District attorneys are declining to defend controversial state and federal laws

Mar 1, 2013 9:40 AM CST

Wisconsin justice is accused of denial over alleged neck grab; how will it play in primary?

Wisconsin Justice Patience Roggensack faces a contested primary election on Tuesday, less than a week after she was accused by a colleague of being in denial about court dysfunction. Justice Patience Roggensack is being challenged by Marquette University law professor Ed Fallone and lemon law attorney Vince Megna, report the…

Feb 19, 2013 11:30 AM CST

Bad coffee leads to embezzlement case against law firm worker

A really bad cup of coffee that burned the lips of a Wisconsin law firm worker resulted in a criminal case against a co-worker who is now accused not only of tainting the beverage with a foreign substance but embezzling from her employer. Kay Lee Gysbers was released on a…

Feb 7, 2013 3:36 PM CST

Gambling addiction cited by lawyer who says he’s under investigation and will give up law license

A longtime Wisconsin attorney who is considered a leading debt-collection lawyer in Milwaukee says he is winding down his practice due to an investigation over missing client trust money and plans to give up his law license. “I’m actually a very good lawyer; this is sadly the end to a…

Jan 28, 2013 8:35 PM CST

Accused ‘Bucky Badger’ bandit is a law grad who told police he had $250,000 in student debt

A 2004 law grad accused of trying to rob a credit union in Wisconsin while wearing a Bucky Badger hat revealed a purported motive in an interview with police. The alleged robber, 49-year-old Randall Hubatch, said he needed money to help pay off $250,000 in student debt, the Wisconsin State…

Jan 23, 2013 3:19 PM CST

Fan’s privacy suit over Joan Rivers documentary nixed by 7th Circuit

Affirming a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit against Joan Rivers, a federal appeals court in Chicago on Thursday held that a fan did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy concerning a brief backstage chat with the raunchy comedian, in the presence of others. The fan, Ann Bogie, sued…

Jan 18, 2013 4:42 PM CST

Lawyer Hired by His Embezzlement Victim Gets Lighter Sentence to Allow for Restitution

Former Wisconsin lawyer Brian Mularski caught a break in a sentencing hearing on Monday partly because one of his embezzlement victims has put him on the payroll. Accused of embezzling $737,000, Mularski pleaded guilty in October to theft of more than $10,000 in a business setting. On Monday, Judge David…

Jan 8, 2013 12:40 PM CST

Lawyer Accused of Inflating Billables for Bonuses Gets 1-Year Suspension

A Wisconsin lawyer accused of inflating his billable hours to qualify for nearly $47,000 in bonuses has been suspended from practice for a year, six months less than recommended by a referee. The Wisconsin Supreme Court cited mitigating factors in imposing the lower penalty, the Legal Profession Blog reports. The…

Jan 7, 2013 12:15 PM CST

Parents Who Tried to Heal Daughter with Prayer Seek to Overturn Reckless Homicide Convictions

Lawyers for a Wisconsin couple asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court in oral arguments on Tuesday to overturn their convictions for an unsuccessful effort to heal their daughter with prayer. Dale and Leilani Neumann were convicted of second-degree reckless homicide in separate trials in 2009, report the Associated Press and MyFoxWausau.com.…

Dec 5, 2012 3:34 PM CST

Judge Adds Probation Condition: Dad Who Owes $50K in Child Support May Not Procreate

A man who owes $50,000 in child support and $40,000 in interest was sentenced on Monday to three years of probation with an added condition: He may not procreate. Corey Curtis of Racine was sentenced on Monday after pleading no contest in October to jumping bail and failing to pay…

Dec 5, 2012 1:49 PM CST

Law Firm Coffee Spat Leads to Unemployment Case

A Wisconsin law firm known for its representation of workers in cases against employers got the worst of legal dispute with its own ex-receptionist after a disagreement over an empty coffee pot. Sandy Weidner said she was fired on a trumped-up claim that she hadn’t included a few breaks on…

Nov 26, 2012 8:24 PM CST

Raring for a Jury Trial, Defendant Appeals When Prosecutors Drop the Case

Ernest Pagels Jr. says he has a right to a trial by jury, even if prosecutors don’t want to pursue charges against him. A Wisconsin appeals court disagreed and rejected Pagels’ pro se appeal on Thursday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blog Proof & Hearsay. Pagels had paid a…

Nov 12, 2012 12:15 PM CST

Disbarred Lawyer Fighting New Sanction Decries Treatment, Barks at Wisconsin Justices

A disbarred Milwaukee lawyer fighting a recommendation for additional sanctions told the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday that the ethics case is “traumatizing me and pushing me into an early grave.” Alan Eisenberg, 71, was disbarred in 2010 for filing a lawsuit in bad faith, but the ethics rules allow…

Nov 8, 2012 1:09 PM CST

Viewer Sticks to His Assertion: TV Anchor Is Too Fat

Updated: A Wisconsin man who wrote a TV news anchor to tell her she is too fat isn’t retracting his assertion. Kenneth Krause of LaCrosse told WKBT anchor Jennifer Livingston in an email that he briefly saw her morning show and was “surprised indeed to witness that your physical condition…

Oct 4, 2012 11:36 AM CDT

Wisconsin Judge Strikes Controversial Collective Bargaining Law

In the latest development in a continuing legal battle over a controversial Wisconsin law that eliminated collective bargaining rights for most local government and school workers, a state court judge Friday declared the law null and void. However, a spokeswoman for Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said the state…

Sep 14, 2012 10:44 PM CDT