Milwaukee law firm may sue city over injury on streetcar track

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A Milwaukee-area man has hired Hupy & Abraham to represent him in a possible legal fight over an injury from an accident on Milwaukee’a streetcar track. The firm this week filed a notice of injury with the city.

The $124 million streetcar, officially named “The HOP presented by Potawotami Hotel & Casino,” will begin operating this fall. Crews this summer finished laying down track for its 2.1-mile loop downtown and 0.4-mile lakefront loop.

Hupy & Abraham announced on Friday that the firm’s president, Michael Hupy, had been hired to represent the Milwaukee-area motorcyclist Aaron Henning, who was injured July 26 while driving downtown.

Henning was heading east on St. Paul Avenue and attempting to switch lanes so he could turn left onto Water Street when his motorcycle’s front tire got wedged in the street car’s tracks, according to a news release. Henning was thrown from his motorcycle and landed in the opposite lane of traffic, breaking his arm.

“I have been a vocal critic of the streetcar from beginning, because we have buses that do what streetcars can do without endangering motorcyclists and bicyclists,” Hupy said in a written statement. “There are concerns by others in the motorcycle community that these incidents will continue to happen due to the construction of the project.” Follow @erikastrebel