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

Juveniles Delinquency; disposition Justin J. appeals a dispositional order and an order denying postdisposition relief. Justin asserts the circuit court erred by ordering him to serve thirty days in secure detention. Because we conclude the circuit court properly exercised its ...

Tagged with: Delinquency Juvenile Digest

Juveniles Delinquency; restitution Michael S.L. appeals from a restitution order requiring him to perform 200 hours of community service after he was adjudicated delinquent for disorderly conduct. The charge stemmed from a series of events culminating in a bomb threat ...

Tagged with: Delinquency Juvenile Digest Restitution

Family Family support Jose E. Trevino appeals from the portions of his judgment of divorce from Lisa Krisik-Trevino addressing the child support and maintenance components of the family support award. He argues that both result from an erroneous exercise of ...

Tagged with: Family Digest

Civil Procedure Small claims; jurisdiction This is an appeal of two small claims judgments. Both were awarded to Kristine Panenka for reimbursement of money given to her sister, Kimberly Panenka. Kimberly appeals both judgments. She contends that because they add ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Digest jurisdiction Small claims

Criminal Procedure Successive appeals There is no exception to the Escalona-Naranjo rule for postconviction discovery motions. “There is no provision in the relevant statutes or case law that exempts postconviction discovery motions from this rule. Kletzien claims that O’Brien, which ...

Tagged with: Criminal Procedure Digest Successive appeals

Family Child support A parent’s settlement from a wrong termination of employment lawsuit was properly counted as income subject to child support. “Scot also argues that because his settlement included ‘an unallocated portion for the loss of a contractual right ...

Tagged with: child support Family Digest

Search and Seizure Frisks; reasonable suspicion Where a suspect was in a high crime area known for drug trafficking and gun violence, and the suspect did not answer when asked if he ha any weapons, the officer was justified in ...

Tagged with: reasonable suspicion Search and Seizure Digest

Habeas Corpus Judicial bias Where the trial judge in a murder trial was not aware that he was acquaintances with family members of the victim, judicial recusal was not required. “Recusal also may be required outside of these specific instances ...

Tagged with: Habeas Corpus judicial bias

Employment FLSA; class actions Employees who institute a collective action against their employer under the terms of the FLSA may at the same time litigate supplemental state-law claims as a class action certified according to FRCP 23(b)(3). “We conclude that ...

Tagged with: Class actions Employment Digest FLSA

Contracts Unjust enrichment It is not inequitable for one to benefit from the willful disclosure of information or an idea when such an idea or invention is not protected by some sort of intellectual property right. “The court’s holding is ...

Tagged with: Contracts Digest Unjust enrichment

Civil Procedure Diversity jurisdiction An insured pursuing a bad faith action against its insurer cannot defeat diversity jurisdiction by naming the plaintiff in the underlying action as a defendant. “Budrik, like Wegman, is a citizen of Illinois, so if he’s ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Digest

Civil Procedure Class actions; attorney fees The special master in a class action arbitrarily reduced attorney’s fees. “The 12 percent figure was plucked out of a hat, and a hat with three holes in it: the unresolved comparison with securities ...

Tagged with: Attorney fees Civil Procedure Digest Class actions

Civil Rights Qualified immunity Where officers arrested a meter reader, even though she had all the indicia of a meter reader performing her job, on suspicion of casing homes to commit burglary, the officers were properly denied qualified immunity. “The ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Digest Qualified immunity

Habeas Corpus Waiver If the state does not respond to a habeas corpus petition in federal court, it waives its opportunity to make specific arguments to the petition. “While the court rejects the suggestion that the expert’s testimony was relevant ...

Tagged with: Habeas Corpus waiver

Public Health Disability benefits Where the ALJ did not adequately say why he discounted the opinion of a disability applicant’s treating physician, the case must be remanded. “Allord is correct that the Social Security Administration is bound to give a ...

Tagged with: Disability benefits Public Health

Sentencing Possession of child pornography A 210-month sentence for possession of child pornography, at the bottom of the guideline range, was not substantively unreasonable, although it was a non-contact offense. “Mantanes also argues that his sentence was substantively unreasonable. He ...

