hospital bills, while the Anczaks’ attorney will be paid $44,000 for his work on the 5-year-0ld case.

According to the Journal Sentinel, the settlement says that Cindy Anczak’s demise and the investigation that followed has made the Mental Health Complex re-examine its policies and make improvements regarding “nuitritional care.”

The settlement specifically states that the Anczaks and the county “disagree over whether the county was at fault” in Cindy’s death on Aug. 16, 2006.

Her cause of death was due to complications of blood clots along with “self-induced” starvation, dehydration, and other conditions, the coroner’s report said. Cindy, who was bipolar, refused to eat during her five-week stay at the Mental Health Complex and lost 22 pounds while there, the Journal Sentinel reported.

Cindy was eventually put on anti-psychotic drugs, but still refused to eat. She was found unconscious, and was sent to Froedtert Hospital, where she died.

The settlement states that Cindy’s death wasn’t the result of any neglect on the part of the Mental Health Complex, according to the Journal Sentinel.

It’s no wonder that the Anczaks are “conflicted” about the outcome of their daughter’s case.

On Tuesday the drive to have Walker recalled will begin, payback for his support of successful legislation that essentially put an end to collective bargaining for most public workers, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. That controversial law filled the state Capitol in Madison with protesters.   

http://host.madison.com/news/state_and_regional/effort-to-recall-wis-governor-kicks-off-tuesday/article_07f8eea6-ab00-5afe-a1ce-915939bd657f.html

They threatened to recall legislators who supported the anti-union law, and so far have succeeded in the recall of the two senators. But seven other legislators remain in officer after recall efforts against them failed.

Wisconsin Democrats have teamed up with union members to spearhead the petition drive to recall Walker, a drive that starts Tuesday. They had to wait until the governor was in office for a year before the recall effort could kick off.

The recall organizers will have to collect more than 540,000 signatures by Jan. 17 in order for there to be a recall election.

Good luck, folks.

Last week Republicans in the state Senate won approval of a bill that limits the attorney fees that plaintiffs can recover in consumer cases, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The bill passed in a 17-15 vote, with Democrats against the measure.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/senate-approves-bill-that-would-overhaul-state-tax-enforcement-132724708.html

The bill will now go to the Wisconsin Assembly, which the Republicans control. No surprise what will happen there.

According to the Journal Sentinel, Republicans claim that the bill will help ensure that legal costs don’t get too high in suits involving just a small amount of money.

“Democrats said it would gut consumer protection laws,” the newspaper wrote.

And we agree.   

In the case cited by the Journal Sentinel, judges would have to act under the presumption that the most a plaintiff could recover in legal fes would be three time the amount being disputed in the lawsuit; i.e. if someone was suing for $10,000, the most they could recoup in legals fees would be $30,000.

If there was a special case where the judge thought the award should be higher, he or she could do that. But that provision is an amendment to the original bill.

This law will discourage lawyers from taking cases that deserve to be litigated, for people who have been wronged, if only for a small sum of money. Attorneys sometimes toil months and months on a case. They need to be sure that they will be reimbursed for all the hard work they have done. That ends with this new law.

As a result, lawyers may not take the case of consumer John Doe, who may be owed what seems like a small amount to some, but is a large amount to him.

The bill was prompted by a case that is perhaps an aberration, and lawyers and those wronged in consumer cases shouldn’t be punished because of it.

A Chevrolet-Pontiac dealer, GOP donor David Lynch, was sued for doing almost $5,000 worth of work on a truck without getting the owner’s approval, according to the Journal Sentinel.  Ultimately, the case was settled, with the dealer anteing up $170,000, which included $151,250 in attorney fees, the newspaper reported.

We don’t know anything more about the particulars of this case, but it did go up on appeal. That involves a lot of legal work. The plaintiff’s lawyer likely was very much due his or her $151,250.

Lynch has been pushing for a bill to limit attorney-fee awards ever since. 

So much for consumer protection in Wisconsin.      

The paper, in a story headlined “Bill on concussions hits home with injured teen,” did a profile of Josh Inhof, a West Bend, Wis., 15-year-old. The article outlined what happened when Josh sustained a concussion, one that wasn’t immediately recognized.    

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/bill-on-concussions-hits-home-with-injured-teen-132290068.html

On Oct. 10 Josh was at junior varsity football practice, where he took a bad hit at West Bend East High School. The teen walked over to talk to his father Steven, who was coaching a team on a nearby field.    

Josh told his dad he had “got rocked” at practice. But his father didn’t think of a concussion, he just told Josh to take an aspirin for the headache he now had, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Two days later, Josh was back playing. He was hit twice at that game, and wound up unconscious on the sidelines. In that emergency situation, Josh was ultimately transported by a Flight for Life helicopter to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.  

Josh was hospitalized for two days. He was advised to recuperate and stay home from school.

The Journal Sentinel weaves John’s story in with an update of Wisconsin’s concussion pending legislation. Its bill mandates that if a student athlete is believed to have sustained a head injury, coaches have to remove he or she from the game or practice. That athlete couldn’t return to action until undergoing an evaluation by a doctor who is trained in managing concussions. And the player would need written permission to resume playing.

Wisconsin’s bill is pending a vote by the state Assembly. The state Senate is likely to consider a similar bill.

Wisconsin’s bill would be applicable to public schools, private schools, athletic clubs and other organizations, according to the Journal Sentinel, which reported that 36 states, and the District of Columbia, now have laws regarding youths and concussions.  

Wisconsin should be state No. 37.       

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/lifestyle/127740298.html?page=2#comments

Bicyclists are again reminded to always drive with the traffic flow, follow all rules of the road, and please, to prevent traumatic brain injuries, wear a helmet every time you ride.

It was late Monday morning on August 1st, daylight with cloud cover on a straight, rural county highway. A husband, 59, and his wife, 56, were out riding their tandem bicycle. They were wearing bright colors and helmets. They had over 20 years of ‘tandem’ experience. They were part of a group ride when they were struck from behind. Both riders were thrown from the bicycle and landed just five feet from each other in the ditch. The male, who was the front passenger, received serious injuries, was air-lifted to a local trauma center and survived. The female, who was the rear passenger, suffered severe traumatic injuries, did not survive. The driver of the sports car said he was traveling 55 MPH and did not see the bicycle. The officer observation of the driver found no impairment, but the driver was taken for a blood test as standard operating procedure when a fatality is involved. http://www.co.outagamie.wi.us/sheriff/Accident%20Reports/2011/August/11-016700.pdf Perhaps what saved the husband was that he was wearing a helmet. The police investigation is ongoing.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/postcrescent/obituary.aspx?n=kris-hanson&pid=152848631

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of both the widower and the driver of the car.