Below is a listing of WCJC’s major initiatives. Visit each Key Issue area below for additional links to legislation, analysis, and position papers, along with other pertinent documents.

Go to our Media Center page for WCJC press releases, editorials and op-ed pieces. For questions regarding these initiatives, contact Robert Fassbender or Andrew Cook or call: 608.661.9166.

Advocacy & Policy Development

The bills listed below are ones WCJC actively lobbied for or against, and additional information and analysis is provided. WCJC’s Tracking Report, prepared by the Hamilton Consulting Group, provides a list of all bills of interest to WCJC.

Advocacy

2011-2012 Legislative Session Regular Session

September 2011 Special Session

  • Factors Determining Reasonable Attorney Fees
    • This bill sets forth a number of criteria courts are to consider when awarding attorneys’ fees in fee-shifting cases. The bill also sets a rebuttable presumption that attorneys’ fees are no more than three times compensatory damages. The bill already passed the Senate last week (17-15) and the Assembly last night (55-39). The bill is headed to the Governor for his signature.
    • Special Session AB 12
  • Trespasser Responsibility Act
    • This bill codifies current law is it relates to the duty of care owed to a trespasser by a possessor of land. The purpose of the bill is to prevent the courts from adopting the new Restatement (Third) of Torts, which expands the duty of care owed to trespassers and exposing possessors of land to greater liability. The bill passed in the Senate on a voice vote and 80-15 in the Assembly. The bill is headed to the Governor for his signature.
    • Special Session AB 22/SB 22
    • WCJC Fact Sheet
  • Setting Reasonable Interest on Judgments
    • On November 16, Governor Walker signed Special Session Senate Bill 14 into law. The new law changes Wisconsin’s pre- and post-judgment interest from 12 percent – the highest in the nation – to the Federal Reserve prime rate plus one percent. The final bill included amendments that apply the interest on judgments to all cases – not just tort law-, and set the rate twice a year (January 1 and July 1).
    • Special Session Assembly Bill 14/Senate Bill 14
    • WCJC Fact Sheet

January 2011 Special Session

Governor Scott Walker proclaimed on election night that “Wisconsin is open for business.” In order to move forward on this commitment, Gov. Walker called a Special Session of the Legislature on Inauguration Day, January 3, 2011, for the purpose of advancing a legislative package aimed at improving the economy and creating jobs.

The first initiative advanced as part of the Special Session was Special Session Senate/Assembly Bill 1 containing a suite of legal reforms. These landmark reforms were for the most part drafted in prior sessions by WCJC consultants and members to address major deficient in existing Wisconsin law, many of which were needed to address flawed court decisions.

WCJC and allies were not only successful in advancing this bill, which became the second piece of legislation (2011 Wis. Act 2) signed into law in Governor Walker’s Special Session, but WCJC was successful in defeating every amendment offered with the attempt to weaken the bill. The new law will protect businesses and others from lawsuits, create jobs and truly demonstrate that Wisconsin is “open for business.”

The following reforms were signed into law as 2011 Wisconsin Act 2:

  • Adoption of more reasonable product liability standards for manufacturers and sellers.
  • Elimination of the deeply flawed “risk contribution” theory in manufacturing lawsuits.
  • Adoption of sound science principles (Daubert principles).
  • Limits on punitive damages.
  • Sanctions on frivolous lawsuits.

This memorandum provides an overview of the significant changes instituted by Act 2 to Wisconsin’s civil liability law in areas of product liability, expert witness testimony, risk contribution, frivolous law suits, punitive damages, and health care quality improvement programs. Additional information on the January 2011 Special Session is available on our issue page.

Policy Development

Daubert Comes to Wisconsin — CLE Summit on Expert Opinion One of the most important pieces of legislation supported by the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council earlier this year was the adoption of the Daubert standards for the admission of expert opinion evidence, bringing Wisconsin in line with the entire federal system and a majority of states. A comprehensive understanding of decisions and trends from other jurisdictions will be critical for Wisconsin lawyers as the standards are implemented in Wisconsin. In an effort to educate the legal community on these important new standards, WCJC organized and hosted Daubert Comes to Wisconsin – A CLE Summit on Expert Opinion Evidence on January 11, 2012.

Andrew Cook, Legislative Director of the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council and a lobbyist and attorney with the Hamilton Consulting Group, was asked to present his paper Fairly Allotting Liability Among Defendants at the August 2 meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council in New Orleans.

WCJC Appellate Program

WCJC’s Appellate Program includes various initiatives important to maintaining a business friendly judicial climate. These efforts include:

  • Establishing a WCJC Appellate Committee consisting of legal experts employed by Board members, as well as attorney Board members, to provide input and oversight.
  • WCJC is sponsoring the Great Lakes Legal Foundation’s Wisconsin Court Watch. The Court Watch reviews Wisconsin Court of Appeals and Supreme Court decisions and highlights cases affecting Wisconsin’s business climate.

As needed, the WCJC Appellate Committee will determine it is appropriate to file amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. These briefs are prepared by Great Lakes Legal Foundation lawyers or outside counsel under our supervision.

To date, WCJC has filed amicus briefs in three Wisconsin Supreme Court cases:

  • MercyCare Ins. Co. et al. v. Wis. Commissioner of Ins. – WCJC argued this case was an opportunity to clarify the appropriate deference courts should give to statutory interpretations by state agencies. In reaching its decision, the court applied due weight deference to the Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance’s decision, reestablishing the varying standards of review the lower court had ignored.
  • Casper, et al. v. American Int. South Ins. Co., et al. – A significant decision dealing with the liability of corporate officers for non-intentional torts and default judgments. The Great Lakes Legal Foundation lawyers, on behalf of WCJC, supervised the filing of WCJC’s brief by outside counsel in support of the employer and insurance company sued in the case.
  • Rasmussen, et al. v. General Motors Corp., et al. – The issue before the Wisconsin Supreme Court was whether Wisconsin’s personal jurisdiction statute, Wis. Stat. § 801.05, allows for general or specific jurisdiction over a foreign parent corporation based on an agency theory. WCJC’s brief attempted to persuade the court to maintain the distinction between parent and subsidiary corporations which limits personal jurisdiction.

Judicial Evaluation

Wisconsin at a Crossroads: 2011 Guide to the Wisconsin Supreme Court

The power of the Wisconsin Supreme Court to impact individuals and businesses can equal or exceed that of the Legislature or the Governor. Yet, few people understand who the Justices are and how their decisions shape our lives and economy.

The Wisconsin Civil Justice Council (WCJC) has undertaken a biennial Judicial Evaluation of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Our purpose is to educate WCJC’s members and the public by providing a summary of the most important decisions issued by the Court which have had an effect on Wisconsin’s business climate and to identify trends in how individual Justices voted. Click here to view our overview, analysis and all related information on the Judicial Evaluation.

Special Legislative Committee Studies Judicial Discipline and Recusal

The Wisconsin Supreme Court in the 2009-10 term issued a number of controversial decisions, two of which had to do with how the Court itself operates and how justices are disciplined.

Archive

2009-2010 Legislative Session Archives

Donate

To continue WCJC’s mission of promoting fairness and equity in Wisconsin’s civil justice system, it will take substantial resources. Please consider making a contribution to the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council, Inc.