Supreme Court Revamps Rules Regarding Frivolous Lawsuit
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has granted a petition to repeal the "frivolous claim" statute, Wis. Stat. sec. 814.025 and modify sec. 802.05 to conform to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
The court split 4-3. The dissenters considered this to involve changes in substantive law beyond the court's power under sec. 751.12 and Wisconsin Constitution Art. VII.
Because this was a rules petition rather than an appeal, there was an unusual factual record. Justice Roggensack in her dissent noted an objection to the petition from former Assembly member Thomas S. Hanson who authored the bill which became sec. 814.025. His submission included a statement that some of the changes "...are clearly contrary to what I intended when we passed sec. 814.025." (That "I" and "we" sure raise a question of just what constitutes legislative intent.)
The court split 4-3. The dissenters considered this to involve changes in substantive law beyond the court's power under sec. 751.12 and Wisconsin Constitution Art. VII.
Because this was a rules petition rather than an appeal, there was an unusual factual record. Justice Roggensack in her dissent noted an objection to the petition from former Assembly member Thomas S. Hanson who authored the bill which became sec. 814.025. His submission included a statement that some of the changes "...are clearly contrary to what I intended when we passed sec. 814.025." (That "I" and "we" sure raise a question of just what constitutes legislative intent.)
posted by Terrence Berres at 1:15 PM
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