2022

Wisconsin Supreme Court accepts four new cases

Madison, Wisconsin - February 25, 2022

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has voted to accept four new cases, and the Court acted to deny review in a number of other cases. The case numbers, counties of origin and the issues presented in granted cases are listed below. More information about pending appellate cases can be found on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Access website. Published Court of Appeals opinions can be found here, and the status of pending Supreme Court cases can be found here.

2020AP1696 Saint John’s Communities, Inc. v. City of Milwaukee

Supreme Court case type: Petition for Review
Court of Appeals: District I
Circuit Court: Milwaukee County, Judge Jeffrey A. Conen, reversed and remanded
Long caption: Saint John’s Communities, Inc., 

Issues presented:
In order to pursue an action under Wis. Stat. § 74.35, must a tax payer pay the disputed real estate taxes before filing a claim against the municipality?

2020AP1213-CR State v. Corey T. Rector

Supreme Court case type:  Certification
Court of Appeals: District II
Circuit Court: Kenosha County, Judge Jason A. Rossell
Long caption: State of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Respondent-Cross-Appellant, v. Corey T. Rector, Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Respondent
Issues presented: Whether the plain meaning of “separate occasions” in the sex-offender-registration statute means that the two convictions must have occurred at different times in two separate proceedings so that the qualifying convictions occurred sometime before a defendant is convicted in the current case. Stated otherwise, can the qualifying convictions occur simultaneously, as they did in this case, and as Wittrock and Hopkins held?

2020AP2003 Wisconsin Justice Initiative v. WEC

Supreme Court case type: Certification
Court of Appeals: District IV
Circuit Court: Dane County, Judge Frank D. Remington
Long caption: Wisconsin Justice Initiative, Inc., a Wisconsin nonstock corporation, Jacqueline E. Boynton, Jerome F. Buting, Craig R. Johnson and Fred A. Risser, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, Ann S. Jacobs, in her official capacity as Chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, Douglas La Follette, in his official capacity as Secretary of State of Wisconsin, and Josh Kaul, in his official capacity as Attorney General of Wisconsin, Defendants-Appellants

Issue presented: 
In the April 7, 2020 election, Wisconsin voters ratified “Marsy’s Law”—the proposed amendment to WIS. CONST. art. I, § 9m that provided additional “privileges and protections” to crime victims.

1. Did the ballot question for the Marsy’s Law amendment in the April 2020 election “reasonably, intelligently, and fairly comprise or have reference to every essential of the amendment”?  See State ex rel. Ekern v. Zimmerman, 187 Wis. 180, 201, 204 N.W. 803 (1925).

2. Was the ballot question for the Marsy’s Law amendment misleading—either by containing misinformation or by failing to “mention[] [its subject] in accord with the fact”?  See State ex rel. Thomson v. Zimmerman, 264 Wis. 644, 660, 60 N.W.2d 416 (1953).

3. Under the “separate amendment” rule, was the Marsy’s Law amendment required to have been submitted as more than one ballot question because it encompassed more than one subject matter and accomplished more than one purpose? See McConkey v. Van Hollen, 2010 WI 57, ¶¶25-26, 41, 326 Wis. 2d 1, 783 N.W.2d 855.

2020AP1943 Lindsey Dostal v. Curtis Strand

Supreme Court case type: Petition for Review
Court of Appeals: District III
Circuit Court: Barron County, Judge James C. Babler, affirmed
Long caption: Lindsey Dostal, Individually and as Special Administrator of the Estate of Haeven Dostal, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross-Respondent-Petitioner, v. Curtis Strand and ABC Insurance Company, Defendants, State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, Intervening-Defendant-Respondent-Cross-Appellant

Issue presented: 
1. Does issue preclusion stemming from a criminal conviction bar the civil claims of a victim who was not a party to the criminal proceedings?

2. Does Strand’s conviction of second-degree reckless homicide, Wis. Stat. § 940.06, preclude an “occurrence” under the Policy as a matter of law?

Review denied: The Supreme Court denied review in the following cases. As the state's law-developing court, the Supreme Court exercises its discretion to select for review only those cases that fit certain statutory criteria (see Wis. Stat. § 809.62). Except where indicated, these cases came to the Court via petition for review by the party who lost in the lower court:

2019AP1081-W Maas v. Tegels
2019AP1535-CRNM State v. Diehl
2019AP1821-CR State v. Coffee
2020AP55 State v. Benitez
2020AP839 State v. Christopher
2020AP856-CR State v. Bowman
2020AP857-CR  
2020AP881-CR State v. Kleinschmidt
2020AP1012-CR State v. Russell
2020AP1159-CR State v. Hoey
2020AP1277-CR State v. Dahlk
2020AP1452-W Brooks v. Fuchs
2020AP1575-CR State v. Martin
2020AP1700-CR State v. Adorno
2020AP1799-CR State v. Urquhart
2020AP2133-CRNM State v. Combs
2021AP27-CR State v. Parkman (Justice Jill J. Karofsky did not participate)
2021AP54 Lasecki v. Nowak
2021AP815 Haddorff v. Haddorff
2021AP1146 State v. A.P.
2021AP1147  
2021AP1666-W Wood v. Court of Appeals 
2021AP1923-W Kramschuster v. Court of Appeals 
2021AP1994-W Balele v. Fitzpatrick
2019AP1075-CR State v. Lozornio
2020AP50-CR State v. Kivi
2020AP67-CRNM State v. Baxter
2020AP459-CRNM State v. Summerville
2020AP460-CRNM  
2020AP461-CRNM  
2020AP1347-CR State v. Bratchett (Justice Ann Walsh Bradley and Justice Rebecca Frank Dallet dissent)
2021AP1628 State v. M.P.H-R.
2020AP2007 Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. LIRC
(Chief Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler, Justice Patience Drake Roggensack and Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley dissent)
2021AP2033-W Jackson v. Winkleski
2020AP1678-CR Schmelzer (WHC/PRE)
   
2017AP1299 State v. Halda (Justice Brian Hagedorn did not participate)
2019AP729-CR State v. Olson
2019AP1825 State v. Brooks
2019AP2432 Century Fence Co. v. American Sewer Svcs.
2020AP369 State v. Kuchinskas (Justice Patience Drake Roggensack did not participate)
2020AP430-CR State v. Williams
2020AP1234 Bikowski v.Pro Seamless
2021AP375-CR State v. Carroll
2021AP504-CR State v. Patterson
2021AP664-W Estrada-Jimenez v. Buesgen
2021AP1231 State v. P.G.
2021AP1232  
2021AP1233  
2019AP2259-CR State v. Isaac
2019AP2291-CR State v. Mitchell
2020AP121 Pozner v. Fetzer
2020AP1570  
2020AP556 U.S. Bank v. Felt (Chief Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler did not participate)
2020AP1790-CR State v. Erickson
 

Contact:
Tom Sheehan
Court Information Officer
(608) 261-6640

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