46 results for 'court:"Wisconsin Supreme Court"'.
J. Bradley finds the circuit court properly denied the biological mother's petition to allow her non-marital partner of more than 10 years to legally adopt her child. The circuit court correctly interpreted the relevant Wisconsin law, which, among other things, prohibits the adoption of a child by someone who is not the spouse of the biological parent. Because Wisconsin's adoption statutes do not involve a fundamental right or a protected class under either the U.S. Constitution or Wisconsin Constitution, and because there is a rational basis for the restrictions in the adoption statute, the mother and partner's challenge under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment fails. Affirmed.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Bradley, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 2022AP001334, Categories: Constitution, Family Law
J. Hagedorn finds the circuit court and court of appeals properly upheld the police oversight board's decision affirming the chief of police's decision to fire the officer after an internal investigation into Facebook posts the officer made in the days and months after the 2018 arrest of Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown, posts which the chief described as "inappropriate, disrespectful and defamatory." The officer's procedural challenges to his termination fail, including because there was no infringement of due process in the chief's explanation to the officer about what policies he violated, evidence supporting the violations and why he was being fired instead of receiving less severe discipline, and his opportunity to respond and defend himself against the charges. Affirmed.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Hagedorn, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 2020AP000333, Categories: Employment, Due Process, Police Misconduct
J. Protasiewicz finds the circuit court court properly dismissed as untimely defendant's request for a judicial substitution in his misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct case and the court of appeals properly denied defendant's motion for a supervisory writ. Defendant's request for a new judge in his case, which arrived 71 days after a court commissioner entered a not guilty plea on his behalf at a combined initial appearance and arraignment and six days after he was appointed a public defender, is untimely under Wisconsin statutes and local circuit court rules, despite his argument that his delay beyond the applicable deadline was caused by the public defender's office taking so long to appoint him counsel. It is also found that, under precedent, the circuit court had no plain duty to treat defendant's request as timely given the circumstances. Affirmed.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Protasiewicz, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 2022AP001999-W, Categories: Judiciary, Battery
Per curiam, the supreme court finds that Amazon's appeal of an appellate court decision concluding that Amazon's delivery drivers do not qualify as independent contractors under state law was "improvidently granted," and the appeal is dismissed without discussion.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 2022AP000013, Categories: Labor
J. Bradley finds the labor appeals agency properly concluded that the Catholic charities group and its four sub-entities must contribute unemployment taxes to the state unemployment insurance system. State law requires an examination of both an organization's motivations and activities to determine if it is "operated primarily for religious purposes," and such an examination of the group and its sub-entities shows they are not operated primarily for religious purposes and are therefore not exempt from unemployment taxes. The group and its sub-entities have not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the relevant statute as applied to them violates the First Amendment or the Wisconsin Constitution. Affirmed.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Bradley, Filed On: March 14, 2024, Case #: 2020AP002007, Categories: Administrative Law, Constitution, Tax
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Per curiam, the supreme court finds that Erick Tyrone and the attorney disciplinary agency have properly stipulated to a six-month suspension of Tyrone's Wisconsin law license as discipline reciprocal to that issued by the Court of Appeals of Maryland for failing to competently represent his client and mishandling client funds in his trust account, among other misconduct. Tyrone's administrative suspensions of his Wisconsin law license for failure to pay bar dues, file trust account certifications and continue his legal education as required will remain in place. The agency seeks no costs related to Tyrone's disciplinary proceeding, so none are imposed.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: February 27, 2024, Case #: 2023AP001332-D, Categories: Attorney Discipline
