Legal News & Trends

Supreme Court, Director of State Courts,
and State Law Library move - temporarily

The Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Director of State Courts Office moved out of the Capitol in mid-July to make way for restoration and renovation of the Capitol's east wing. They are now at 119 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. on the capitol square, where they will remain until 2001. The mailing address remains the same - P.O. Box 1688, Madison, WI 53701-1688. All telephone and fax numbers and email addresses are unchanged.

The Wisconsin State Law Library moved in mid-September. Because the library's temporary space - in the One East Main building on the capitol square - will not be ready until Nov. 1 at the earliest, temporary measures have been implemented:

• In-person and telephone reference services are available at the Dane County Law Library, 315 City-County Bldg., 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Hours of operation are 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

• The library's collection will remain in the Capitol, inaccessible to the public, until the temporary space is available. The Dane County Law Library maintains a complete Wisconsin and federal collection. The State Law Library will continue to operate a daily scheduled service for other needed materials, including regional reporters, journals, and other state materials; these materials will be available at the Dane County Law Library. The library also will continue to operate the document delivery service.

• Call in advance to request materials and other services. The library's phone and fax numbers remain the same: (608) 267-9696 or (800) 322-9755 for reference assistance and document delivery; (608) 266-1600 for general library information; and (608) 267-2319 for fax. The library's mailing address - P.O. Box 7881, Madison, WI 53701-7881 - also remains the same.

In late April, state officials approved plans for a $35.8 million, eight-story justice center on the capitol square that will house the Law Library, Department of Justice, and other offices. Construction should be completed by August 2001.

CLE reporting deadline is Dec. 31

If you were admitted to practice in an odd-numbered year, you should have received the 1998-99 CLE Form 1, the biennial continuing legal education reporting form. All active Wisconsin-licensed attorneys are required by SCR 31.03 to file this form with the Board of Bar Examiners (BBE). The filing deadline is Dec. 31, 1999. If you were admitted to practice in 1999, however, you will not need to report until 2001.

Be sure to verify your address on the form and contact Denise Dettor at the State Bar at (608) 250-6119 or (800) 444-9404, ext. 6119, if it is incorrect. In addition, be sure to provide all the requested information. The BBE audits the forms in the order received and will communicate directly with lawyers about incomplete or incorrect forms. If you do not report accurately, and must correct your form after the filing deadline, you will be assessed a $50 late fee. If you are concerned about whether the BBE received your CLE Form 1, the BBE's mailing also included a postcard that can be self-addressed, stamped, and sent to the BBE. The BBE will return the card showing the date on which your form was received.

To verify a course title, date, location, sponsor name, or credit amount, consult the Wisconsin Supreme Court Web site.

Federal Y2K liability legislation enacted

Despite threatening to veto Y2K liability legislation approved by Congress, President Clinton signed compromise legislation into law on July 20 (Public Law 106-37). The new law limits the liability of companies that do not adequately address issues resulting from the Y2K computer problem.

In the final compromise, damage caps are set at $250,000 or three times compensatory damages, whichever is less, and apply to actions against businesses with fewer than 50 full-time employees and individuals with a net worth of $500,000 or less. In general, the new law also limits defendants' liability in a Y2K action to their proportional share of damages. In its goal of encouraging remediation over litigation, the new law also creates a "prelitigation notice" requirement for Y2K issues. The provision creates a grace period that prospective defendants can use to fix Y2K problems before a prospective plaintiff can proceed with litigation. The new law generally applies to Y2K actions brought after Jan. 1, 1999; for Y2K failures occurring before Jan. 1, 2003; or for Y2K failures that could occur or have allegedly caused harm or injury prior to Jan. 1, 2003.