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Mike Lindell may have once been known only as the “MyPillow” Guy,” but recently he’s traded polyurethane foam for horsefeathers. (It’s been really hot and humid out this weekend, sorry.) Last week, Lindell filed suit against Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic (voting hardware and software companies). The complaint alleges…well, it’s here, it’s 82 pages, and alleges a lot of things. Defamation, RICO Act violations, deprivation of civil rights under color of law under 42 USC 1983 (despite none of the defendants being government actors). This error-ridden, objectively bad complaint quite literally cites to Mein Kampf in a footnote. (If…
United States v. Cooley, USSC No. 19-1414, 2021 WL 2194835, 6/1/21, vacating 919 F.3d 1135 (9th Cir. 2019) Cooley’s truck, parked on the side of a US highway running through the Crow Reservation in Montana, attracted the attention of a Crow Police Department officer. The officer said that when he approached the truck, he found Cooley “appeared to be non-native” and showed signs of intoxication; he also had two semiautomatic rifles on his front seat. The officer eventually ordered Cooley out of the truck and patted him down; eventually he would discover methamphetamine and paraphernalia in the vehicle. Tribal…
State v. James Timothy Genous, 2021WI 50, reversing an unpublished court of appeals opinion, 2019AP435-CR, 6/4/21; case activity (including briefs) An officer saw Genous sit in a parked car, engine running and headlights on, in a residential neighborhood at 3:36 a.m.  A woman emerged from a house, entered the car for 10 to 15 seconds, and returned to the house.  Although the officer could not see what happened inside the car, the woman appeared to match the description of a female drug user who was known to live in the house. Plus the officer had heard that this…
Whether an NCAA athlete should be able to profit from their name, image and likeness (NIL) has long been a topic of debate, but until recently it seemed the longstanding NCAA rule prohibiting athletes from NIL compensation would remain the accepted rule. However, beginning this summer, NCAA student athletes will enter a new landscape of NIL opportunities and college athletics will enter unchartered territory. While the changing of the tide is now inevitable, the question that has yet to be answered is whether this change will come in the form of patchwork legislation by the states, uniform federal legislation or…
On May 11, 2021, Senate Bill 105 was passed by the Wisconsin Legislature. SB 105 was signed by Gov. Evers on May 21 and published May 22, and is now designated Act 35. This new Act 35 directly amends and retitles DCF 150 to restructure it so that the shared placement formula appears as the primary method of calculating support. Act 35 significantly restructures DCF 150. However, there are no substantive changes to the rule. In short, the ways to calculate support remain the same for practitioners and the courts. Federal law requires each state to implement child support guidelines,…
In 1995, the Wisconsin Legislature undertook a significant change and developed the Juvenile Justice Code under Wis. Stat. chapter 938. In doing so, it determined that there should still be a mechanism – a reverse waiver proceeding – to return youth to the juvenile justice system, including for the most serious of offenses. Wis. Stat. section 938.183 provides for five separate categories in which a child is to be treated automatically as an adult. These include children accused of certain offenses within secure detention or a juvenile correctional setting, as well as children who were already waived into adult court.…
  Real estate transactions can be very complicated, and there are multiple types of legal issues that buyers and sellers will want to be aware of. Easements are one issue that will affect how a piece of property can be used. If easements are not properly disclosed during a transaction, real estate litigation may be required to address this issue. Understanding Easements An easement is a legal agreement that gives a person, company, or organization the right to use someone else’s property. Easements come in several forms, including: Public easements – A portion of a person’s property may be set…
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services recently announced the “minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance” (“MMMNA”) will be increased from $2,873.34 to $2,903.34 starting on July 1, 2021.  As part of laws designed to prevent spousal impoverishment due to the high cost of long-term care, the “community spouse” (who is the spouse of an individual receiving long-term care Medicaid benefits and who is still living in the “community”) is allowed to receive some or all of the Medicaid spouse’s monthly income in order to reach the MMMNA amount if the community spouse’s monthly income is not at that level.  If the…
On May 28, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued the highly-anticipated guidance on incentive programs, giving employers the green light to offer employees incentives to either receive the COVID-19 vaccine or verify their vaccination status. In January 2021, the EEOC rescinded its proposed regulations on wellness programs. Under the previous guidance, wellness programs could only involve de minimis incentives like a water bottle or “a gift card of modest value.” Thus, there was concern that the incentives offered by companies to encourage employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine would violate the wellness program rules. Under the EEOC’s new…
By:  Attorney Andrew J. Steimle Just about every business in the United States was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  But the world did not stop, and neither did business transactions.  This article is intended to provide you with some additional items to consider when buying a business as we start to come out of the pandemic. First and foremost, doing thorough due diligence has never been more important.  The impact the pandemic had on companies ranges from severe distress to record setting profits.  A key component of post-pandemic due diligence is that every buyer must be able to understand not…
Today the EEOC updated its FAQ at Section K regarding vaccination requirements in the workplace.  It also issued guidance for employees and job applicants entitled “Federal Laws Protect You Against Employment Discrimination During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Main takeaways from the EEOC’s update are as follows: The EEOC confirms that employers can require employees to get the vaccine before physically returning to the workplace BUT must engage in the interactive process to determine if employees with disabilities or religious beliefs that prevent them from getting the vaccine can be accommodated. [See EUA note below.] Employer can require employees to…
Two weeks after their second dose in a two-dose series (such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines), or two weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine.2 Individuals who do not meet these requirements are not considered fully vaccinated: They are still subject to the prior masking and social distancing requirements. The CDC stated that individuals with compromised immune systems still may not be fully protected after vaccination. After individuals are fully vaccinated, they may resume activities that were conducted prior to the pandemic. This can be done without wearing a mask or staying six feet…
If you are a health or wellness coach, you may wonder if you are subject to HIPAA privacy and security standards. Many coaches assume they are, but many of them would be wrong. That doesn’t mean HIPAA privacy and security standards should not play a role in your practice, but whether coaches are technically required to comply does play a role in how address privacy and security concerns of you and your clients. If you are like most health and wellness coaches, you will likely collect private information from your clients. This may be health information, and will certainly be…
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Claimants are not the only folks having trouble with unemployment. Many employers think that incorporation protects them from individual liability. Not so. In particular, for unpaid unemployment taxes there are specific provisions for holding an individual owner of a company (and others, see below) responsible and liable for unpaid unemployment taxes. Besides interest and penalties, the Department will work out payment plans, intercept tax refunds, place liens on property, revoke professional licenses, levy bank accounts, and even garnish wages from later employment to recoup unpaid unemployment taxes. In 2013, the Department proposed several changes to make it easier for employers…
In the US, the average email address is associated with 130 different online accounts, according to a study by DigitalGuardian.   By my count, I have about 500.  That’s a lot of passwords to manage. The same study also reported that 11% of users have only one default password that they use across most or all accounts and 30% rarely or never change their passwords.  Not so good.  However, most users were more security conscious.  40% reported never reusing passwords and 70% changed their passwords at least once per year. Password security is particularly important for attorneys notes law firm…
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The Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules met today and voted to immediately suspend the waiver of job search requirements and pandemic-related able and available provisions contained in EmR2106. Here is what claimants need to know. Four job search actions are required starting Sunday, May 23rd Starting Sunday, May 23rd, all claimants will need to do four job search actions every week. What are those actions? Notice that the Department now expects claimants to retain (for 52 weeks!) their job search records and provide proof for each job search action (for those 52 weeks!). Even if you cannot…