Per curiam, the supreme court finds the attorney oversight agency's referee has properly called for Paul Strouse's Wisconsin law license to be revoked for professional misconduct, which includes knowingly taking and using another attorney's notary stamp and electronic signature on more than a dozen sworn affidavits and lying to a bankruptcy court about it, as well as a facilitating law work for another attorney whose license was suspended. Strouse is found in default for failing to respond to the agency's disciplinary complaint, and, in light of his three previous public reprimands and one previous suspension, the seriousness of Strouse's misconduct calls for the harshest sanction possible. Strouse's license is revoked, and he is ordered to pay the $2,456 cost of his disciplinary proceeding within 60 days.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: February 27, 2024, Case #: 2023AP001032-D, Categories: Attorney Discipline
Per curiam, the supreme court finds that Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips must be added to Wisconsin's ballot for the presidential preference primary on April 2, 2024, as the selection committee failed to exercise its necessary discretion to determine whether he met the requirements for ballot inclusion.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: 2024AP000138-OA, Categories: Elections
Per curiam, the supreme court finds the referee for the lawyer regulation office properly called for John Ifediora's Wisconsin law license to be revoked for 12 counts of misconduct stemming from representing his cousin who was trying to become a permanent U.S. resident. Revocation is required due to the seriousness of Ifediora's misconduct, which included converting at least $250,000 while acting as his cousin's attorney during the process of the cousin investing $500,000 in a commercial enterprise as part of a USCIS program offering a pathway to permanent residency. Ifediora's license is revoked as of the date of this order, and he is ordered to pay the $12,305 cost his disciplinary proceeding.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: January 26, 2024, Case #: 2022AP000041-D, Categories: Attorney Discipline
J. Karofsky enjoins the Wisconsin Elections Commission from using the current legislative electoral maps, which violate the state constitution and must be redrawn before the 2024 elections. The districts must be composed as “contiguous territory,” and if that doesn’t happen, the state high court will adopt remedial maps based on the criteria and process.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Karofsky, Filed On: December 22, 2023, Case #: 2023AP1399-OA, Categories: Elections, Government
Per curiam, the supreme court finds the attorney regulatory agency's referee properly called for a 120-day suspension of James Nickitas' Wisconsin law license as discipline reciprocal to that handed down by the Supreme Court of Minnesota. Nickitas' misconduct, including trying to exert improper influence on a judge and using profane and abusive language with court staff, warrants a 120-day suspension, and his request that the suspension be applied retroactively is denied. His Wisconsin law license is suspended for 120 days starting on January 19, 2024.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 2023AP001294-D, Categories: Attorney Discipline
Per curiam, the supreme court finds the attorney regulatory agency's referee properly called for a one-year suspension of Gary King's Wisconsin law license for misconduct which occurred while he was Eau Claire County District Attorney. King's two counts of misconduct, which relate to his repeatedly appearing drunk in court and in his office to the point of falling asleep and repeatedly sexually harassing female co-workers he supervised with unwanted comments and physical contact, warrant a significant sanction, and a one-year suspension is appropriate. His law license is suspended for one year starting on January 19, 2024, and he is ordered to pay the $5,927 cost of his disciplinary hearing within 60 days.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 2022AP000745-D, Categories: Attorney Discipline
Per curiam, the supreme court finds the attorney regulatory agency's referee properly called for a 60-day suspension of Matthew Luening's Wisconsin law license. The "unique facts" of Luenging's case and misconduct, which involve inappropriately using power of attorney to withdraw funds from a former client from Kenya's checking account, as well as for practicing law with a suspended license, support a 60-day suspension. His license is suspended for 60 days starting on January 26, 2024, and he is ordered to pay 25% of the $8,639 cost of his disciplinary proceeding.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 2020AP002166-D, Categories: Attorney Discipline
Per curiam, the supreme court finds the attorney regulatory agency properly called for a six-month suspension of Steven Johnson's Wisconsin law license for five counts of professional misconduct from 2018 to 2020, such as calling his staff members "bitches," "whores" and "retards" and failing to disclose to a small claims commissioner that he received reimbursement from his insurance company for damages he was seeking in two small claims cases. Johnson's appeal of the agency referee's decision fails, and he is ordered to pay the $33,001 in costs imposed in his proceeding.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: November 2, 2023, Case #: 2022AP000011-D, Categories: Attorney Discipline
Per curiam, the supreme court finds the attorney regulatory agency properly called for a three-year suspension of Felipe Gomez's Wisconsin law license as discipline reciprocal to that handed down by the Supreme Court of Illinois for misconduct involving sending threatening and harassing emails to other attorneys.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: November 2, 2023, Case #: 2023AP001034-D, Categories: Attorney Discipline
