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

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert D. Martin held on Sept. 29 that, where a marital settlement agreement classified marital debts as being part of the financial support settlement, rather than the property settlement, the debts are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Mark ...

A question raised by the decision is whether parties getting divorced can ensure that the debts will be nondischargeable in bankruptcy if they merely parrot the exact language used in the case at bar. An interpretation that they can would ...

"To the extent that the CIP and ERP provisions are linked by nearly identical language, similar subject matter and parallel function in the Truth-in-Sentencing scheme, they are related statutes whose meaning must be harmonized." Hon. Thomas Cane Wisconsin Court of ...

Ironically, while the similarity between subsections (3m) and (3g) of sec 973.01 is what doomed White’s case in the court of appeals, that similarity is the best chance he has to ultimately prevail in the Supreme Court, were that court ...

When a passenger fled a parked vehicle upon an officer’s stop of the vehicle, his subsequent seizure did not violate the Fourth Amendment, even if the initial stop was unlawful, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals reluctantly held on Nov. 17. ...

Given the general rule that the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretations of the Fourth Amendment also apply to the Wisconsin Constitution, it is unlikely that the criticisms of California v. Hodari D., 499 U.S. 621 (1991) by the court of appeals ...

Janine P. GeskeMarquette Law School When Lynn BeBeau’s husband was shot and killed in the line of duty 23 years ago, she viewed the subsequent legal process as an "injustice system." Although the man who killed her husband eventually wound ...

“Unlike contracts for products or goods, which enjoy the benefit of well-developed law under the U.C.C., no such benefit exists for contracts for services.” Hon. Ann Walsh Bradley Wisconsin Supreme Court The economic loss doctrine does not apply to contracts ...

One question the court deliberately left unanswered is whether the economic loss doctrine applies to "mixed contracts" — those for both goods and services — a question it ultimately must answer. Several methods could be used. The court could simply ...

Cease Electric case upholds tort liability for contracts to provide services

“There are genuine issues of material fact concerning each defendant’s involvement in an alleged conspiracy to promote and accomplish the sale of lead-based paint, knowing of its potentially hazardous properties.” Hon. Joan Kessler Wisconsin Court of Appeals A city can ...

The court’s discussion of the nuisance claim leaves a great deal unsettled, as the court seems to take away with one hand what it gives with another. The court states that creation of a nuisance has two elements: "a plaintiff ...

“No case is worth losing your license for.” Robert L. Habush, Habush Habush & Rottier, S.C. "Don’t be a jerk." That was the most common piece of advice that Milwaukee County Circuit Court judges and veteran litigators gave to a ...

The decision corrects what was an absurd anomaly, for reasons amply given by the court, and by Judge Brown in his dissent at the court of appeals level. There is no sound reason why a municipality should be able to ...

“The one that I send counsel back for briefing on over and over again is the one about diversity. People will file with LLCs and partnerships and will not figure out where the members of those partnerships are located.” Hon. ...

“We should stand up to our constituents. We understand the scope of the problem. It should be mandatory because we need the money.” Daniel L. ShneidmanGovernor The Wisconsin State Bar’s Board of Governors voted last Friday to oppose a petition ...

Hon. Shirley S. Abrahamson The Wisconsin Supreme Court held on Nov. 4 that, where a municipality presents its case in a municipal trial, and the defendant is granted a directed verdict, a "trial" has occurred, and the municipality can receive ...

“It is possible that reasonable people could differ as to the meaning of the phrase ‘that apply.’” Hon. Charles P. Dykman Concurring The Wisconsin Court of Appeals held on Oct. 28 that an insured’s judgment or settlement with a law ...

Insurers can avoid the result in this case in the future, merely by replacing their exhaustion clauses, if they mirror the one at issue in his case, with the one at issue in Danbeck v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., ...

“But while the court of appeals’ interpretation may be what they wanted and what others wanted, it is not supported by the statute.” Robert L. Habush What’s a court to do when the legislature has indicated its intent to do ...

Part II

Taxation of settlement amounts, attorney fees in employment case: A follow-up

Part I

Hon. Ralph Adam Fine A defendant whose extended supervision is revoked may seek appellate relief, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals held on Oct. 19. Christopher Swiams pleaded guilty to the delivery of fewer than five grams of cocaine as a ...

In light of this decision, defendants whose extended supervision is revoked appear to have substantially greater rights than revoked parolees have. Under the parole system, a revoked parolee is sent back to prison for a period of time determined by ...

A settlement agreement is not reached until the plaintiff negotiates the check, and signs and returns the release form, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals held on Oct. 20. On Dec. 17, 1999, Marderos Nersesian was involved in an automobile accident ...

The decision in the case at bar is problematic for a number of reasons. The court is correct when it finds that the Dec. 20, 2001 letter does not form a contract, inasmuch as the worker’s compensation carrier had not ...

Sweeping changes to nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements

Hon. Neal Nettesheim An insurer’s partial payments to its insured do not extend the statute of limitations for an action by the insured to collect the balance of the claim, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals held on Oct. 13. Wieting ...

If the decision in this case is published, as recommended, it will mark a radical departure from a long-accepted assumption that a partial payment by an insurer to its insured tolls the statute of limitations, regardless of the nature of ...