Marathon County Full Court Press

Marathon County Court filings for the month of June

We’re debuting out a brand new feature on The Wausonian: The Full Court Press. We dig through Marathon County Circuit Court filings to find the most interesting lawsuits, construction liens and other notable court filings.

For now, the main focus is on civil cases and construction liens, along with some updates on cases we are following. It’ll likely evolve over time.

Marathon Wind vs Towns of Brighton, Eau Claire

A wind farm looking to set up shop in Marathon County is suing two of its townships. 

Marathon Wind filed a lawsuit last month in Marathon County Circuit Court challenging the towns of Brighton and Eau Pleine over ordinances they made placing restrictions on the potential farms. 

According to the suit, Marathon Wind set up deals with 65 landowners in the two towns to lease a total of 1,200 acres. On that land the company plans to build a 99-megawatt wind turbine farm in those towns. Marathon Wind began developing plans for the wind farm in 2017 and notified the townships of Brighton and Eau Pleine in 2019. 

But last year the two townships passed ordinances that placed restrictions on the wind farm, including setting maximum decibel levels to reduce noise. Marathon Wind says the law doesn’t permit those restrictions and that the company has already spent $5 million on its project. 

Prior to the suit, Marathon Wind sent letters to the towns seeking to resolve the issues outside of court, according to copies of those letters filed as part of the case.

The suit looks to nullify the ordinance and seeks its costs reimbursed.

Suing Granite Peak

A woman is suing Granite Peak Ski Area after she says she fell off the magic carpet (otherwise referred to as the snow carpet) and into a pit. According to the lawsuit, the woman was pregnant at the time and was riding the snow carpet when she realized there was a giant pit four feet wide and 20 feet deep at the end of the carpet. According to the suit, she pushed her young son off of the carpet to prevent him from falling into the pit, but in doing so, fell into the pit herself.

Granite Peak responded to the suit, saying she and her son were not legally on the carpet and that she was in fact negligent in the incident, not Granite Peak.

Marshfield Clinic vs. Weston

Marshfield Clinic filed a lawsuit against the village of Weston for taxing its Weston properties. According to the lawsuit, the clinic says two of its properties were assessed at $15.7 million and $28.7 million, for which it received tax bills of $373,000 and $679,000. The medical group says those properties should be tax-exempt.

The village responded that the taxes came as the result of an agreement with the clinic that had them paying taxes on those properties. The village accused the clinic of changing the name of the properties to avoid paying taxes.

The clinic in a response filing denies this.

State vs. former Weston clerk

Nearly a year and a half ago, the village of Weston fired its utility clerk after a financial audit found she had stolen money. Details were sparse and criminal charges never seemed to materialize.

That changed earlier this month when prosecutors filed a case with five charges of fraud. And the criminal complaint reveals more details about what was going on.

According to the complaint, Coleman as utility clerk was taking customer payments and using them to credit her and other family members’ accounts. The village’s finance director told investigators they suspect she was stealing between $600 and $700 per month in this fashion, the complaint says.

In total, village officials estimate she stole more than $21,000.

According to the criminal complaint, Coleman offered to make a deal with the village to pay back the money if they agreed not to press charges, but the village instead wanted an investigation.

Charneski vs Kronenwetter update

There isn’t a huge update to the case in which Village Board Member Ken Charneski is suing the village of Kronenwetter for, primarily, not releasing upon request attorney bills to the village.

In the suit, Charneski named former interim director Kim Manley, village clerk Bobbi Jo Birk-LaBarge and contracted village attorney Lee Turonie. A judge in the case approved removing Turonie since, as a private actor and not a government official, he is not subject to open records requests.

Turonie recently filed a list of his costs, which Charneski could be liable for. That ended up totaling about $100. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 30.

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