Wisconsin Supreme Court Decisions 2016
Date: December 28, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP002536-FT
Justia Opinion Summary: The research director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin submitted a public records request to the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting certain documents and recordings of presentations made at various…
Date: December 22, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP002947
Justia Opinion Summary: Regency West Apartments sued the City of Racine to recover refunds from allegedly excessive taxation for tax years 2012 and 2013. The circuit court dismissed Regency West’s claims. The court of appeals affirmed. At issue…
Date: November 29, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP000304-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of drunk driving, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. The court of appeals reversed the circuit court’s order denying Defnednat’s motion to suppress, concluding that the…
Date: November 18, 2016
Docket Number: 2003AP002039-D
Date: November 8, 2016
Docket Number: 2013AP002128-D
Date: October 21, 2016
Docket Number: 2016AP001080-D
Date: July 15, 2016
Docket Number: 2010AP002942-D
Date: July 13, 2016
Docket Number: 2011AP002680-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: This case required the Supreme Court to reexamine State v. Shiffra, modified by State v. Green, (hereinafter Shiffra/Green), under which a defendant can acquire a complainant’s privileged mental health treatment records…
Date: July 13, 2016
Docket Number: 2013AP001724
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted and sentenced under 2009 Wis. Act 28, which allowed inmates the opportunity to earn “positive adjustment time,” by which inmates could obtain early release from prison. 2011 Wis. Act 38…
Date: July 13, 2016
Docket Number: 2015AP000157-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to attempting to flee a traffic officer and operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent. Defendant’s presentence investigation report included an attached COMPAS risk assessment, an…
Date: July 12, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP002488-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded no contest to first-degree recklessly endangering safety as domestic abuse. In the plea colloquy accepting Defendant’s plea, the circuit court misstated the potential punishment if Defendant were…
Date: July 12, 2016
Docket Number: 2015AP000179
Justia Opinion Summary: This case was one of several cases involving litigation between Lands’ End and the City of Dodgeville challenging the City’s property tax assessment of Lands’ End’s headquarters. In 2009, Lands’ End made an offer of…
Date: July 12, 2016
Docket Number: 2015AP000869
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1990, Defendant was convicted in Minnesota of a first-offense operating while intoxicated (OWI). In 1992, the Eau Claire County Circuit Court entered a civil forfeiture judgment against Defendant for another…
Date: July 6, 2016
Docket Number: 2012AP002578
Justia Opinion Summary: Wis. Act 76 substantially changed the circumstances under which the Department of Children and Families (DCF) may license and certify childcare providers in Wisconsin. One provision in the new law, Wis. Stat.…
Date: July 6, 2016
Docket Number: 2013AP000646-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded no contest to homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and operating without a license, causing death. The convictions arose after Defendant killed an individual while he was driving under the influence…
Date: July 6, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP000157
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, the insured of Dairyland, sustained bodily injury and property damage while operating his motorcycle. After paying plaintiff all proceeds to which he was entitled under the Dairyland policy, and after…
Date: July 1, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP002238-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with first-degree intentional homicide. Defendant moved to suppress her incriminating statements made during a six-hour interrogation conducted without a Miranda warning and evidence of the search…
Date: June 30, 2016
Docket Number: 2013AP002756
Justia Opinion Summary: From 2007 to 2009, a number of lawsuits involving Plaintiff, the trustee of two trusts, were filed throughout the country. Plaintiff asked his professional liability insurer, Houston Casualty Company, to defend him in…
Date: June 30, 2016
Docket Numbers: 2014AP002484, 2014AP002484
Justia Opinion Summary: Water Well, which was insured under a commercial general liability primary policy (CGL policy) with Consolidated Insurance Company, was sued by Argonaut Insurance Company. The complaint alleged that Water Well and its…
Date: June 29, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP000821
Justia Opinion Summary: The complex insurance coverage dispute arose out of a 2007 fire that destroyed portions of a home that was still under construction. Fontana Builders, Inc., the construction contractor, and James and Suzy Accola, the…
Date: June 28, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP000827-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether an element of Wis. Stat. 948.075(1r) - use of a “computerized communication system” - was satisfied when Defendant used his cell phone to exchange texts with, and receive picture…
Date: June 23, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP000400
Justia Opinion Summary: Since 1938, the City of Milwaukee has required its city employees to comply with a residency requirement. The residency requirement is set forth in section 5-02 of the City’s charter. In 2013, the Legislature enacted…
Date: June 23, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP001177
Justia Opinion Summary: Minors John Doe 56 and John Doe 57 and their parents filed suit against Dr. Van de Loo and related entities, claiming medical malpractice. Specifically, the Does alleged that they were sexually assaulted during a medical…
Date: June 23, 2016
Docket Numbers: 2014AP002295, 2014AP002097
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1997, James Vandenberg and three other individuals (collectively, the intervenors) acquired real estate as tenants-in-common. During the time they owned the property, James accumulated personal debts resulting in…
Date: June 14, 2016
Docket Number: 2013AP002316-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant and the State entered into a plea agreement under which Defendant would plead no contest to certain counts brought against him, while other counts would be dismissed and read into the record for purposes of…
Date: May 26, 2016
