Foxconn Deal Tips the Scales of Justice

Photo of the front of the building that houses the U.S. Supreme Court, with an inscription above th doorway that reads "equal justice under the law."

The following opinion piece appears in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 

Our system of justice rests upon two pillars: equal treatment and independent judgment.  Every person who appears before our state courts expects to be treated equally to every other litigant.  In addition, every party to a lawsuit expects to have his case heard by a judge who is free to exercise their own independent judgment.  Recently, the state legislature in Madison and Governor Walker approved legislation – a $3 billion package luring Foxconn Technology Group to build a flat-screen TV factory in Racine County — that seriously undermines these two fundamental principles.

The principle of equal treatment commands that the same rules should apply to all parties appearing before the court.  No one should receive special status.  It is true that the two sides in a case might not be evenly matched, and that one might have more financial resources or a more skilled legal team.  But, even then, both parties in the case should be subject to the same set of laws and procedures, and have the same opportunity to argue that the law supports their claim.

The Foxconn legislation creates special treatment for Foxconn whenever that corporation is sued in Wisconsin courts.  The law forces the Wisconsin Supreme Court to directly take appeals involving “Electronics and Information Technology Manufacturing Zones” (EITM) from the circuit courts. By law there is only one such zone, and that zone is home to Foxconn. Typically, the high court would hear appeals at their discretion, and then only after the case was heard by an intermediate court.  The reason for placing cases involving Foxconn on a “fast-track” to the Wisconsin Supreme Court should be obvious.  That Court currently boasts a majority of Justices who were elected with the financial support of Wisconsin’s largest trade and manufacturing lobbyists.  The drafters of the legislation expect these Justices to be sympathetic to the concerns of manufacturers like Foxconn.

We expect our state court judges to be free to exercise their independent judgment when deciding the merits of a case.  It is the trial judge that hears the facts and the evidence, and who determines the appropriate remedy should the plaintiff prevail.  It is not the state legislature’s job to decide which party in a case should win, or what remedy should be imposed in an individual case.

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Our Guest Bloggers for November

There is frost on the pumpkin, so it must be time to welcome our guest bloggers for the month of November.

Our Alumni Blogger of the Month is Stacy Alexejun.  Stacy is a litigation attorney in the Madison office of Quarles & Brady LLP.  She focuses her practice on product liability defense and intellectual property litigation, with an emphasis in trademark, trade secret, copyright, and unfair competition matters.  Before joining Quarles, Stacy clerked for three terms for Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  She is a 2009 graduate of Marquette University Law School and has a B.A. in English from the University of Wisconsin.  She and her husband Brad have a 20-month-old daughter, Lucille.

Our Student Blogger of the Month is Samantha Feak.  Samantha is originally from Sagola, Michigan.  She attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and graduated with a degree in international politics and U.S. foreign relations.  She served as a Summer Law Fellow at the Milwaukee Justice Center and has been active in both the American Association for Justice and the Wisconsin Association for Justice.

Welcome and we look forward to your posts!

 

 

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Entrepreneurs Say They’re Bullish on Milwaukee, But Startup Scene Needs More

Just the fact that the second annual Startup Week Milwaukee will begin on Monday, Nov. 6, along with the first Startup Week Wisconsin (with programs in nine cities, plus Milwaukee), says that there is increasing energy and importance attached to launching businesses and encouraging entrepreneurs here.

At least business start-ups are creating more buzz around Wisconsin these days than they did for many years.

But there is a lot to be done to make the entrepreneurial climate comparable to that of some other places. In recent years, both Milwaukee and Wisconsin have been near the bottom of rankings for business startups.

Thoughts on both the increased momentum for startups and what needs to be done to move things farther were offered Thursday in an “On the Issue with Mike Gousha” program at the Lubar Center in Eckstein Hall. Three entrepreneurs involved in startups in the Milwaukee area described evidence that the landscape is improving. They said they expect that by several years from now, the rankings for Milwaukee and Wisconsin will be more encouraging.

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