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“To use worker’s compensation cases as precedent for construing the exclusion in the general liability policy is at odds with insurance law principle that we are to interpret the language of an insurance policy according to what a reasonable person ...

It should be assumed that this decision is limited to employers that are also Indian casinos, and thus, exempt from worker’s compensation laws. Nevertheless, if one accepts the court’s reasoning as sound, the only logical result is that private employers’ ...

Hon. Patience D. Roggensack The latest addition to the state’s highest court is very enthusiastic about her new judicial role. Acknowledging that it still doesn’t seem real, Justice Patience D. Roggensack said her first few weeks have been enjoyable. Until ...

The Seventh Circuit held on Aug. 28 that the evidence was sufficient to support a jury’s finding of age discrimination, where the employer had previously attempted to lay off the employee during a reduction in force (RIF), gave shifting reasons ...

Because most age discrimination cases the Seventh Circuit considers involve summary judgment, rather than a trial, the decision in this case is particularly useful as precedent. That the plaintiff was successful also makes the case noteworthy. The case is most ...

A district court cannot grant a “safety valve reduction” to a defendant’s sentence, even if his criminal history category overstates the seriousness of his prior offenses, the Seventh Circuit held on Aug. 22. Victor Vega-Montano pleaded guilty to one count ...

Much of the majority’s discussion, as well as the reasoning of the trial court, misses the mark as to why the case must be decided this way. One of the cases cited with approval by the court will be more ...

“You get litigants who have spent all this extra money to appeal the decision all the way to the Supreme Court then due to the fact that there are not an odd number of justices up there they end up ...

“Every case is an individual case and in Badger Mutual, they reaffirmed the decision in Dowhower that reducing clauses are enforceable only if the policy clearly sets forth that the insured is purchasing a fixed level of UIM coverage that ...

Hon. Paul G. Lundsten Interest accruing pursuant to contract cannot be stacked with interest pursuant to sec. 807.01(4), the Wisconsin Court of Appeals held on Aug. 21. Galaxy Gaming and Racing Limited Partnership was engaged in litigation with the City ...

The case is a likely one to be reviewed by the Supreme Court for several reasons: the inconsistency in the court of appeals’ classification of whether or not sec. 807.01(4) is punitive; the court’s invitation that it do so; and ...

Landis v. Physicians Insurance Co. of Wisconsin, Inc., 2001 WI 86 effectively overruled Leverence v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty, 158 Wis. 2d 64, 462 N.W.2d 218 (Ct. App. 1990), which had held that Wisconsin’s borrowing statute, sec. 893.07, applied ...

The court’s decision is somewhat overbroad in its sweeping language in two places that Landis “abandons any distinction between a statute of limitations and a statute of repose.” Landis does no such thing, however. It merely holds that, when the ...

“While we take no position whether the hypnosis session violated Armstrong’s requirements, counsel should have at least presented available expert testimony challenging the hypnosis session and the reliability of Rene’s testimony.” Hon. Thomas Cane Wisconsin Court of Appeals On Aug. ...

As only the second court of appeals’ decision since Armstrong was decided to consider hypnotic testimony, the decision has great importance (the other is State v. Coogan, 154 Wis.2d 387, 453 N.W.2d 186 (Ct.App.1990)). Furthermore, as a result of the ...

“The district court’s ability to penalize the defendant should he violate a condition of supervised release upon his release from prison is not a question before us on appeal, and we lack the jurisdiction to issue an advisory opinion on ...

Although the court declined to decide Russell’s second argument, the court’s dicta suggests that the second supervised release, and a subsequent revocation and reimprisonment would be lawful. This creates an interesting anomaly, in that sometimes, when a court imposes the ...

Hon. Michael P. Sullivan Milwaukee County’s new chief judge plans to draw upon his 26 years as a circuit court judge and five years as a court commissioner as he takes the helm of the state’s largest judicial district. Judge ...

The policy reasons given by the court for adopting the sophisticated user defense are, as the court concluded, sound. As the court found, the foundry is in a far better position to ensure workplace safety, and in a better position ...

Storytelling is an essential tool for a trial lawyer when approaching a case. Veteran Louisiana litigator Russ M. Herman told a group of plaintiff’s lawyers that storytelling is an important way to educate a jury and get them to reach ...

“Even if the Illinois Supreme Court’s application of Chambers was not unassailable, as shown by the contrary inferences drawn by the Illinois appellate court using the same law and the same facts, by the same logic it also was not ...

Inasmuch as the case is only a federal court review of an Illinois state court conviction, carrying as it does an exceedingly deferential standard of review, the decision has no precedential value save in federal habeas actions. However, the majority’s ...

Hon. Richard S. Brown The Wisconsin Court of Appeals on Aug. 6 adopted the “sophisticated user defense,” holding that a manufacturer of a dangerous product has no duty to warn a sophisticated user with equal knowledge of the product’s propensities. ...

“Exclusion F excludes coverage for bodily injury or physical injury to tangible property. While this may apply to some claimed damage, the Droegkamps also allege pecuniary damage, damage not excluded by the policy.” Judge Harry G. Snyder Wisconsin Court of ...

This decision was not recommended for publication. Nevertheless, it is so contrary to existing precedent that, when coupled with the court of appeals’ questionable decision last month in Jares v. Ulrich, No. 02-3100 (decided June 25, 2003), which also significantly ...

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A district court may not transfer the determination of costs allowed under FRCP 54(d) to a prevailing defendant to a state court, when the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed his federal suit, pursuant to Rule 41, in order to proceed in state ...

As a result of the decision, plaintiffs should be very leery of dismissing a federal action to pursue an action based on the same conduct in state court. This is particularly true, because Wisconsin has an identical counterpart to Rule ...

“If we do not suppress physical evidence in situations of intentional violations of Miranda, we, in essence, undermine the deterrent effect upon which such a decision was based.” Justice N. Patrick Crooks Wisconsin Supreme Court The Wisconsin Supreme Court held ...