2009AP1881 S.P.A. v. Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co.

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Schools
Confidential pupil records

A court need not wait until trial to disclose pupil records and may instead base its decision on the review of deposition testimony; and a court need not include language in the order limiting the records’ use.

“First and foremost, we observe the statute twice refers to an action, which is a much broader term than trial. An action commences when a summons and complaint have been filed with the court. See Wis. Stat. § 801.02. ‘“[A]ction” is used in … the civil procedure statutes to refer to an entire proceeding, not to one or more parts within a proceeding.’ State ex rel. Henderson v. Raemisch, 2010 WI App 114, ¶¶22-24, _ Wis. 2d _, 790 N.W.2d 242 (holding that, consistent with other contexts, in prisoner litigation cases, action refers to an entire proceeding). A witness who has been deposed ‘has testified in the action.’ See Wis. Stat. § 118.125(2)(f). Had the legislature intended the statute to apply only at a trial, it undoubtedly would have used that term.”

Reversed.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2009AP1881 S.P.A. v. Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co.

Dist. III, Washburn County, Harrington, J., Hoover, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Kurth, Patti J., Milwaukee; Schmeckpeper, Jeffrey A.,Milwaukee; For Respondent: Ball, Stephanie A., Duluth, MN

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