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Author Archives: James Nicodemus, Special to the Wisconsin Law Journal

Driver claims destroyed blood evidence violates due process

More than nine months after Michael Luedtke had rammed his Ford Escort into the back of a stopped vehicle at an Oshkosh intersection, he was charged on Dec. 19, 2009, with six felony counts of impaired driving and operating a vehicle with a controlled substance in his blood.

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Ruling could raise liability risk for property owners

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision, expected by the end of this term, in Julie A. Augsburger v. Homestead Mutual Insurance Co., could markedly increase liability risk for property owners who allow dogs on the premises, according to defense counsel in the case.

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Justices considering questionable search

Wisconsin Supreme Court primary

In a case now before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the state hopes the justices will find some reason to keep pornographic images on a computer file admissible after a questionable Fourth Amendment search.

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Appeals court rules against city ordinance

A restrictive 2011 city of Delavan ordinance limiting property density to one lot every 35 acres was, in fact, an unlawful zoning restriction that needed approval from the county and surrounding towns, according to a recent Wisconsin appellate court decision.

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Misconduct could cost minority shareholders millions

When company founders Terrance and Judith Paul decided to sell their majority interest in Wisconsin Rapids-based Renaissance Learning Inc. for $455 million in 2011, they offered a $1.60 per share bonus just to minority shareholders to keep them happy with the transaction.

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Wisconsin justices to consider lease dispute

When landlord Anthony Gagliano & Co. Inc. tried to enforce terms of a lease against a remote tenant for a commercial space in downtown Milwaukee eight years after the lease was signed, tenant Quad Graphics asserted that 150 years of Wisconsin case law suggested the effort should fail.

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Appeals court: Not enough evidence to issue writ of mandamus in collective bargaining case

A writ of mandamus forcing Wisconsin’s Brown County and the city of Green Bay to maintain health insurance plans and benefits for police officers, firefighters and sheriff's employees should never have been issued, according to a Wisconsin appellate court decision in Green Bay Professional Police Association et al. v. City of Green Bay and Brown County, 2013 AP 269.

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