2010AP2831 Integrity Construction Group Inc. v. Neary

11-1934 Johnson v. GDF, Inc.

2010AP3062 In re the award of attorney fees and costs in: Zimmerman v. Chrysler Group LLC, et al.

11-3030 & 11-3163 In re Trans Union Corp. Privacy Litigation

11-1117 Broaddus v. Shields

11-2146 Pickett v. Sheridan Health Care Center

2010AP1522 In re the estate of Earl Lazendorf vs. Shaw

Gov. Scott Walker plans to sign a bill designed to limit attorney fees.

Gov. Scott Walker is signing a series of bills into law Wednesday afternoon, including two that will directly affect the legal community.

2010AP2962 In re the marriage of: Gast v. Gast

2010AP2863, 2011AP420 In re the marriage of: Wagner v. Sobszak

A Wisconsin lawmaker plans to introduce a bill that will regulate the amount attorneys can collect in some civil cases.

A taxpayer could not deduct as alimony amounts paid for his former spouse’s attorney fees, the U.S. Tax Court has ruled in affirming a $5,600 deficiency assessment.

Employment ERISA; attorney fees

Employment ERISA; class actions; attorney fees

Civil Procedure Removal; attorney fees

Environmental Law Clean Air Act; attorney fees

Property Landlord-tenant; breach; damages; attorney fees

Property Landlord-tenant; attorney fees; prevailing party

Family Child support; gross income; attorney fees

Trusts and Estates Attorney fees; personal representative fees

Civil Rights Attorney fees; frivolous claims When a plaintiff’s suit involves both frivolous and non-frivolous claims, a court may grant reasonable fees to the defendant, but only for costs that the defendant would not have incurred but for the frivolous claims. Congress’s purpose in enacting §1988—to  relieve defendants of the burdens associated with fending off frivolous  litigation—points to the proper ...

Civil Rights Attorney fees; prevailing party Litigants who prevailed in the U.S. Supreme Court are prevailing parties entitled to attorney fees, even if the defendants repealed the unconstitutional statutes before the district court could order them to on remand. “The municipalities insist that the Supreme Court’s decision addressed only ‘a preliminary legal issue that did not resolve plaintiffs’ claims against ...

Public Health Disability benefits; attorney fees Where the precise date when a disability benefits applicant became eligible is debatable, the applicant is not entitled to attorney fees incurred in successfully establishing an eligibility date. “We do not think that Chief Judge McCuskey abused his discretion when he decided that the commissioner’s position in Bassett’s case was substantially justified. There is ...

Civil Procedure Contempt; attorney fees Christopher C. Cape appeals from a judgment and order finding him in contempt of court and assessing attorney fees, costs and interest. The trial court found that, despite a clear order by the court to promptly execute and deliver certain documents so that 110.806 acres of land could be partitioned, Cape continuously engaged in unwarranted ...

ERISA Attorney fees Where an insured obtains some success in suing an ERISA plan for denial of benefits, but may not ultimately prevail, the district court’s award of attorney fees is vacated pending reconsideration on remand. “We would be hesitant to conclude that the Defendants’ position, though unsuccessful in significant part, was so indefensible as to warrant an award of ...

Property Landlord-tenant; attorney fees Dennis Dresler appeals from a small claims judgment in favor of James and Carolyn Wozniak. Dresler challenges both the circuit court’s dismissal of his claim for damaged carpet and the court’s determination that he was only entitled to prorated rent for the month of August. We reject Dresler’s arguments and affirm. We also agree with the ...

Copyright Attorney fees The prevailing party in a copyright action was properly awarded attorney fees, although the suit was filed in good faith. “HyperQuest acknowledges that it is not easy to overturn an award of fees. It asserts, however, that the award is tainted by legal error: the district court, it says, applied an irrebuttable presumption in favor of granting ...

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 class actions, the arbitrary reduction in attorneys’ fees for the nonpecuniary relief, and the perfunctory (less than a page) consideration, ...

Consumer Protection Lemon Law; attorney fees This case involves a challenge to the circuit court’s award of attorney’s fees. The appellant, Mark A. Kauffmann, argues that the circuit court erred by not determining that he was the prevailing party and by not awarding him one-hundred percent of his attorney’s fees. We conclude, however, that the circuit court properly exercised its ...