Wisconsin Supreme Court Digest: Forest Fires and Financial Shenanigans

Heritage Farms v. Markel Insurance Company: After a burn pile started by Jeffrey Knaack got out of control in 2003, over 520 acres of land burned, causing extensive damage to Heritage Farms’ property. Wisconsin law allows property owners to recover double damages for property destroyed by forest fires caused by “willfulness, malice or negligence.” At issue in this case was whether the language in that double-damages statute require or merely permit a court to award double damages. The court, over a single dissent by Justice Bradley, determined that double damages are required.

Crown Castle USA v. Orion Construction Group: In the first 4-3 decision of the term, the Supreme Court held that an unrelated business cannot be compelled to testify in the supplemental hearing of another judgment debtor business.  Crown Castle won a $480,000 judgment against Orion Construction. When Crown Castle tried to collect the judgment, it learned that Orion Construction had no assets.  Crown Castle believed that Douglas Larson, Orion Construction’s owner, who also owned Orion Logistics, LLC, may have hidden Construction’s assets by transferring them to Logistics.  So Crown Castle tried to have the circuit court compel Larson to testify about Logistics’ assets.

The Supreme Court held that the judgment creditor (Crown Castle) had no power to compel Larson to do so, because the statutes only permit the creditor to question the business that actually incurred the debt (Construction), and not a wholly-separate company (Logistics).  Justices Abrahamson, Bradley, and Crooks dissented, believing such a result would allow debtors to fraudulently hide assets by transferring them to another company.