Docket Number: 2013AP002686-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Wisconsin Supreme Court's review was whether the Circuit Court erred when it granted the State's motion to join intimidation charges involving two victims, a mother and her daughter,…
Date: May 24, 2016
Docket Number: 2015AP001966-D
Date: May 20, 2016
Docket Number: 2013AP002433-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The charges of first-degree sexual assault against defendant-appellant Stephen LeMere arose out of events that occurred after a gathering in the Eau Claire on Friday evening, May 13, 2011, at the home of J.C. and his…
Date: May 20, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP001853
Justia Opinion Summary: The circuit court dismissed an action brought by Vilas County District Attorney Albert Moustakis who sought to restrain the Wisconsin Department of Justice from releasing records pertaining to Moustakis in response to a…
Date: May 18, 2016
Docket Number: 2013AP000416
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was 2011 Wisconsin Act 21 (Act 21), which, among other things, amended portions of Wis. Stat. ch. 227, which governs the procedures for administrative rule making and allows the Governor and the…
Date: May 12, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP001213
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sustained personal injury and property damage in a car accident with Defendant, a State employee. Plaintiff delivered notice of claim to the attorney general by personal service and then instituted a negligence…
Date: May 12, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP002431
Justia Opinion Summary: St. Croix County petitioned to terminated Mother’s parental rights to her Son, alleging that Son was a child in continuing need of protection or services (CHIPS) and that Mother failed to assume parental responsibility.…
Date: April 29, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP000940
Justia Opinion Summary: Abbey Springs Condominium Association, Inc. and Abbey Springs, Inc. (collectively, Abbey Springs) have a policy forbidding both current and subsequent unit owners from utilizing recreational facilities until unpaid…
Date: April 22, 2016
Docket Number: 2013AP001424-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect to strangulation and suffocation and related crimes. After a plea hearing, the parties agreed that Defendant would plead guilty to all five criminal…
Date: April 22, 2016
Docket Number: 2015AP000275-D
Date: April 15, 2016
Docket Number: 2016AP000217-D
Date: April 7, 2016
Docket Number: 2013AP001228-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of second-degree sexual assault and sentenced to twenty-five years of confinement and fifteen years of extended supervision. Defendant subsequently moved to vacate the judgment of conviction,…
Date: April 7, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP001283
Justia Opinion Summary: After Mother and Father divorced, Grandmother filed a motion seeking to visit her four grandchildren. The circuit court ultimately denied the motion, concluding that Grandmother failed to prove that she maintained “a…
Date: March 30, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP001508
Justia Opinion Summary: Patti Roberts was injured at a charity event sponsored by Green Valley Enterprises when she was waiting in line to ride in a hot air balloon and was struck by the balloon’s basket. Sundog Ballooning, LLC was the owner…
Date: March 15, 2016
Docket Numbers: 2014AP001251-CR, 2014AP001250-CR, 2014AP001249-CR, 2014AP001248-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: In four separate, unrelated cases, Appellant was charged with seventeen criminal counts. Pursuant to a single plea agreement, Appellant pleaded guilty or no-contest to felony theft as a party to a crime, felony bail…
Date: March 1, 2016
Docket Numbers: 2013AP000687, 2013AP000613
Justia Opinion Summary: The underlying coverage dispute arose from the supplying of a defective ingredient for incorporation into Wisconsin Pharmacal Company (Pharmacal) probiotic supplement tablets. Pharmacal brought this action against Jeneil…
Date: March 1, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP001880
Justia Opinion Summary: United Foods & Commercial Workers Union, Local 1473 filed a class action against Hormel Foods Corporation alleging that Hormel violated Wisconsin wage and hour laws by failing to pay employees for time spent putting on…
Date: February 26, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP002801-D
Date: February 24, 2016
Docket Number: 2013AP000907
Justia Opinion Summary: Kenneth Burgraff was injured when an employee of Menard, Inc. loaded materials onto Burgraff’s trailer using a forklift. Burgraff sued Menard for damages. Burgraff’s vehicle and trailer were insured under a policy issued…
Date: February 24, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP001267-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled no contest to possession of narcotic drugs. Defendant appealed, challenging the denial of his motion to suppress a warrantless draw of his blood. Later testing of Defendant’s blood indicated the presence…
Date: February 17, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP000007-D
Date: February 10, 2016
Docket Number: 2014AP000108-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Police obtained evidence of marijuana production in Defendant’s home while investigating the source of injuries sustained by Defendant’s brother. Defendant was subsequently charged with possession of drug paraphernalia,…
Date: February 10, 2016
Docket Number: 2015AP001984-D
Date: February 4, 2016
Docket Number: 2012AP002520
Justia Opinion Summary: The Department of Transportation (DOT) eliminated Hoffer Properties, LLC’s direct driveway connections to a controlled-access highway and separately exercised its power of eminent domain to acquire .72 acres of Hoffer’s…
Date: February 4, 2016
Docket Number: 2013AP000149-D
Date: January 28, 2016
Docket Numbers: 2014AP000680, 2014AP000679, 2014AP000678
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to various drug-related offenses in three separate cases. The circuit court’s colloquies with Defendant failed to adhere to Wis. Stat. 971.08(1)(c) because neither of the circuit courts warned…
Date: January 15, 2016
Docket Number: 2013AP000857-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was stopped by police inside the parking garage underneath his apartment building and subsequently arrested for operating while intoxicated. Defendant filed a motion to suppress, arguing that his Fourth…
Date: January 5, 2016
Docket Numbers: 2014AP001048, 2014AP001048
Justia Opinion Summary: While Christopher S. was serving his sentence for mayhem, Winnebago County filed a petition for the involuntary commitment of Christopher for mental health care under Wis. Stat. 51.20(1)(ar). The County also filed a…
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