Articles by Gary L. Wickert

image of Gary L. WickertGary Wickert is an insurance trial lawyer and a partner with Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C., and is regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on insurance subrogation. He is the author of several subrogation books and legal treatises and is a national and international speaker and lecturer on subrogation and motivational topics. He can be reached at gwickert@mwl-law.com.

Automobile Third-Party Diminution in Value Claims

When an automobile is damaged in an accident and then repaired, the resale value may be less than a comparable automobile that has not been damaged. In other words, the damage results in a reduction or “diminution” in the resale …

Viewpoint: Spoliation By Insurer Can Destroy Subrogation Potential

Insurance companies, third-party adjusting companies, and subrogation vendors are increasingly undertaking subrogation investigation at an early stage of a claim’s life. Understanding that early recognition and action on third-party recovery potential is often won or lost in the first few …

Subrogating Automated Driving Systems and Autonomous Vehicle Failures

Imagine beginning your day with a cup of coffee in the car on the way to work, watching the morning news from a holographic projection on the windshield while making notes in preparation for a 9:00 a.m. meeting. All this …

Subrogation and the Sudden Emergency Doctrine

It’s happened at least once to every subrogation professional. A significant claim file involving an auto accident in which liability appears to be a lock, suddenly goes into a tailspin when the other side denies the claim because the tortfeasor …

Which Workers’ Compensation Benefits Can Be Subrogated?

It’s the question every claim professional and trial attorney claims to know but not fully understand. In addition to paying for medical expenses, death benefits, funeral costs and/or indemnity benefits for lost wages resulting from a compensable injury, workers’ compensation …

What Does it Mean to ‘Total’ a Vehicle?

Nowhere is the difference between “knowing” something and “understanding” something more evident than when it comes to the relationship between “totaling a vehicle” for insurance purposes and the concept of salvage vehicles under state law. Everybody knows what it means …

The Hard Work of Successful Subrogation

Ancient mythology and the modern practice of subrogation would seem to be strange bedfellows. Yet one story from the past has particular relevance when it comes to the never-ending toil required for aggressive and successful insurance subrogation. Sisyphus was the …

Subrogating Slip and Fall Cases Involving Snow and Ice

Injury and workers’ compensation cases involving slips and falls on snow and ice during winter in America’s northern states, and southern states this year, continue to be a perplexing subrogation puzzle for insurance claims and subrogation professionals. During the winter …

General Contractor Overhead And Profit And AOB Insurance Scams

A storm is rising, and it is not the type which causes damage to homes and vehicles. It causes damage of a much more insidious nature. Following a storm or other natural disaster, canvassers hired by the “hail cartel”—lawyers or …

Viewpoint: Subrogating Employees’ Intentional Act Damage Recoveries

The quid pro quo premise underlying the social compromise known as workers’ compensation is simple: an employee injured at work receives no-fault medical expenses and wage replacement indemnity benefits and, in exchange, the employer is given protection from employee lawsuits …