Legal Question in Personal Injury in Wisconsin

Re: Being sued by Ins. Co. for negligence/damage done to friend's garage

If you had homeowner's insurance or renter's insurance or auto insurance at the time of the incident, you may have insurance coverage to protect you in this claim, and your insurance company will normally provide an attorney to defend you and the insurance company, at no charge to you. Depending on how the damage was caused, your insurnace company may be available to defend you. If you had such insurance, you should contact your insurance company to report the claim and the lawsuit as soon as possible. If you did not have insurance coverage at the time, then you will need to look for an attorney who does civil claim defense work, often the same as insurance defense work. You will probably have to hire the attorney on an hourly basis. You might consider contacting the Milwaukee Bar Association Lawyer Referral & Informaiton Service or the State Bar of Wisconsin Lawyer Referral & Information Service. Please be aware of the need to have an Answer filed and served by the appropriate time deadline, or if it is a Small Claims lawsuit, to make sure that you appear on the return date, as a failure to comply with the deadlines might result in a default judgment being entered against you.

Re: Being sued by Ins. Co. for negligence/damage done to friend's garage

You are correct. Most of the lawyers advertising in the Yellow Pages are lawyers who represent plaintiffs, not defendants. You might try calling one of them and asking him or her who the local insurance defense lawyers are. That is the kind of lawyer you want. Realize, however, that the lawyer who ends up defending you will probably be billing you by the hour, so figure out as soon as possible whether there is a valid defense to the claim being made against you. If there is not, then spending a lot of money trying to defend the case might not be a good idea. The lawyer you retain to help you should be able to give you advice on what to do. You must abide by the deadlines set forth in the summons for filing and serving an answer to the complaint. If you do not get an answer filed in time, the plaintiff may try to take a default judgment against you.