{"id":737,"date":"2011-10-30T22:48:27","date_gmt":"2011-10-31T04:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wis-injury.com\/blog\/?p=737"},"modified":"2011-10-30T22:48:27","modified_gmt":"2011-10-31T04:48:27","slug":"wisconsin-republicans-defang-consumer-law-by-capping-attorney-fees-that-can-be-recovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wis-injury.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/wisconsin-republicans-defang-consumer-law-by-capping-attorney-fees-that-can-be-recovered.html","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin Republicans Defang Consumer Law by Capping Attorney Fees That Can Be Recovered"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Leave it to Wisconsin Republicans to try to cut the teeth from the state’s consumer protection laws.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

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\u00a0Journal Sentinel reported. The bill passed in a 17-15 vote, with Democrats against the measure.<\/p>\r\n

http:\/\/www.jsonline.com\/news\/statepolitics\/senate-approves-bill-that-would-overhaul-state-tax-enforcement-132724708.html<\/a><\/p>\r\n

The bill will now go to the Wisconsin\u00a0Assembly, which the Republicans control. No surprise what will happen there.<\/p>\r\n

According to the Journal Sentinel, Republicans\u00a0claim that the bill will help ensure that legal costs don’t get too high in suits involving\u00a0just a small amount of money.<\/p>\r\n

“Democrats said it would gut consumer protection laws,” the newspaper wrote.<\/p>\r\n

And we agree. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

In the case cited by the Journal Sentinel,\u00a0judges would have to act under the presumption that the most a plaintiff could\u00a0recover 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.<\/p>\r\n

If there was a special case where the judge thought the award should be higher, he or she could do that. But that provision\u00a0is an amendment to the original bill.<\/p>\r\n

This law will discourage lawyers from taking cases that deserve to be litigated,\u00a0for people who have been wronged, if only for a small sum of money.\u00a0Attorneys sometimes toil\u00a0months and months on a case. They need to be sure that they will be\u00a0reimbursed for all the hard work they have done. That ends with this new law.<\/p>\r\n

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.<\/p>\r\n

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.<\/p>\r\n

A Chevrolet-Pontiac dealer, GOP donor David\u00a0Lynch, was sued for doing almost $5,000 worth of work on a truck without getting the owner’s approval, according to the Journal Sentinel. \u00a0Ultimately, the case was settled, with the dealer anteing up $170,000, which included $151,250 in attorney fees, the newspaper reported.<\/p>\r\n

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.<\/p>\r\n

Lynch has been pushing for a bill to limit attorney-fee awards ever since.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

So much for consumer protection in Wisconsin.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leave it to Wisconsin Republicans to try to cut the teeth from the state’s consumer protection laws.\u00a0\u00a0 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\u00a0Journal Sentinel reported. The bill passed in a 17-15 vote, with Democrats against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[540],"class_list":["post-737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-wisconsin-limits-attorney-fees"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t