Per curiam, the evenly divided supreme court finds, without discussion, that the court of appeals' decision must be upheld. Affirmed.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: October 10, 2023, Case #: 2021AP000311-CR, Categories: Constitution, Drug Offender, Evidence
Per curiam, the supreme court finds the lawyer regulation agency properly stipulated with Nicole Beran for a 30-day suspension of Beran's Wisconsin law license as reciprocal discipline to that handed down by the Supreme Court of Illinois for professional misconduct including the mishandling of client fees and failure to competently represent and promptly communicate with the client. Beran's license is suspended for 30 days starting five weeks after this order, and no costs are imposed because the proceeding was resolved via stipulation.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: September 29, 2023, Case #: 2023AP000734-D, Categories: Attorney Discipline
Per curiam, the supreme court finds the attorney regulatory agency properly called for the indefinite suspension of David Penn's Wisconsin law license as laid out in the parties' stipulation. Penn, whose law license was previously suspended for two years in 1996 for his drug use and other violations of attorney conduct standards, admits in the stipulation that he has a mental incapacity substantially preventing him from performing his duties as an attorney, and his law license is indefinitely suspended as of the date of this order. No costs are imposed against him for his proceeding.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: August 25, 2023, Case #: 2023AP000869-D, Categories: Attorney Discipline
Per curiam, the supreme court finds Jeffrey Murrell suffers from a mental incapacity that at times substantially affects his ability to perform his duties as an attorney, as he stipulates to in an agreement with the attorney oversight board. Under the stipulation's conditions, Murrell is ordered to enter a monitoring program with the Wisconsin Lawyer Assistance Program for three years, get follow-up mental health care as the program dictates and immediately report to the program any contact with police, including arrests or criminal charges. If he does not comply, the board can apply for the suspension of his law license.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: August 23, 2023, Case #: 2023AP001144-D, Categories: Attorney Discipline
J. Kloppenburg finds that the lower court properly found in favor of an attorney in a defamation case accusing him of publishing a book in which he falsely states that a wife was wrongfully convicted of a murder that her then-husband committed. The husband is a limited purpose public figure in relation to the murder because numerous articles were written about the crime and trial that included his name and the fact that he pleaded no contest to criminal conduct related to the murder. Therefore, he must show that the attorney made the allegedly defamatory statements with actual malice, which he fails to do.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Kloppenburg, Filed On: August 3, 2023, Case #: 2022AP001871, Categories: Defamation
J. Grassl Bradley finds the court of appeals improperly reversed the circuit court's order affirming the state claims board's decision to award the citizen $25,000 after he sought more than $5.7 million for being wrongfully imprisoned for 26 years for murder as a party to a crime even though he was innocent, having participated in an assault of the victim before the murder but not the murder itself. Even though the claims board is on the record saying the citizen was innocent of the murder charge, the relevant statute does not require the claims board to submit a report to the state legislature arguing for more than the $25,000 statutory maximum compensation if it does not find that amount adequate, nor is it required to address the citizen's claim for further damages in its final decision. Because the board did not find $25,000 to be inadequate, and because nothing in the law requires it to make a specific adequacy finding or take further action to explain its decision-making, the citizen's appeal for a re-hearing fails. Reversed.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Grassl Bradley, Filed On: June 30, 2023, Case #: 2021AP000373, Categories: Administrative Law, Agency
J. Grassl Bradley finds the court of appeals improperly reversed the circuit court's denial of the father's motion to withdraw a no contest plea he entered in a child protective services case that ultimately ended with the termination of his parental rights, which he asserts he did not fully understand was potentially at stake. The circuit court properly informed the father that termination of his parental rights was one of multiple possibilities at the disposition stage, and the state was found to have met a clear and convincing evidence burden to prove termination was in the child's best interest even though it was not legally required to meet that burden. Given other evidence showing the father understood his plea deal, it remains valid despite his assertion that he thought a more favorable outcome would come of it. Reversed.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Grassl Bradley, Filed On: June 30, 2023, Case #: 2022AP000652, Categories: Civil Procedure, Family Law
