Wisconsin Supreme Court Decisions 2018
Date: December 28, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP001603-D
Date: December 28, 2018
Docket Number: 2018AP000497-D
Date: December 27, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP001765
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals reversing the conclusion of the circuit court that Appellants’ one-acre parcel of property met the statutory requirements for the transfer of a cemetery to…
Date: December 21, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP001261-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals affirming the circuit court’s judgment of conviction of Defendant for operating while intoxicated (OWI) as a second offense, holding, among other things,…
Date: December 19, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000601
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was the circuit court’s role in determining the proper forum of dispute resolution when a subsequent contract, if enforceable, does not contain an arbitration clause that is present in an initial contract. The…
Date: December 7, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP001609-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the denial of Defendant’s motion to suppress and remanded the cause to the circuit court with instructions to suppress the challenged evidence and…
Date: November 30, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP000512-D
Date: November 16, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP000208-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the circuit court denying Defendant’s motion to suppress and convicting Defendant of burglary and possession of burglarious tools, holding that a search warrant issued for the…
Date: November 8, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP002148-D
Date: October 30, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000299
Justia Opinion Summary: In this insurance dispute, the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the circuit court’s interlocutory order that determined that the fire at issue constituted multiple occurrences instead…
Date: October 25, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP001274-D
Date: October 17, 2018
Docket Number: 2008AP000085-D
Date: October 16, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP000411-D
Date: October 16, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP002473-D
Date: September 12, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP001897-D
Date: September 12, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP001275-D
Date: July 24, 2018
Docket Number: 2018AP000810-D
Date: July 13, 2018
Docket Number: 2018AP000474-D
Date: July 6, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP002375
Justia Opinion Summary: The City of Milwaukee’s 2013 amendment to its charter ordinance that reduced the right of each individual employee-member of the Employee Retirement System (ERS) to vote for three employees of his or her choice to serve…
Date: July 6, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP002455-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The circuit court erred in granting Defendant’s motion to suppress evidence discovered during a search incident to arrest on the basis that “‘judicial integrity’ was vital enough to justify exclusion of evidence when the…
Date: July 6, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP001240
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court may question a university’s decision to suspend a tenured faculty member and must not defer to the university’s procedure for suspending and dismissing tenured faculty members. Marquette University…
Date: July 3, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP000304-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant voluntarily consented to a blood draw by his conduct of driving on Wisconsin’s roads and drinking to a point evidencing probable cause of intoxication and forfeited the statutory opportunity under Wis. Stat.…
Date: July 3, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP002483-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals affirming Defendant’s judgment of conviction and sentence and upholding the circuit court’s order denying his postconviction motion, holding that Defendant…
Date: June 28, 2018
Docket Number: 2014AP002187-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions for homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle, homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle, holding that the erroneous…
Date: June 28, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP002457
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was whether a contract executed by Becker Property Services LLC and Cintas Corporation No. 2 containing indemnification and choice-of-law provisions entitled Cintas to indemnification for damages caused by its…
Date: June 27, 2018
Docket Number: 2014AP002812
Justia Opinion Summary: In this challenge to the legislatively-enacted cap of $750,000 on noneconomic damages for victims of medical malpractice set forth in Wis. Stat. 893.55, the Supreme Court held that section 893.55 is facially…
Date: June 27, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP001599
Justia Opinion Summary: Wis. Stat. 157.067(2) and 445.12(6) (the anti-combination laws), which prohibit the joint ownership or operation of a cemetery and a funeral home, do not violate the equal protection or due process clauses of the…
Date: June 27, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP002278-OA
Justia Opinion Summary: A majority of the Supreme Court held that the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Evers, may select his own lawyer to represent him in an action in which he has been sued in his official capacity, thus rejecting…
Date: June 26, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP002019
Justia Opinion Summary: The term “processing” in Wis. Stat. 77.52(2)(a)11. includes the separation of river segment into its component parts. The Wisconsin Department of Revenue imposed a tax on Petitioners pursuant to section 77.52(2)(a)11.…
Date: June 26, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000355
Justia Opinion Summary: The Labor and Industry Review Commission’s version of the “inference method” of finding discriminatory intent is inconsistent with Wis. Stat. 111.322(1) because it excuses the employee from his burden of proving…
Date: June 26, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP001365
Justia Opinion Summary: In this dispute over unemployment compensation benefits, the Supreme Court held that the plain language of Wis. Stat. 108.04(5)(e) allows an employer to adopt its own absenteeism policy that differs from the policy set…
Date: June 20, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP001409-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals affirming Defendant’s conviction of homicide by negligent handling of a dangerous weapon and denying Defendant’s postconviction motions. Post-conviction,…
Date: June 20, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP002017-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the order of the circuit court ordering Defendant to be involuntarily medicated to competency for purposes of participating in postconviction proceedings. Several years after being convicted…
