It’s an odd match: leather-clad bikers with a love of the open road and a 61-year-old personal injury lawyer who doesn’t even ride a hog.
For the last 19 years, Michael F. Hupy has built a niche business representing the Harley set. "A few bikers came to me about motorcycle injury accidents," says Hupy, who’ll be on call throughout H-D’s 105th Anniversary Celebration (Aug. 28-31). "There was kind of an unfilled vacuum that needed to be filled."
Along with paying customers, Hupy says he’s taken on dozens of pro bono cases for mostly Wisconsin and Illinois motorcyclist clients who have been injured in a crash or believe they were victims of discrimination.
"In my mind, he’s the most credible attorney for motorcycle accidents," says Howard Wurgler, director of the Kettle Moraine H.O.G. (Harley Owners Group) chapter. "He’s like a brand name in Wisconsin."
Hupy’s reputation for representing bikers is difficult to quantify, however. Other local law firms also provide services to bikers. "I’ve had cases with his office that he’s been involved in, but does he do more? I couldn’t tell you," says Tom Ogorchock, a founding attorney of Miller and Ogorchock S.C.
Yet beyond the casework, Hupy also advocates for change. Using his database of bikers, he sends out frequent e-mail and snail-mail alerts describing where motorcyclists can lobby. Hupy and Abraham S.C. also hosts 40-minute talks about insurance issues for bikers. At events like Summerfest, Harley reunion bashes, and even the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota, he hands out wallet-sized reprints of Constitutional rights.
At the Harley 95th Anniversary Reunion in 1998, a Milwaukee County sheriff’s deputy ticketed bikers riding in the high-occupancy vehicle lane. Hupy was able to get some tickets dismissed because of a federal statute allowing motorcyclists in that lane. Then, in response to events at Summerfest in 2003, when members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club were ejected from the grounds due to the club’s insignia on their vests (a skull above a set of crossed pistons), Hupy filed and won a lawsuit on their behalf.
"It’s easy to take a picture of yourself standing next to a motorcycle," says Tony Sanfelipo, a founder of the Wisconsin chapter of the motorcycle advocacy group ABATE, referring to other lawyers’ claims to protect motorcyclists. "He’s the only lawyer I see out there doing anything."
