The agreement is part of the settlement of a lawsuit brought by a client of Legal Action of Wisconsin, alleging that the municipal court failed to comply with statutory obligations to record certain hearings.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Paul R. Van Grunsven approved the settlement agreement last month.
In December 2024, Borowski had ordered the municipal court to record certain proceedings, including hearings regarding poverty or motions to reopen, as required by law.
When the municipal court failed to comply, Borowski found the municipal court in contempt, saying the lower court had made “insufficient attempts” to comply with his December 2024 order to record indigency hearings.
Legal Action Attorney Susan Lund provided evidence that between May 5–19, 2025, the municipal court had held 54 hearings in which indigency was relevant, but recorded less than half.
Borowski called the lower court’s failure to comply “egregious” and threatened it with a $1,000-per-day fine for any further failure to comply. He also ordered the municipal court to pay all reasonable fees for Legal Action in its fight to enforce compliance.
Legal Action claimed $73,225 in attorneys’ fees in a subsequent motion.
Milwaukee Municipal Court disputed the court’s rulings along the way, including filing an appeal of Borowski’s contempt finding.
The settlement agreement was signed by City Attorney Evan Goyke and Legal Action’s Lund.
In the agreement, the municipal court agreed to drop its appeal of the contempt finding and Legal Action agreed to supervise the municipal court’s compliance with recording laws moving forward.
The settlement agreement gives little discretion to the municipal court: It must record all hearings, whether required by law or not, for at least seven years—though the recording is called “voluntary.” The court can terminate the agreement before then only if the Legislature updates relevant statutes.
After seven years the court can apply for termination with court approval.
Per the agreement, the city will pay Legal Action $4,999.99 for attorney’s fees.
The parties also agreed that 60 days prior to any termination motion the municipal court must make itself available to “meet and confer” with Legal Action for the nonprofit law firm to determine whether it would join in the termination motion. Any notice to Legal Action of a termination motion “shall demonstrate” how the municipal court “will ensure substantial compliance” with statutory requirements.
If termination is ultimately pursued, the agreement sets the standard for a circuit court judge to determine whether the municipal court has demonstrated adequate compliance mechanisms exist to ensure substantial compliance with statutory recording requirements. If not, “the Circuit Court shall deny the motion.”
The agreement includes a provision for Legal Action to review three weeks’ worth of municipal court recordings in the first six months after termination and for the circuit court, on the request of Legal Action, to hold a hearing to review whether the municipal court has maintained substantial compliance.
Should records demonstrate at that time that the municipal court failed to record more than 10% of the hearings as required by law, the municipal court “shall be ordered to resume its agreement to voluntarily record all hearings,” for at least another year and pay Legal Action reasonable attorney fees.
The municipal court would then have to wait another year before filing a new motion to terminate the agreement.
Meanwhile, during the seven years of the settlement agreement, if Legal Action of Wisconsin believes the municipal court is in violation and notifies the court of an issue, the municipal court would get 60 days to either dispute the violation charge or cure.