Date: June 19, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000537
Justia Opinion Summary: A right to visibility of private property from a public road is not a cognizable right giving rise to a protected property interest. Adams Outdoor Advertising Limited Partnership brought a takings claim against the City…
Date: June 15, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP001799-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals reinstating Defendant’s conviction for sexually assaulting a young girl after the circuit court set the conviction aside on the grounds that…
Date: June 15, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP001745-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: 2013 Wis. Act 20 (Act 20) eliminated a circuit court’s discretion to waive imposition of the $250 DNA analysis surcharge for felony convictions. Before the legislature adopted Act 20, the relevant statute said that the…
Date: June 15, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP001735-J
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court ordered that the Honorable Frank M. Calvert be suspended from the office of circuit court commissioner without compensation and prohibited from exercising any of the powers or duties of a circuit court…
Date: June 6, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP001858
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case arising out of the approval of a redevelopment project in the City of Eau Claire, which relied in part on funds derived from two tax incremental districts (TIDs), the Supreme Court affirmed in part and…
Date: June 6, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP002196-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Applying the teachings of Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 473 (1980), the Supreme Court held that the law enforcement officers in this case lawfully entered Defendant’s residence to execute two valid warrants for…
Date: June 5, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP001258
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was whether the Building Permit Rule (Rule) extended to land identified in a building permit application as part of a project upon which no actual construction was planned. Golden Sands Diary, LLC obtained a…
Date: June 5, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP001608
Justia Opinion Summary: The short-term rentals of Defendants’ property did not constitute “commercial activity” under the restrictive covenant that encumbered its property. Defendants purchased property in a subdivision and began renting it to…
Date: June 5, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP001595-CQ
Justia Opinion Summary: A wine grantor-dealer relationship is not included within the definition of a dealership in Wis. Stat. 135.02(3)(b). The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit certified to the Supreme Court the question…
Date: May 30, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000883-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals holding that the mandatory $250 DNA surcharge the circuit court ordered Defendant to pay violated the Ex Post Facto Clauses of the Wisconsin and United…
Date: May 25, 2018
Docket Number: 2011AP000048-D
Date: May 25, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP000275-D
Date: May 24, 2018
Docket Number: 2003AP003348-D
Date: May 24, 2018
Docket Number: 2004AP002633-D
Date: May 24, 2018
Docket Number: 2007AP002653-D
Date: May 24, 2018
Docket Number: 2011AP000584-D
Date: May 24, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP001496
Justia Opinion Summary: When a foreclosure action brought on a borrower’s default on a note has been dismissed with prejudice, and the lender has not validly accelerated payment of the amount due under the note, claim preclusion does not bar…
Date: May 22, 2018
Docket Number: 2014AP002498
Date: May 22, 2018
Docket Numbers: 2015AP001844, 2015AP001632
Date: May 18, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP002328-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: Circuit courts possess statutory competency to proceed in criminal matters when the adult defendant was charged for conduct he committed before his tenth birthday. Defendant was charged with four counts of criminal…
Date: May 18, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000740-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The intent-effects test is the proper test used to determine whether a sanction is “punishment” such that due process requires a defendant be informed of it before entering a plea of guilty. In the instant case, the…
Date: May 18, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000897-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the order of the circuit court ruling that Defendant’s trial counsel’s failure to object to an exhibit sent to the jury during deliberations…
Date: May 16, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP002540-D
Date: May 15, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP000829
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was the rule that the company that purchases the assets of another is not responsible for the latter’s liabilities and the rule’s common-law exception when the parties use the transaction to fraudulently escape…
Date: May 11, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP002356
Justia Opinion Summary: The business-owners liability insurance policy in this case did not provide coverage for a negligent supervision claim arising out of an alleged employee’s intentional act of physically punching a customer in the…
Date: May 10, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP002627
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the circuit court’s determination that real estate broker Mark McNally was entitled to a commission pursuant to a listing contract between the…
Date: May 10, 2018
Docket Numbers: 2016AP002528, 2015AP001970
Justia Opinion Summary: The classification of real property for tax purposes is based on the actual use of the property, and an injunction prohibiting agricultural use of a residentially-zoned property, which is based on a restrictive covenant,…
Date: May 4, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP002665
Justia Opinion Summary: In finding Appellant to be a sexually violent person under Wis. Stat. 980.02(1)(a) the circuit court did not erroneously exercise its discretion when it admitted expert testimony based on the results of the Minnesota Sex…
Date: April 20, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP002529-D
Date: April 19, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP000330
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was the proper interpretation of Wis. Stat. 980.09(2), as amended by 2013 Wis. Act 84, which establishes the discharge procedure for a person civilly committed as a sexually violent person pursuant to Wis. Stat.…
Date: April 18, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000619
