Sign In
    Wisconsin Lawyer
    March 01, 2000

    Wisconsin Lawyer March 2000: Book Reviews

    Book Reviews

    This Month's Featured Selections


    Book: Wisconsin Law of Easements Wisconsin Law of Easements

    By Jesse S. Ishikawa
    (Madison, WI: State Bar CLE Books, 1999).
    185 pgs. $45.

    Reviewed by Clarence W. Malick

    Some books that begin with definitions never escape tedium, but not this one. I was fascinated and read through it in a single sitting. Of course, the seven chapters of actual text total just 73 pages. Still, I recall being befuddled after studying the topic back in law school. The subject is not trivial. Mr. Ishikawa has packaged clarity with interest.

    Chapter 1 begins with the author's definition of an easement: "a nonpossessory interest in land that gives the holder the right to use land owned by another for a specific use and without profit." The author then dissects each phrase, contrasts legal constructs which are not easements, and explicates the concepts of benefit versus burden and easements appurtenant versus easements in gross.

    Chapter 2 explains different ways that easements come into being - by deed, implication, necessity, prescription, and so on. Chapter 3 summarizes the rules of construction. Chapter 4 contains excellent drafting tips and refers to examples in the appendices. Chapter 5 discusses amendment and termination of easements. Chapter 6 discusses enforcement. Chapter 7 discusses how and why to use an owners' association to manage an easement that serves several owners.

    Organized in the manner of CLE books, this six-by-nine inch, paperbound book contains a six-page table of contents and five-page index that cite to section numbers. The first appendix reprints statutes. The other seven appendices are examples of typical easement documents. They are reproduced on a disk, which installed easily. The forms opened readily for me in WordPerfect 6.1, but the screen characters were truncated slightly in Word 97.

    Certainly anyone who styles himself or herself a real estate lawyer should own this book. Those who regularly draft or review utility easements, condominium declarations, and subdivision covenants ought to at least read it.

    Clarence W. "Buck" Malick, Harvard 1971, is the executive director of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission. He also practices in estate planning and real estate in Hudson Township.

    Leaving the Bench:
    Supreme Court Justices At the End

    By David N. Atkinson
    (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1999).
    248 pgs. $29.95.

    Reviewed by Michael B. Brennan

    When a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court leaves the bench can be as controversial as that justice's appointment. Leaving the Bench: Supreme Court Justices at the End describes when and how justices left the Court. It also considers the various reasons why justices left the office, including personal pride, party loyalty, and pensions. The book describes the physical and mental impairments of various justices in their last days, and the consequent impact on the Court's work. It also explores less obvious reasons for departing, including the threat of impeachment, ambition for another office, dissatisfaction or weariness with the work, and family pressure. This thin volume offers glimpses into the deaths, retirements, and resignations of each of the justices who have left the Court.

    The most interesting portions of Leaving the Bench are anecdotes about the departure of each justice. Chief Justice John Marshall died in office. In tolling his death, the Liberty Bell cracked, dramatically symbolizing the end of his contributions to our nation. Circuit riding duties actually killed certain justices. Justice Stephen Field held on through declining mental health and a game leg to break Chief Justice Marshall's longevity record on the Court. The other justices asked a mentally impaired Justice Joseph McKenna to retire. He relented eventually, but not before the Court had decided one year earlier that no case would be decided upon his vote. Even august Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was, at the age of 90, urged to resign by his colleagues. He did so, gracefully and at once.

    The book offers more details in the departures of more recent justices. Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone appeared healthy when he and his colleagues ascended the bench in April 1946 to deliver opinions. When it was his turn to deliver his opinions, though, there was silence. Justice Hugo Black quickly adjourned the Court, and he and Justice Stanley Reed carried the Chief Justice off of the bench. As Stone lay muttering incoherently, the Court reconvened quickly to issue the opinions that had been decided. "No one can cast a dead man's vote; the day's business could be concluded only while Stone still lived." He died three hours later. Justice Charles Whittaker left the Court after only five terms due to a nervous breakdown. His struggles with the issue of reapportionment in Baker v. Carr allegedly precipitated his final collapse. Justice William O. Douglas's infamous physical and mental deterioration are detailed. The rest of the Court, over Justice Byron White's written protest, would not allow Douglas's vote to decide any important issue in his last years. Also described are Justice Thurgood Marshall's final years before retirement, notwithstanding his oft-repeated refrain of "I have been appointed for a life term, and I intend to serve it."

