State’s high court to take up 2 cases

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it has accepted two new cases, one involving an insurance matter and the other the collection of a blood sample in an operating-while-intoxicated case.

In Blasing v. Zurich American Insurance Co., the court will examine whether the liability insurer for a person who has been injured has a responsibility to defend and indemnify a tortfeasor in a negligence case.

The case stems from an incident in which an employee at a Menards hardware store caused a piece of lumber to fall onto a customer’s foot. Menards argued that the customer’s liability insurer, American Family Insurance, should have to defend against the negligence charge, whereas the victim argued that responsibility falls to Mernards’ commercial general liability insurer, Zurich American.

In State v. Bentdahl, the Supreme Court will examine whether a trial court has discretion to dismiss charges stemming from a refusal to submit to a blood test after a defendant has gone to trial on an operating-while-intoxicated charge.