State Supreme Court to take on 3 new cases

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court has voted to accept three new cases and reject 22 others.

The cases up for review are:

• Sausen v. Town of Black Creek Board of Review – In this case, originating in Outagamie County, the court will examine whether an assessment-review board’s classification of property is entitled to a presumption of correctness in the same that a determination of a property’s fair market value is. The court will also consider if a decision to classify hunting land in the town of Black Creek as “productive forest land” was correct – either with or without presumption.

• Associated Bank N.A. v. Collier – in this case, originating in Waukesha County, the court will look at two issues arising from a collection action involving competing lawsuits, liens and judgments. Specifically, it will look at whether a creditor’s right to obtain the lien of a common-law creditor or receiver against a judgment debtor’s personal property is, under Wisconsin statutes, conditioned upon docketing the judgment in the judgment and lien docket. The court will also consider whether a judgment creditor is entitled, in certain circumstances, to relief in the form of a declaration that a judgment has been effectively docketed in the judgment and lien docket.

• State v. Badzinksi – In this case, originating in Milwaukee County, the court will consider if a defendant in a case involving the sexual assault of a child was deprived of his right to a unanimous verdict of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. This issue arises because a trail court answered “no” to a deliberating jury’s question about whether the jurors in the trial had to agree on the room in which the sexual assault was alleged to have occurred.