No, Kirk Bangstad is not facing an arrest warrant

But court records show troubles for the Minocqua Brewing Company owner are mounting

News circulated recently about an arrest warrant issued for Kirk Bangstad — but that news appears to be false.

The Oneida County Court record has been amended to make it more clear: The arrest of Bangstad has been requested by an attorney in his defamation case, but no warrant has been issued, The Wausonian has confirmed. There is a hearing May 23 where that request will be discussed.

The Clerk of Courts in Oneida County Brenda Behrle confirmed to The Wausonian that no warrant has in fact been issued. Another source behind the scenes also confirmed the same to The Wausonian. That means several news stories published about a warrant being issued are false.

According to court records, Bangstad didn’t show up to court on Wednesday, which seems to be where all this started.

Bangstad owes $759,427.61, court records show, stemming from a defamation suit filed by Lakeland Times owner Gregg Walker in 2021. Minocqua Brewing Company itself owes $329,427.61, totaling $1,088,855.22. (Those include court costs awarded to Walker.)

That stems from a judgment in October 2023 against Bangstad because, the court found, Bangstad on his company’s Facebook page falsely accused Walker in his brother’s hunting accident when they were young, despite evidence showing that Walker was nowhere near the site of the accident or his brother at the time of his death.

Bangstad argued at the time that because Walker was a public figure, defamation shouldn’t apply to him and Bangstad ought to be immune from such a suit. A 13-person jury didn’t buy it and found in favor of Walker and awarded damages. He said media outlets that reported the results of the case were biased against him because they didn’t get his side (an odd statement, since that’s what the court case is for in the first place).

Bangstad is appealing the case, and fired his former law firm because he says they gave him a bad defense. Court records show he went through several attorneys in that case.

On April 16, Walker’s attorneys filed a motion seeking sanctions, seeking the court to hold Bangstad in contempt, and that an arrest warrant be issued for Bangstad. On April 17, court records seemed to indicate that a warrant for Bangstad’s arrest had been issued.

According to reporting by Channel 12, the language was clarified in the official record to show that an arrest warrant was only requested, but not granted. According to Bangstad, it’s because there wasn’t another option that could be chosen in the system.

Bangstad in a follow-up Facebook post said he was unaware until the last minute that he was to appear in court that day to give a deposition. (He says he planned to plead the Fifth Amendment to all questions.) Bangstad said in the Facebook post that he requested the hearing be held over Zoom, but that was denied. Bangstad was working in the Madison taproom he opened recently when he got a call from his attorney about the hearing. In an update added after the post, Bangstad says his attorney Fred Melms told Bangstad he’s not under arrest.

But there is more that hasn’t been reported yet.