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Evidence Prior sexual assaults Evidence of a prior sexual assault is not admissible under Rule 413, when the defendant is charged not with a new sexual assault, but child pornography offenses. “In admitting the evidence, the district court interpreted the ...

Tagged with: Evidence Digest

Habeas Corpus Confrontation Clause Where the state failed to subpoena the complainant in a sexual assault trial, instead reading her testimony from the first trial into the record, the defendant’s right to confront the witness was violated. “We do not ...

Tagged with: Confrontation Clause Habeas Corpus

Public Health Disability benefits Where the ALJ did not adequately say why he discounted the opinion of a disability applicant’s treating physician, the case must be remanded. “Allord is correct that the Social Security Administration is bound to give a ...

Tagged with: Disability benefits Public Health

Employment Retaliation Where an employer was dissatisfied with an employee’s interpersonal skills for years before she complained of gender disparity in pay, and the pay dispute had also been ongoing for years, the employee’s termination was not retaliation. “Leitgen responds ...

Tagged with: Employment Digest Retaliation

Criminal Procedure Newly discovered evidence; ineffective assistance Mary Freeman appeals an order denying her Wis. Stat. § 974.06 (2007-08) postconviction motion. The circuit court denied the motion without a hearing, concluding that the motion was procedurally barred because the issues ...

Tagged with: Criminal Procedure Digest Ineffective assistance newly discovered evidence

Criminal Procedure Ineffective assistance; newly discovered evidence; postconviction DNA tests Rudolph D. Powells appeals from a judgment convicting him of first-degree reckless homicide, armed robbery, and possession of a firearm by a felon, and from an order denying his postconviction ...

Tagged with: Criminal Procedure Digest Ineffective assistance newly discovered evidence

Motor Vehicles Speeding Rochelle Kassens appeals pro se a judgment imposing a forfeiture for speeding, and an order denying her motion for reconsideration. We affirm. This opinion will not be published. 2009AP2436 Columbia County v. Kassens Dist IV, Columbia County, ...

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Family Property division Gerald Joseph Miller appeals a divorce judgment granting an unequal division of marital property in favor of Susan Marie Miller. Gerald contends that the circuit court erroneously exercised its discretion by failing to explain its reasoning, failing ...

Tagged with: Family Digest Property division

Civil Rights ECOA Where a lender offered to modify the terms of the existing loan within the statute of limitations, the homeowner’s claim under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act should not have been dismissed. “Mrs. Davis did not apply for ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Digest

Sentencing Co-conspirators A court cannot consider the fact that a co-conspirator was not convicted as a mitigating factor. “[W]e reject the notion that a court may consider the coconspirator’s lack of conviction under § 3553(a) because holding otherwise would deprive ...

Tagged with: Sentencing Digest

Employment Discrimination; statute of limitations Oral notice that the EEOC has issued a right-to-sue letter is insufficient to trigger the 90-day statute of limitations. “Even if we were to adopt the Ebbert court’s rule, under which an oral communication may ...

Tagged with: Employment Discrimination statute of limitations

Criminal Procedure Self-representation; ineffective assistance; speedy trials; prosecutorial misconduct; double jeopardy A jury convicted Jeffrey Edward Olson of three counts of second-degree sexual assault of two family members when the victims were minors. Olson appeals pro se from the judgment ...

Tagged with: Criminal Procedure Digest Double jeopardy Ineffective assistance prosecutorial misconduct Self-representation speedy trials

Criminal Procedure Discovery; in camera inspections Saterus Glass appeals from a judgment of conviction entered on his no contest plea to two counts of being a party to the crime of burglary and from a judgment of conviction of first-degree ...

Tagged with: Criminal Procedure Digest Discovery

Property Landlord-tenant; breach; claim preclusion Cassie Wisth appeals from a judgment of the circuit court awarding $2411.21 to Brook and Elizabeth Brown for breach of a lease and property damage. Wisth argues that a previous judgment against her former co-tenant ...

Tagged with: Breach claim preclusion Landlord-tenant Property Digest