Legal Question in Personal Injury in Wisconsin

Re: Do not wish to go to court.

No plaintiff's lawyer can force a defendant to settle a case, no matter how strong the case may be. A settlement only occurs when there is an agreement between the two sides, one side agreeing to accept a sum of money that the other side is willing to pay. If the defendants are refusing to make a settlement offer to you, there is nothing that your lawyer can do about it, other than beating them in court. That is the way our system of justice works. If there is no settlement, the ultimate decision is made by a judge or jury. That decision is binding upon both sides.

All that being said, you have the right to do whatever you want to do with your case, in my opinion. Supreme Court Rule 20:1.2 provides that a lawyer shall abide by a client's decisions concerning the objectives of representation. It seems that your original objective was to recover compensation for your injury. If you decide now that you do not want to do that, I believe you have the right to dismiss your case. The contract you have signed with your lawyer will determine whether your lawyer may have some claim against you for compensation for the work done by the lawyer pursuant to the contract. If your lawyer is competent and believes that you will recover compensation as a result of a trial, it may be worth your while to see the case through.

Re: Do not wish to go to court.

You always have the right to discharge your lawyers, although you will probaly end up owing them quite a lot of money for their expenses and the work they have done to date before you had your change of heart. In a situation where the case is in suit, you have the added complication of dealing with the lawsuit. If you dismiss, you may be liable as well for the court costs (and possibly the attorney fees) of the adverse party. A three year delay in a major personal injury case which requires a lawsuit (only a very small percentage require lawsuites)is not at all unusual and not generally the fault of your lawyers. The delay probably has more to do with the opposing lawyers and the court system. I would advise you to sleep on your decision and re-consider it with all these facts in mind. With the exception of a couple of hours at a deposition (nothing more than a conversation under oath with the lawyers in one of their offices), your personal involvement in the lawsuit may be negligible. You may be better off asking them to try to speed up a settlement, even if it means less money if you still have cold feet after considering these things.

Re: Do not wish to go to court.

It would appear from your information that your attorneys started a lawsuit shortly before the three year statute of limitations would have resulted in your claim being extinguished. I obviously do not know what negotiatons your attorneys had before filing the lawsuit, however, for whatever reasons, your case could not be settled before the lawsuit needed to be filed.

I am not sure at what stage your pending lawsuit might be at, however, most courts will require both sides to participate in a mediation hearing, where your case has the likely potential of being settled, without having to have it go all the way to trial. You should ask your attorneys if they are contemplating participating in a mediation hearing with the attorneys for the other side.

You did not indicate whether the dog owners had insurance coverage or whether they were uninsured. Normally, under Wisconsin law, the owners of a dog would be liable for all damages caused by the dog, and the owner's homeowner's or renter's insurance would normally provide coverage to them for this type of incident. If the owners are uninsured, then they are paying for an attorney to represent them and are probably paying the attorney on an hourly basis. Whether insured or not, it is often in both sides' best interst to resolve cases short of trial, if possible.

I am unsure, and maybe you are unsure, as to the issues that are preventing your case from being settled. I would suggest scheduling a meeting with your attorney to discuss the issues and to discuss possible mediation. Your attorneys must proceed with the case, based upon your recommendations, or they may withdraw, if the Court permits. Otherwise, you can discharge your attorneys and find new counsel, again with an agreement between the attorneys or with Court permission, but you may still have to pay your original attorneys for thier costs that have been incurred and for thier fees for the time incurred. Without knowing what your written agreement with the attorney says, it is difficult to give you better advice as to what you will owe the original attorney.

You indicated that you would "end up with nothing anyway," but I am unsure as to the basis of your statement. Unless there are other facts of your case that you have not disclosed, I am not sure why you believe that to be the case.