1 LUNDSTEN, J. Elijah Rashaed appeals the circuit court's order affirming a Tax Appeals Commission decision. The commission upheld the Department of Revenue's determination that Rashaed is personally liable for sales taxes from the years 1998-2000 owed by one or more businesses Rashaed operated. The parties agree that there is generally a four-year statute of limitations for imposing liability for a sales tax deficiency, regardless of willfulness. See WIS. STAT. 77.59(3) (2011-12). 1...
CURLEY, P.J. 1 Anthony Viola, individually and as special administrator of the estate of his father, Robert Viola, and Christopher Viola 1 appeal the trial court's grant of summary judgment on the claim asserted against Wisconsin Electric Power Company for violation of the Safe Place statute, WIS. STAT. 101.11 (2009-10). 2 Viola sued Wisconsin Electric under the Safe Place statute, alleging that the presence of asbestos in the air during and following routine repairs to Wisconsin...
NEUBAUER, P.J. 1 The Intrastate Detainer Act, WIS. STAT. 971.11 (2011-12), 1 requires that a case be brought on for trial within 120 days of an inmate's request for prompt disposition, "subject to" WIS. STAT. 971.10, the Speedy Trial Statute. The Speedy Trial Statute requires that a felony trial shall commence within ninety days of a demand, but a continuance may be granted for good cause. Malcolm A. Butler, while an inmate, requested prompt disposition of and a speedy trial on the...
KLOPPENBURG, J. 1 Acuity, a mutual insurance company, appeals an order dismissing American Family Mutual Insurance Company as a defendant in this action. 1 Acuity argues that the circuit court erroneously concluded that the intentional injury exclusion in the insurance policy issued by American Family to its insured, Michael Parks, applied to preclude coverage for injuries suffered by Acuity's insureds, Gregory and Heather Fetherston, when the vehicle that Parks was driving hit their...
REILLY, J. 1 Manure has long been a normal and necessary part of the operation of a dairy farm. Dairy farmers have cows. Cows produce milk and manure. Dairy farmers utilize both milk and manure as assets to their farm operations: farmers sell milk, and farmers spread manure on their fields as a nutrient. The fields provide feed for the cows who repeat the cycle of milk and manure. 2 The issue raised in this appeal is whether cow manure is a pollutant under a farmowners policy issued by...
CURLEY, P.J. 1 Jeffrey Polar, Jr., appeals the order denying his motion for sentence adjustment. Polar was sentenced to seven years of initial confinement and five years of extended supervision for his armed robbery conviction, and three years of initial confinement and five years of extended supervision for his attempted armed robbery conviction. The sentences were to be served consecutively. After he had served eight and one-half years of the total ten-year sentence, Polar moved to adjust...
STARK, J. 1 Tina Jacobsen appeals a judgment convicting her of three counts of theft in a business setting and an order denying her postconviction motion for plea withdrawal. Jacobsen was charged with eight offenses in connection with the theft of nearly $500,000 from her employer. The charges were based on 289 individual thefts that took place over approximately six years. On appeal, Jacobsen argues her trial attorney was ineffective by failing to advise her that the charges could be...
BLANCHARD, P.J. 1 This case involves two related limitations on public sector collective bargaining under the Municipal Employment Relations Act, WIS. STAT. 111.70 (2011-12), 1 as amended by 2011 Wis. Act 32. The new limitations prohibit bargaining regarding the "design and selection" of health care coverage plans for public safety employees, and regarding the "impact" of the "design and selection" of such plans "on wages, hours, and conditions of employment." The single question...
REILLY, J. 1 Lawrence Ashker, D.O., was a radiologist employed by Aurora Medical Group, Inc. Ashker and Aurora entered into an employment contract that allowed Aurora to unilaterally terminate Ashker's employment in one of three ways: (1) termination immediately upon the occurrence of any one of seven specific events; (2) termination upon a material breach of the contract, provided Aurora gave Ashker written notice specifying the breach and gave Ashker thirty days to cure the breach; and (3)...
BROWN, C.J. 1 Before Scott Walker became Governor of this state, and before 2011 Wis. Acts 10 and 32 were promulgated, thus greatly limiting public sector collective bargaining in Wisconsin, the City of Racine and various unions representing municipal workers entered into not one, but two collective bargaining agreements at the same time. One collective bargaining agreement (CBA) covered the period of 2011-12 and the other was for 2013-14. There is no dispute between the parties that the...