J. Grassl Bradley finds the court of appeals improperly reversed the circuit court's denial of defendant's motion to dismiss his felony trafficking of a child case after the circuit court declared a mistrial due to the defense presenting third-party perpetrator evidence without notifying the state beforehand or getting a ruling on admissibility from the circuit court. Contrary to defendant's arguments, a retrial of his case would not violate his constitutional protection against double jeopardy, as all of the factors in the relevant precedent are met to support the circuit court's use of solid discretion to declare a mistrial based on "manifest necessity." The circuit court properly did this in part because the state never knew about the surprise testimony implicating a third party in the underlying sex trafficking crime and it never made a ruling on that evidence, and in part because the circuit court reasonably concluded a curative jury instruction could not "unring the bell," even though the evidence was later deemed admissible. Reversed.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Grassl Bradley, Filed On: June 29, 2023, Case #: 2021AP000267-CR, Categories: Sex Offender, Double Jeopardy, Human Trafficking
J. Dallet finds that, in light of a decision from the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2021 that applies retroactively, the circuit court improperly denied as untimely the patient's jury demand ahead of his rescheduled final recommitment hearing even though it was filed at least 48 hours before the hearing. It is concluded that the order extending the patient's commitment for 12 months must be reversed, but the case will not be remanded to the circuit court because its extension order was reversed on appeal and it no longer has competency over the patient's case because the underlying commitment order has expired. Reversed.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Dallet, Filed On: June 29, 2023, Case #: 2022AP000140-FT, Categories: Judiciary, Commitment
J. Grassl Bradley finds the circuit court properly ruled in favor of the taxpayers group in their lawsuit over a transportation utility fee the town collected, which the group claims is essentially an unlawful property tax. The fee, which no one disputes is technically a tax on properties meant to generate revenue for funding the construction and maintenance of public roads, unlawfully collected taxes beyond the town's municipal levy limit under Wisconsin statutes, and it did so based on an unlawful methodology that sought to collect taxes from commercial properties based in part on their estimated amount of use of municipal roads. Affirmed.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Grassl Bradley, Filed On: June 29, 2023, Case #: 2022AP001233, Categories: Government, Property, Tax
Per curiam, the supreme court finds the attorney oversight agency properly called for a two-year suspension of William Green's Wisconsin law license for 24 counts of professional misconduct, including a failure to promptly make filings on behalf of and communicate with multiple clients in their bankruptcy cases and refusing to refund them unearned fees. Because Green has failed to respond to the agency's cases, a default judgment is entered against him, and he is ordered to pay a total of $7,494 in restitution to his clients as well as the $707 cost of his disciplinary proceeding.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: 2022AP001212-D, Categories: Attorney Discipline
Per curiam, the supreme court finds the attorney oversight agency properly called for a 60-day suspension of Brian Stevens's Wisconsin law license for six counts of professional misconduct, including using thousands in settlement funds from a client's personal injury case in his trust account for paying his own bills and expenses and making an improper $700 loan to the client in that case. Before returning to practice law, Stevens must complete at least seven hours of legal education in how the handle a trust account, file quarterly reports with the agency detailing his trust account activities for two years, and identify an agency-approved attorney to monitor his practice for two years. He is also ordered to pay $4,500 in restitution to his client and the $8,366 cost of his disciplinary proceeding.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: 2022AP000012-D, Categories: Attorney Discipline
J. Karofsky finds the court of appeals improperly reversed the circuit court's denial of a motion for mistrial defendant brought at his trial for second-degree sexual assault after a witness under redirect from the prosecution began commenting amid an objection that he discovered defendant's previous 2004 sexual assault conviction, which was barred from evidence, on CCAP, an IT system containing and managing circuit court case records. Because the circuit court correctly decided it was not reasonable to suggest that the witness's reference to CCAP would necessarily make a juror think defendant had a prior sexual assault conviction, immediately struck the testimony and pointed the jury's attention to hearsay matters, and offered the defense the option of a special jury instruction that was ultimately not taken, it did not err in denying the motion for mistrial. Reversed.
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court, Judge: Karofsky, Filed On: June 23, 2023, Case #: 2021AP001732-CR, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender, Jury Instructions