By: Daniel A. Kaminsky On March 23, 2020, the City of Milwaukee Health Department published the Order of the City of Milwaukee Commissioner of Health Imposing A City-Wide “Stay-At-Home” Requirement To Mitigate The Spread of COVID-19 (the “City of Milwaukee Order”)[1]. On March 24, 2020, the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services...
By: Sherry D. Coley and Tiffany E. Woelfel As more tenants, both residential and commercial, face financial difficulties during the COVID-19 crisis, landlords should try to work with tenants and consider creative options since traditional remedies, such as evictions, are unavailable and may remain so for some time. On March 18, 2020, Milwaukee...
By: Joseph E. Tierney IV Update: The Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) issued emergency guidance on remote notarizations last week. Such emergency guidance referenced certain types of estate planning documents and included citations to state statutes addressing certain types of estate planning documents. The Department has reconsidered...
By: Daniel A. Kaminsky and Alexander T. Kay In the coming days, weeks, and months, it is likely that we will see failures to perform under contracts that are related to COVID-19 (e.g., failures to perform arising out of the ongoing temporary closures of businesses and institutions across the State of Wisconsin, the United States of America, and...
By: Ethan C. Geis and Mike T. Van Someren The COVID-19 virus is having negative effects on many aspects of life in the world, not least including economics close to home. Unfortunately, commercial real estate and capital markets are not immune to these effects. In light of the modern real estate investment, which almost always includes a...
By: Joseph S. Heino and Ryan M. Spott In what could be considered an unusual extension of protections given to works of artistic expression, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an opinion affirming the value of certain street art – also known as graffiti. Castillo v. G&M Realty L.P., No. 18-498-CV, 2020 WL 826392 (2d Cir. Feb. 20,...
By: Joseph E. Tierney IV and Lawrence J. Glusman Governor Evers signed AB 293 today which permits parties in Wisconsin to allow the performance of notarial acts via audio-visual technology[1] for remotely located individuals. In other words, a notary public in Wisconsin does not need to be in the same room as the person for whom they are...
By: Michael Van Someren & Danielle Snyder Fadel A 1031 Tax-Deferred Exchange (“§ 1031 Exchange”) is an extremely useful tax strategy for taxpayers that maintain real property for productive use in trade, business or for investment. It allows a taxpayer to defer payment of capital gains tax on investment properties that are sold. A taxpayer...
By: Michael Van Someren and Joseph E. Tierney IV On December 18, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a proposed amendment to 17 CFR Parts 230 and 240 that would expand the definition of “accredited investor” in the U.S. securities laws, which can be found here. This expanded definition has the potential to have a profound...
Under current Wisconsin law, a property owner is generally liable for contamination regardless of when the pollution occurred and regardless of who caused the contamination. There are some limited exceptions for qualifying local governments, lenders, impacted neighbors and persons who obtain what is known as a Voluntary Party Liability...