    The author suggests certain reforms to prevent unseemly departures from the Court. The Court should be more forthcoming about the justices' health. Further, it should limit the influence of law clerks; the author believes their large role in the Court's work harms the institutional integrity of the Court's decisionmaking by propping up ill justices. Individual justices also should be sufficiently self-aware to leave the Court while still in good health.

    The strength of Leaving the Bench is not as a polemical work, however. Amending the Constitution to mandate a retirement age for the justices - one reform considered in the book - would only further politicize the Court as an institution. The book's strength is its historical detail and wealth of information about the justices. Ultimately, there is nothing other justices can do to remove a physically or mentally impaired colleague who is not amenable to peer group pressure and who has remained in office too long.

    Such is the price to pay for lifetime tenure, which, along with salary protection, aims to ensure judicial independence, essential to the maintenance of judicial review, a guarantor of the continuing integrity of constitutional freedoms.

    Michael B. Brennan, Northwestern 1989, is a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge.

    Emergency Vehicle Accidents, Prevention & Reconstruction

    By Stephen S. Solomon
    (Tucson, AZ: Lawyers & Judges Publishing Co., 1999).
    304 pgs. $79.

    Reviewed by Dennis Verhaagh

    In their practices, personal injury lawyers occasionally and municipal lawyers frequently encounter accidents involving emergency vehicles. For the lawyer or engineer investigating such accidents, Emergency Vehicle Accidents is a good source of case law, technical insight, vehicle specifications, and industry standards.

    The author is an optometrist and consultant on issues of visual perception. From that perspective, he devotes chapters to perception of emergency signals, both visual and audible, accident reconstruction, and case examples. Contributing authors devote chapters to the legalities involved in police chases, the defense of governmental immunity, and the responsibilities of emergency medical personnel. The last half of the book contains appendices setting forth federal specifications for emergency vehicles. The citations on governmental liability in police chases are worth the book's price.

    Given the nature of emergency vehicles, speed and lookout usually are principal contributing causes of their accidents. The author provides the usual skid mark charts to estimate speed. However, photogrammetric reconstruction and video reenactment are the new tools of the reconstructionist, and the text would have benefited greatly if a chapter had been devoted to their uses as visual aids for the jury on the issue of lookout. Nevertheless, I would recommend the book to any lawyer for discovery purposes when litigating these cases.

    Dennis Verhaagh, Minnesota 1972, practices patent law in Green Bay. He is an environmental engineer with the Wisconsin DNR and has testified as an accident reconstruction engineer in both criminal and civil cases.


    Intent to   Kill With Intent to Kill

    By Nancy Kopp
    (New York, NY: Signet/Penguin Group, 1998).
    Novel. 384 pgs. $5.59.

    Reviewed by Patricia L. Grove

    The cover of Nancy Kopp's novel touts the book as "electrifying legal suspense!" I put this to the test by reading it at Disney World. The result: a page-turner from beginning to end, with engrossing characters, snappy dialogue, and intriguing legal drama.

    The story unfolds in Oakwood, Wis., a picturesque town where murder just doesn't happen. Detective Jeff Gardner is summoned to investigate the brutal slaying of 4-year-old Jeremy Barker, son of Oakwood's most prominent widower, Tom Barker. Gardner joins forces in his investigation of the slaying with Liz Stanfeld, Oakwood's attractive assistant district attorney, herself a prominent resident due, in large part, to a recent and lucrative divorce settlement.

    After her divorce, Stanfeld left Milwaukee's largest law firm, moved to Oakwood to simplify her life, and joined the D.A.'s Office. With her considerable trial experience, Stanfeld is tapped by the D.A., who is seeking to become the next U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and with whom Stanfeld has become romantically involved, to prosecute this high-profile murder.

    Gardner and Stanfeld square off in a comical but trite "cops versus lawyers" pursuit of whodunit. Initially, Stanfeld is bothered by Gardner's investigative techniques, and the two are frequently at odds over who and how to investigate. Kopp's amusing, clever dialogue breathes life into the characters.

