On June 11, 2018, 78-year-old Mary Wobschall went to a Driver’s Motor Vehicle place (DMV) in Wisconsin to renew her license. A DMV worker required her to walk across a room without her cane. Although her husband objected on the basis that walking without her cane had nothing to do with her renewing her license, Mrs. Wobschall complied and walked without her cane, as the worker insisted. As she began to walk, she fell and broke her wrist. The worker denied her license renewal and a lawsuit has been filed by Mr. Wobschall. Although there are a lot of questions that come into play, as though if this is a case of malice or discrimination, it is plausible to think that personal injury is also involved. Negligence falls under personal injury and means that one party injured another without demonstrating reasonable care (American Bar Association, Personal Injury, December 12, 2019). The worker did not physically force Mrs. Wobschall to walk without a cane, but the fact that the worker insisted without proper cause and, that her broken wrist was a direct result of the worker’s insistence, makes one think that he dealt with the situation with negligence to how she would respond.

He saw her with the cane. Walking does not equate to driving; Mrs. Wobschall did not need her cane while driving, she needed it to walk. It would be understandable if she had a serious physical impairment that prevented driving, or, had a problem seeing; Mary Wobschall visited an optometrist and did not need corrective lenses and no reason of physical impairment had been provided by the worker (American Bar Association, Personal Injury, December 12, 2019). If the worker is to have a job that deals with many people of different ages and needs, the worker needs to be mindful of the uniqueness of each age segment. Cane or no cane, Mrs. Wobschall deserved fair reasoning for attaining a license renewal.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, DMV Made a Woman Walk Without Her Cane. She Fell and Broke Her Wrist, December 14, 2019, https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2019/12/11/dmv-made-woman-walk-without-her-cane-she-fell-and-broke-her-wrist/4383915002/

American Bar Association, Personal Injury, December 12, 2019, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/resources/law_issues_for_consumers/injury_filing/