Justia Opinion Summary: In this commitment-extension proceeding the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the circuit court’s order denying J.M.’s motion for post-disposition relief in which J.M. claimed…
Date: April 18, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP001890-D
Date: April 17, 2018
Docket Number: 2014AP002561
Justia Opinion Summary: The circuit court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Defendant’s motion for a new trial without an evidentiary hearing. Defendant was convicted of attempted armed robbery, armed robbery, and possession of a…
Date: April 17, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP000175
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this foreclosure case was whether presentment by a party’s attorney of an original, wet-ink note endorsed in blank is admissible into evidence and enforceable against the borrower without further proof that…
Date: April 10, 2018
Docket Numbers: 2015AP002668-CR, 2015AP002667-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the trial court’s decision rejecting Defendant’s motion to vacate his judgments of conviction and requesting a new trial, holding that Defendant…
Date: April 10, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000173-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction for carrying a concealed and dangerous weapon, in violation of the Concealed Carry Statute, Wis. Stat. 941.23(2). In convicting Defendant, the trial court rejected…
Date: April 10, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP001910-D
Date: April 5, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000983
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the court of appeals affirming the circuit court’s grant of summary judgment to Plaintiffs’ underinsured motorist (UIM) carrier, Allstate Property and Casualty Co. (Allstate),…
Date: April 3, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000474
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the circuit court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the City of Oshkosh in this action challenging the special assessment imposed by the…
Date: April 3, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP001980-W
Justia Opinion Summary: The DNR appealed the circuit court’s decision restoring contested Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit conditions that the DNR had rejected. The DNR selected District II as the appellate venue.…
Date: March 30, 2018
Docket Number: 2005AP002744-D
Date: March 23, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP001586
Justia Opinion Summary: The circuit court applied the proper standard of law to the facts of record when it concluded that Nationstar Mortgage LLC acted in bad faith and then awarded attorney fees to Robert Stafsholt. Further, Nationstar may…
Date: March 6, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000832
Justia Opinion Summary: Wis. Stat. 846.165 does not require a circuit court to make a determination of a guaranty credit at the time a foreclosure sale is confirmed. Further, when an action for foreclosure against a mortgagor and an action for…
Date: February 28, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP002224
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the circuit court’s declaration that the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) exceeded its authority under Wis. Stat. ch. 111 in…
Date: February 20, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP002429-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: The lower courts properly denied Defendant’s motion to withdraw the guilty plea he entered to one count of child enticement because the plea colloquy comported with both Wis. Stat. 971.08 and State v. Bangert, 389 N.W.2d…
Date: February 20, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP002506-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was at which point in time Defendant was considered “in custody” for purposes of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). The circuit court denied Defendant’s motion to suppress incriminating statements made…
Date: February 15, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP001567-D
Date: February 7, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP001039
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs sued Creekside Tree Service, Inc. and its insurer, Selective Insurance Company of South Carolina, after Plaintiffs’ wife and mother was killed when a tree branch cut by Creekside fell on her while she was…
Date: February 6, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP002214
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was whether the public interest that elections remain free from voter intimidation and coercion in this certification election was sufficient to outweigh the public interest in favor of openness of public…
Date: January 25, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP000648-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal from Defendant’s judgments of conviction for three crimes related to his domestic violence toward his then-girlfriend, the Supreme Court held (1) the recently amended language in Wis. Stat. 904.04(2)(b)1…
Date: January 23, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP000583
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the decision of the court of appeals affirming the circuit court’s judgment entered in favor of Plaintiffs regarding their asserted right to install a pier and to…
Date: January 19, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP001530
Justia Opinion Summary: Although Wis. Stat. 103.465 explicitly refers to a covenant not to compete, the plain meaning of the statute is not limited to covenant in which an employee agrees not to compete with a former employer. Plaintiff…
Date: January 19, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000866-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: A defendant may not seek expunction after sentence is imposed where both the language of Wis. Stat. 973.015 and State v. Matasek, 846 N.W.2d 811, require that the determination regarding expunction be made at the…
Date: January 19, 2018
Docket Number: 2017AP001255-D
Date: January 10, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000021
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue was whether the court of appeals erred in concluding that the City of Milwaukee complied with Wis. Stat. 70.32(1) in its tax assessment of property owned by Metropolitan Associates. Also on appeal, Metropolitan…
Date: January 9, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP000756-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: When an officer conducts a valid traffic stop, part of that stop includes checking identification, even where the reasonable suspicion forming the basis for the stop has dissipated. The Supreme Court in this case…
Date: January 9, 2018
Docket Number: 2016AP000238-CR
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case requiring the Supreme Court to interpret and apply Wis. Stat. 971.04(1) and (3), the Supreme Court held (1) section 971.04(3) did not apply to the facts of this case because it does not place any limitation…
Date: January 5, 2018
Docket Number: 2015AP001331
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