    The investigation turns to the usual suspect, a ne'er-do-well whose glasses were found at the crime scene, and whose alibi leaks. Stanfeld considers him the prime suspect. Gardner disagrees and their difference in perspective contributes to animosity between the police and the D.A.'s Office.

    As the novel progresses, a subplot involves the growing personal interest between Stanfeld and Tom Barker. Kopp handles this relationship skillfully, with the result that readers care whether their professional relationship develops into a personal one.

    Meanwhile, Gardner continues the investigation by interviewing virtually every town resident, including children, to uncover a lead. Two teenage boys, sons of prominent families, become prime suspects. Oakwood rallies to support the two unlikely young killers, chastising both the police department and the D.A. for their seemingly politically incorrect arrests.

    Kopp skillfully details the extreme contrast in characters of the two suspects. One is shy, inarticulate, and clearly in over his head. The other is self-assured, charismatic, and has an I.Q. of 150. Gardner is convinced the second suspect is truly evil but his investigation turns up nothing but accolades for the teen - until Gardner locates a former teacher. The teacher, of course, has personal baggage that Stanfeld fears may make him a cross-examiner's dream.

    The suspect's family hires a high-powered attorney to square off against Stanfeld. The legal maneuvering that follows is absorbing, thanks to the fact that Kopp is an attorney herself. As the tension mounts to bring the suspects to justice, Stanfeld and Gardner become allies in pursuit of meeting the burden of proof. Stanfeld comes to admire Gardner for his tenacity, and Gardner grows to respect Stanfeld for her legal talents and mental toughness in pursuing an unpopular conviction in the midst of a hostile community.

    Stanfeld and Gardner need a break to find some evidence to crack the case in this seemingly uphill legal battle. You will have to read the book to discover how the case and relationships turn out. Kopp has woven a neat legal thriller that one would expect to unfold on the big screen.

    Patricia L. Grove, Tulsa 1981, practices with Halling & Cayo S.C., Milwaukee.

    Wisconsin Insurance Law, 4th Edition

    By Arnold P. Anderson
    (Madison, WI: APA Publishing, 1998).
    941 pgs. $245. To order, (877) 757-2528.

    Reviewed by Claude J. Covelli

    I have been practicing insurance law in Wisconsin since 1973 and, for most of my career, I have relied upon Arnold Anderson's prior editions of Wisconsin Insurance Law as a quick, thorough, and authoritative reference. The fourth edition of the text is a comprehensive resource on the broad topic of insurance. The subjects covered include the construction of insurance contracts, automobile liability, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages, general liability coverages, fire and property coverages, the insurer's duty to defend, first party and third party bad faith issues, the responsibilities of insurers and insureds, subrogation, and the responsibilities of insurance agents.

    This book has the advantage of being written by an experienced Wisconsin insurance litigator. This has enabled Anderson to place new developments in Wisconsin law in the context of what has gone before. The law applied in Wisconsin can be found quickly and directly. While the law of other states is set forth to the extent needed to explain Wisconsin law, the law of other jurisdictions does not interfere with the book's primary focus as a Wisconsin reference.

    The fourth edition looks different from the third. Although bearing the same title and red cover, the fourth edition is larger and more comprehensive. It has a looseleaf rather than a bound-book format. This will make updating the book easier, as I found the pocket parts for former editions almost as large as the book itself.

    When I first began using the fourth edition, I was concerned that I might have lost an old friend. However, now that I have used it for several months and have had an opportunity to consult each chapter in my day-to-day practice, I have found that the fourth edition kept the best and improved the rest. The general organization of the book is unchanged, though some topics are expanded and rearranged within chapters. Prior experience locating information in past editions serves me well; I can locate information as quickly and efficiently as I did with prior editions.

    Most important, it is unusual to have an insurance question that Wisconsin Insurance Law does not address. The book covers nearly every insurance issue faced in day-to-day practice. The coverage issues are well-defined and then clearly answered with citation to the most recent controlling Wisconsin cases. This, coupled with Anderson's clear, concise, and easy-to-read writing style, makes his book the definitive source on Wisconsin insurance law. I recommend it to all practitioners, both experienced and less experienced. I believe Anderson's Wisconsin Insurance Law should be in everyone's library, except of course those of my opponents. I still need every advantage I can get.

    Wisconsin Lawyer


Join the conversation! Log in to comment.

News & Pubs Search

-
Format: MM/DD/YYYY