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

Robert Koutnik appeals a judgment convicting him of arson. Koutnik was sentenced to twelve years in prison and twelve years extended supervision. He also appeals an order denying postconviction relief. He argues that he was denied effective assistance of trial ...

“Bissonette’s argument is valiant and not without appeal. But it’s not enough to win this appeal. Recent history shows that the language on which he relies is capable of more than one interpretation. But in the face of LaBonte and ...

Linda A.W. appeals from an order terminating her parental rights to Cody A.W. She claims that: 1) the trial court should not have terminated Linda A.W.’s parental rights to Cody; 2) there was insufficient evidence to sustain the jury’s finding ...

April Ingalls appeals an order revoking her driving privileges for one year. She argues that the trial court erroneously determined that her refusal to submit to a blood test was unreasonable. She further contends that her refusal was justified because ...

Because the Act is explicit as to who may be assigned liability for beneficiaries and neither the “related persons” provision nor any other provision states that successors in interest to these signatory operators may be assigned liability, the Act’s plain ...

“More than 1300 days have passed since this court issued its decision in Jackson v. Benson. More importantly, more than 600 days have passed since the information advanced by respondents in support of their disqualification claim became publicly known. Inasmuch ...

Susan Bauer appeals an order which dismissed her declaratory relief action against the Village of DeForest and assessed attorney fees against her for pursuing a frivolous action. In recent years, the Village has issued several orders requiring Bauer to remove ...

Richard A. Sefton pled no contest to operating a motor vehicle with a prohibited blood alcohol concentration. He appeals his conviction, contending that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress. Sefton claims that deputy James Armstrong ...

Neither § 1396r-5(e)(2)(C)’s text nor the MCCA’s structure forbids Wisconsin’s approach. This case turns on whether the words “community spouse’s income” in § 1396r-5(e)(2)(C) may be interpreted to include potential, posteligibility transfers of income from the institutionalized spouse permitted by ...

“As we noted previously, in reaching this conclusion we are influenced by evidence of Ms. Rippl’s rehabilitation, as demonstrated by the positive testimonials provided by numerous employers for whom Ms. Rippl worked, describing Ms. Rippl as ‘diligent, trustworthy and hardworking’ ...

Clark and Linda Wolff appeal a judgment of the circuit court in favor of the Grant County Board of Adjustment (BOA), the Grant County Planning and Zoning Committee (County Zoning Committee), Grant County and the Town of Jamestown (Town). The ...

Thomas E. Formaro appeals from a judgment of conviction as a party to the crime of manufacturing a controlled substance. He filed a motion to suppress evidence seized at his home under a search warrant. The trial court suppressed the ...

Petitioners and the United States contend that education records include only institutional records, e.g., student grade point averages, standardized test scores, and records of disciplinary actions. But respondent, adopting the Tenth Circuit’s reasoning, contends that an assignment satisfies § 1232(a)(4)(A)’s ...

This is so because we reject the County’s argument that the method of computing time set forth in Wis. Stat. sec. 990.001(4)(a) and (d), in which the first day is excluded, applies in the context of Wis. Stat. sec. 51.20(7)(a). ...

Quintin L’Minggio appeals an order which dismissed his petition for review of a prison disciplinary decision. We affirm the dismissal of L’Minggio’s action, although on slightly different grounds than those relied upon by the circuit court. This opinion will not ...

Bernard James appeals the judgment of conviction and sentence for armed robbery, as a party to a crime, and the order denying his postconviction motion for sentence modification because of a new factor. He contends that the decision of the ...

“In situations where parties fail to respond to requests for admissions, there is a difference between those cases in which a party has cooperated with discovery and those cases, like this one, in which a party has failed to cooperate ...

Clyde and Irene Schreiber appeal a judgment of the circuit court in favor of KML Development Corporation in the amount of $4,314.52 for unpaid rent, utility bills, late fees, and costs. For the following reasons, we affirm. This opinion will ...

“Although several provisions of the Constitution protect privacy in the sense of confidentiality, including the Fourth Amendment and the self- incrimination clause of the Fifth Amendment, the only place to look for a general right of informational privacy would be ...

This is because the appraiser had researched land sales that were purchased for quarrying purposes by known quarry owners, the comparable properties contained similar stone deposits, were located in the same county and were adjacent to existing or old quarries. ...

Lola M. appeals from the circuit court judgment dismissing her claims against the City of Milwaukee, based on the court’s written decision determining that the City was entitled to summary judgment. She argues that the court erred in concluding that ...

“This makes sense because a court’s ‘role is to prevent unlawful hiring practices, not to act as a ‘super personnel department’ that second-guesses employers’ business judgments.’ Simms, 165 F.3d at 1330… If we were to allow a jury to evaluate ...

“We agree with the circuit court that the phrase, ‘At the direction of a consumer’ is unambiguous. It requires the consumer to make a choice and communicate that choice to the manufacturer. Because Berends failed to specify whether he wanted ...

Juan Pagan, Jr. and Allstate Insurance Company (collectively, “Allstate”) appeal from a judgment entered in favor of Daniel S. Stasiewicz. Allstate claims: (1) the trial court erred in failing to dismiss Stasiewicz’s claim for permanent injury; (2) the trial court ...

“Everyone in either group is a member of the military, which raises the fundamental question as to how a policy can have a disparate impact on certain people because of their military status and at the same time give an ...

“Here, LIRC found that American requested that Hernandez schedule an appointment with Dr. Doermann and that Hernandez would not have done so absent that request. The record supports those findings. Based on its findings, LIRC drew the reasonable inference that ...

Terry Doxtator appeals a judgment convicting him of having sexual contact with his girlfriend’s 11-year-old babysitter, J.C. He also appeals an order denying his postconviction motion in which he alleged ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Doxtator argues that his trial ...

“The arbitrator somehow sustained the Union’s grievance, and found that the employer’s payment of the greater commission rate to all drivers during the brief span of but the first two months (60 days) of the new five-year contract constituted a ...

Although defendant refers to a footnote in a prior case [S.D.S. v. Rock Cty. Dept. of Soc. Servs., 152 Wis.2d 345 (Ct. App. 1989] for the proposition that events occurring prior to the CHIPS dispositional order should be excluded, we ...

Heidi L. Williams was charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and operating a motor vehicle with a prohibited alcohol concentration, both as second offenses. She moved to suppress the results of a blood-alcohol test administered after her arrest, ...