SHERMAN, J. 1 This is a class action lawsuit concerning the manner in which the pension of certain members of the Milwaukee County Employees' Retirement System (MCERS) is calculated. Under MCERS, a member's pension is determined by the following formula: the member's final average salary (generally the average of the five highest years' salary) is multiplied by the number of years of credited service. That number is in turn multiplied by a percentage multiplier. The dispute in this appeal...
HIGGINBOTHAM, J. 1 Ronald Krisik received severe injuries to his arm while cutting branches from a tree located on property adjacent to property owned by his brother-in-law, John Beam. WEA Property & Casualty Insurance Company was Beam's homeowner's insurance carrier at the time of the accident. WEA Property brought an action against Krisik seeking a declaration that Beam and WEA Property were immune from liability for the injuries suffered by Krisik under Wisconsin's recreational immunity...
KESSLER, J. 1 Kaitlin Woods Condominium Association, Inc. ("the Association") appeals the order granting summary judgment to North Shore Bank ("NSB") that dismissed the Association's complaint seeking to force NSB to pay Association unit assessments on six platted, but unbuilt, condominium units. The property was acquired by NSB in a mortgage foreclosure and sheriff's sale. Because we conclude that the condominium Declaration unambiguously protects NSB from these assessments, we affirm....
CURLEY, P.J. 1 Jeffrey A. Adamczak appeals the judgment entered following a jury trial convicting him of one count of sexual exploitation by a therapist, contrary to WIS. STAT. 940.22(2) (2005-06). 1 He also appeals the order denying his motion for postconviction relief. Adamczak argues on appeal that the trial court erroneously exercised its discretion when it permitted other acts testimony from Gail and Sarah, former patients of Adamczak's, that Adamczak made inappropriate comments...
BRENNAN, J. 1 AIU Insurance Company, Inc., Lexington Insurance Company, and National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, P.A., ("the Insurers") appeal from the circuit court's 2013 order for declaratory judgment. The circuit court's 2013 order granted Cleaver-Brooks, Inc. and The Coca-Cola Company's motion for partial summary judgment, and directed the Insurers to simultaneously pay shares of indemnity proportional to their respective indemnity limits in the 1979 and 1980 policy...
HIGGINBOTHAM, J. 1 These are appeals of a circuit court order approving a rehabilitation plan of the segregated account of Ambac Assurance Corporation (Ambac) and other court orders entered earlier in this proceeding. 2 Numerous interested parties challenge the validity of various provisions of the rehabilitation plan on various grounds as well as actions taken by the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (commissioner) in relation to the formulation of the plan with the approval of the...
NEUBAUER, P.J. 1 In this case, we uphold the circuit court's choice of remedy when a defendant breaches his or her plea agreement by committing new crimes. Carl A. Reed pled no contest to substantial battery in exchange for the dismissal of three other counts and the State's promise to make no recommendation at sentencing. Under the agreement, the State reserved the right to withdraw from the agreement if Reed "commits any new or additional crime(s)." Pending sentencing, Reed was charged...
REILLY, J. 1 The School District of Kewaskum and the Kewaskum Education Association had a collective bargaining agreement for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years providing that any disputes arising under the agreement would be submitted to an arbitrator for a final, binding decision. During the course of the 2010-11 school year, the School District discharged teacher Linda Kiser. The Association challenged the discharge, and the dispute was submitted to an arbitrator in accordance with the...
KESSLER, J. 1 Angela Terry appeals multiple orders of the circuit court, all stemming from her defamation action against the Journal Broadcast Corporation, its respective insurers, and multiple other parties. We affirm. 1 BACKGROUND 2 Angela Terry is a Milwaukee school bus driver who ran a part-time wedding video service known as "Angie's Wedding Videos." On February 2, 2006, a Milwaukee-area news station, WTMJ-4, aired a broadcast focusing on a couple that had not received their video...
BRENNAN, J. 1 Creative Business Interiors, Inc. ("CBI"), Aurora Healthcare, Inc., and Aurora Health Care Metro, Inc. (collectively "Aurora"), and Continental Casualty Company ("Continental") all appeal from the circuit court's order granting summary judgment and dismissing The Midwestern Indemnity Company ("Midwestern") and Hawkeye-Security Insurance Company ("Hawkeye") from this lawsuit. 1 The sole issue before this court is whether the Consumption Exception to the Fungi or Bacteria...
