Wisconsin Law Journal – WI Legal News & Resources Wisconsin Legal News & Resources

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal judge rejected a key provision of the Obama administration’s health care law as unconstitutional Monday, ruling the government cannot require people to buy insurance, in a dispute that both sides agree will ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson is the first federal judge to strike down ...

CLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio man was excused from jury service after mentioning he was friends growing up with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

New York - Gay-rights activists celebrated a few bright spots on Election Day, but they also suffered some major setbacks - including losses by key supporters in Congress and the ouster of three Iowa Supreme Court judges who had ruled in favor of same-sex marriage.

Washington - The nation's federal judges agreed Tuesday to a pilot project that could televise some civil trials -- 16 years after the judges ended a similar experiment.

Constitutional Law Freedom of speech; mandatory bar associations The Wisconsin State Bar’s Public Image Campaign did not violate the free speech rights of its members. “The Ninth Circuit’s generous approach to germaneness in Gardner is consistent with the portion of Thiel that remains binding, where we found that all of the particular activities at issue were germane to the purpose ...

Wiretap Act Sufficiency of the evidence Where an employee directed all of his supervisor’s email messages to be forwarded to him, the evidence was sufficient to convict him under the Wiretap Act for intentionally intercepting an electronic communication. “Szymuszkiewicz’s argument is based on the belief that Infusino’s computer did the forwarding after each email arrived there. The evidence permitted the ...

Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c. announces the addition of David G. Peterson, an experienced litigator, to the firm’s expanding Waukesha office. Peterson joins the firm as a shareholder in the Litigation Practice. He has close to 20 years of experience in commercial litigation matters. Peterson was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Milwaukee Bar Association. Peterson received ...

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United States Court of Appeals CIVIL OPINIONS Immigration Removal Even if aliens did not engage in fraud in obtaining I-551 passport stamps, they are removable where they did not obtain them leally. “The Mozdzens argue that they were lawfully admitted in 1999, but the definition of admission for an alien and someone with LPR status differ. For an alien, admission ...

Sentencing Firearms Where a defendant convicted of drug offenses possessed an AK-47, his sentence was properly enhanced for possessing a firearm in connection with a drug crime. “We conclude that the government carried its initial burden by proving by a preponderance of the evidence that Rea possessed the firearms and that there was a sufficient connection between the guns and ...

Habeas Corpus AEDPA; equitable tolling Where a state prisoner thought he would be represented by the Innocence Project for almost a year, and was in segregation with access to the law library only a few hours per month, it was error to deny him an extension to file for habeas corpus. “[T]he district court erred by focusing too closely on ...

Habeas Corpus Confrontation Clause Where reasonable minds could differ whether to admit impeachment evidence in a state court trial, the district court properly denied the prisoner’s petition for habeas corpus. “The trial court in Stock’s case was aware of the fine lines that it was asked to draw. The court endeavored to balance Stock’s ability to challenge Najera’s testimony against ...

Firearms Possession of firearm by drug user; constitutionality Congress acted within constitutional bounds by prohibiting illegal drug users from firearm possession because it is substantially related to the important governmental interest in preventing violent crime. “Ample academic research confirms the connection between drug use and violent crime. For example, nearly four times as many adults arrested for serious crimes had ...

Criminal Procedure Jury bias Where the district court failed to inquire into whether the jury was biased, a new trial is required. “We are mindful of the discretion district judges have when determining whether a jury is biased and of the deference we pay to a district judge’s determination that a jury can remain impartial. As the Supreme Court said ...

Employment Equal Pay Act Where a female employee was paid more, not less, than a comparable male employee, summary judgment was properly granted to the employer on her Equal Pay Act claim. “Moore’s testimony is partly confirmed by the company’s payroll records, which show that he was hired at the same rate as Goodman, but received only a 40- cent ...

