Sept. 9, 2024 – A county zoning ordinance requiring cellphone towers to be at least one-half mile apart is preempted by state law, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals (District IV) has ruled in
Savich v. Columbia County Board of Adjustment, 2023AP78 (July 18, 2024). In August 2020, Tillman Infrastructure, LLC (Tillman) and AT&T Mobility (AT&T) applied to the Columbia County Planning and Zoning Department for a permit to build a cellphone tower at a specific site on farmland…
Continue Reading Cellphone Tower Separation Ordinance Preempted by State Law

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Sept. 6, 2024 – A plaintiff’s failure to honestly and meaningfully address a question of appellate jurisdiction under
28 U.S.C. section 2107 rendered his appeal frivolous, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled in
Upchurch v. O’Brien, 22-2541 (Aug. 6, 2024). As a result, the Seventh Circuit held, sanctions under
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (FRCP) 38 were appropriate. The Great Outdoors Timothy O’Brien and his wife Margaret owned a resort on Catfish…
Continue Reading Failure to Address Jurisdictional Issue Rendered Appeal Frivolous

Aug. 29, 2024 – Whether the right to counsel had attached at a probable cause hearing wasn’t a settled matter of law, meaning an attorney wasn’t deficient when he failed to object to a lineup identification that occurred without counsel present, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals (District I) has ruled in

State v. Robinson​, 2020AP1728 (Aug. 6, 2024). On Dec. 18, 2017, a man walked into a U.S. Bank branch on West Capitol Drive in Milwaukee and slipped…
Continue Reading Failure to Object to Post-hearing Lineup Identification Not Deficient

Aug. 29, 2024 – The FBI was not required to seek a warrant before obtaining cell phone data on an armed man heading toward the site of civil unrest because of exigent circumstances, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has held in
U.S. v. Karmo, No. 23-1082 (July 31, 2024). Civil unrest broke out in Kenosha on Aug. 23, 2020, after the police shot a Black man while attempting to arrest him. Michael Karmo and…
Continue Reading No Warrant Required for Cell Phone Data of Armed Man Heading Toward Unrest

Aug. 29, 2024 – In a case of first impression, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals (District III) has applied the other-acts evidence statute to a sexual assault case. In State v. Hill, 2022AP1718 (Aug. 6, 2024), the Court of Appeals held that the analysis for admitting other-acts evidence under State v. Sullivan, 216 Wis. 2d 768, 576 N.W. 2d 30 (1998), doesn’t apply to prior conviction evidence sought to be admitted under section 904.04(2)(b). In August 2022, the Douglas…
Continue Reading Sullivan Test Inapplicable to Prior Conviction Evidence in Sexual Assault Cases

Aug. 13, 2024 – A company that twice promptly re-assigned an employee after he’d complained about racial harassment by his supervisors did not create a hostile work environment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled in Clacks v. Kwik Trip, Inc., No. 23-1983 (July 24, 2024).In June 2018, Kwik Trip, Inc. (Kwik Trip) hired Stanford Clacks, a Black man, as a truck driver at its distribution center in La Crosse.Clacks second trainer, Tom Roerkohl,…
Continue Reading Prompt Re-assignment Defeats Claims of Hostile Workplace

Aug. 13, 2024 – A district court did not err by denying a motion for sanctions against attorneys for plaintiffs who sued a company with an inaccurate timekeeping system, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled in Mazurek v. Metalcraft of Mayville, Inc., No. 22-1743 (Aug. 2, 2024).Judge Candace Jackson-Akiwumi wrote the majority opinion, joined by Judge Michael Scudder. Judge Thomas Kirsch dissented.In October 2017, Richard Mazurek filed a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)…
Continue Reading Plaintiffs’ Memories of Labor Violations Sufficient to Avoid Rule 11 Sanctions

Aug. 13, 2024 – The Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) properly applied a substantial compliance standard when accepting nomination papers that were blurred and omitted some words, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals (District I) has ruled in Hess v. WEC, 2023AP1350 (July 30, 2024).In the spring of 2023, Paul Melotik began circulating nomination papers after Gov. Tony Evers called a special election to fill a vacancy in State Assembly District 24.On May 23, 2023, Melotik submitted the nomination papers,…
Continue Reading Blurry Nomination Papers Complied With Statutory Requirements

August 5, 2024 – Wisconsin’s “right to farm” law does not bar a lawsuit over the alleged failure to repair an agricultural drainage tile system, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals (District IV) has ruled in

Buchholz v. Schmidt, 2023AP1400 (July 18, 2024)Ben Buchholz and Steven Schmidt owned farmland in Dodge County.A road separated the Buchholz and Schmidt properties. A culvert running beneath the road carried stormwater from Buchholz’s property over Smith’s property and into a drainage way.Buchholz and…
Continue Reading Right-to-Farm Law Doesn’t Bar Lawsuit Over Private Drain Tile

Aug. 4, 2024 – Evidence of new treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a new and highly relevant sentencing factor for a defendant convicted of homicide, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals (District IV) has held in State v. Schueller, 2023AP1755 (June 20, 2024).Robert Schueller served in the U.S. military in Vietnam. He was diagnosed with PTSD in the 1980s.In 2004, Schueller shot and killed a man during a fight in the parking lot of a tavern in…
Continue Reading New Treatment Options Are Relevant to Potential Re-sentencing

July 30, 2024 – Absentee ballots must be witnessed in Wisconsin, and the witness must provide an “address” on the witness certification. Recently, a state appeals court upheld a circuit court’s definition of “address” but clarified the standard for applying it.In

Rise, Inc. v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, 2024AP165 (July 11, 2024), a three-judge panel upheld the circuit court’s definition of address as “a place where the witness may be communicated with,” contrary to the Wisconsin Legislature’s view.The circuit…
Continue Reading Appeals Court Clarifies Witness ‘Address’ Requirement in Absentee Ballot Case

July 18, 2024 – In a 4-3 decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has overruled a 2022 decision that held ballot drop boxes were illegal.In Priorities USA v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, 2024 WI 32 (July 5, 2024), the Supreme Court held that the 2022 decision was unsound and state law allows local election clerks to use drop boxes to collect absentee ballots.Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justice Rebecca Dallet, Justice Jill Karofsky, and Justice…
Continue Reading Wisconsin Supreme Court Overrules Teigen, Authorizes Ballot Boxes