Civil Rights Excessive force Mere physical contact by a police officer does not automatically qualify as a seizure. “[T]he district court correctly submitted the matter to the jury. Even accepting the evidence in the light most favorable to Officer Bukovic, we cannot characterize the situation as the sort of de minimis touching that, as a matter of law, has no ...

Civil Procedure Interlocutory appeals; privilege Where a non-party complies with an order to disclose, despite his claim of privilege, an interlocutory appeal from the order is moot. “From Nims’s perspective, this matter is moot. He complied with the district judge’s order. The privilege (if there is one) belongs to Wilson, not to Nims, who interviewed the mental patient as Wilson’s ...

Civil Procedure Contempt; due process A court cannot find a party in contempt when the show-case notice only said that that the SEC was seeking a show-cause order, but not that the court would immediately adjudicate whether they were in contempt. “Rule 45(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure specifically provides that a person who fails ‘without adequate excuse ...

Civil Procedure Foreign law; expert testimony Expert testimony about the meaning of foreign law is unnecessary when the foreign law at issue is France’s. “Sometimes federal courts must interpret foreign statutes or decisions that have not been translated into English or glossed in treatises or other sources. Then experts’ declarations and testimony may be essential. But French law, and the ...

Antitrust Minimum-markup laws Wisconsin’s minimum-markup law does not violate the Sherman Act. “It may well be that gasoline retailers are getting together with each other and agreeing on how to estimate their costs or what final price to charge, or that retailers and wholesalers are colluding to manipulate the average posted terminal price. ‘However, we have been given no indication ...

Professional Responsibility Reciprocal discipline Where attorney Sandra K. Coplien was suspended for six months in Illinois, reciprocal discipline is imposed. “We approve and adopt the referee’s findings and conclusions, which are unchallenged. By virtue of having been suspended by the Illinois Supreme Court for her violation of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct, Attorney Coplien is subject to reciprocal discipline ...

When requesting attorney fees in federal court, pursuant to a contractual fee-shifting provision, rather than a statute, the attorney can submit redacted bills that omit descriptions of the work performed.

Longstanding precedent holds that federal courts can't enjoin state court proceedings, despite the state court defendant's claim that the proceedings violate federal rights. Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971).

Stafford Rosenbaum LLP, with offices in Madison and metro Milwaukee, announced that Connie Anderson and Paul Kent, formerly of Anderson & Kent, S.C., have joined the firm in its Madison office.

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Sentencing Concurrent sentences Where the district court erroneously believed it lacked authority to impose a sentence concurrent to a state court sentence, the sentence must be vacated. “The only difference between Campbell’s case and Hernandez’s case is the offense of conviction. Hernandez faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years for his drug conviction, while Campbell faced a mandatory minimum of ...

Employment Sex discrimination Where an employee spent 16 hours per week on non-work related websites, her termination was not sex discrimination. “Weber identified a number of male URA employees that had outside employment, conducted personal business while at URA, viewed pornography on URA computers, or viewed websites that could have been related to their outside employment. She argues that all ...

Sentencing Bank robbery; physical restraint Even though a bank robber only pushed a victim to the ground and ordered her into another room while holding a firearm, he properly received an enhancement under U.S.S.G. 2B3.1(b)(4)(B) for physically restraining a victim. “Carter governs our case. It accords with the decisions in all the comparable cases that we’ve found in the other ...

Criminal Procedure Miranda warnings Even though police told a suspect he was not in custody and was free to leave, his unmirandized statements are inadmissible, where the officers show of force was overwhelming. “The government acknowledges as it must that appellate review of a judge’s finding that an interrogation was not custodial is plenary. Thompson v. Keohane, supra, 516 U.S. ...

Sexually Violent Persons Due process; retroactivity Christopher Melendrez appeals the judgment entered upon a jury verdict finding that he was a sexually violent person under Wis. Stat. ch. 980 (2007-08). He also appeals the circuit court’s order denying his motion for postcommitment relief. Melendrez makes two primary arguments on appeal. First, he contends that he is entitled to dismissal of ...