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Questions Answered by William F Sulton
1 Answer | Asked in Real Estate Law for Wisconsin on
Q: I accepted on offer on my condo and the buyer wants to back out and won't pay the earnest money - what should I do?

An offer was made, I countered, they accepted. We signed the contract that included earnest money. We even did an amendment for something they left out of their offer. Now, they didn't pay the earnest money, and sent a cancellation of the contract and don't want to pay. I countered... View More

William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Jun 15, 2017

You have a few options. You can sue the buyers for specific performance (that means forcing them to buy the house). You can sue the buyers for the earnest money.

You can put your house back on the market. If the selling price is less than before, you can sue the buyers for the difference...
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1 Answer | Asked in Civil Litigation and Real Estate Law for Wisconsin on
Q: We have just bought a home in Baraboo. The contract stated the sellers would have the house professionally cleaned.

At the pre-closing walk-through, it was obvious the cleaning had not occurred. Our realtor contacted the owners and the reply to our realtor via text messsage was "This certainly isn't personal but we aren't doing one more thing and are seriously considering talking to a lawyer about... View More

William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Jun 15, 2017

The short answer is yes. You can file a lawsuit to recover the cost of the cleaning. You should consider small claims court.

1 Answer | Asked in Employment Law for Wisconsin on
Q: Can I hire Employment Attorney from any location?

The employer sends the employee to various locations around the US to work with clients on a contractual basis. So the city the employee is located at is different from the Employer's city. If the employee wants to file a suit against the employer for wage & hour violations and... View More

William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on May 19, 2017

The suit should be filed in the employee's city: unless the employee believes that the city or state law where employer is, is more favorable than federal law. The employee may hire any attorney that is licensed to practice in jurisdiction where the action is filed. In some states, the law... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Employment Law for Wisconsin on
Q: Work paying me only $9hr when supposed to be making $11hr for last 6 months. Received no pay stubs to be alerted either.

I am 19 and I work at Buffalo Wild Wings where I have been for over a year. I started as a cashier making $9. But then I was asked if I wanted to be a cook instead and that they start at $11 an hour. I needed that extra money so I said yes and I've been working as a cook there for over 6... View More

William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on May 17, 2017

The short answer is yes. As long as you can show that the employer agreed to pay $11 per hour, you are entitled to that.

1 Answer | Asked in Criminal Law and Civil Rights for Wisconsin on
Q: I was arrested and brought to jail for a warrant I had already been to court and bailed out on! What can I do about it?
William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on May 17, 2017

Do you know whether the court cancelled the warrant? That is usually the case, of course. You should check the court file to make sure that the warrant was properly cancelled. If so, the arrest would be clearly unlawful--as opposed to accident because the clerk's office made a mistake. You may... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Civil Litigation and Domestic Violence for Wisconsin on
Q: my friend has a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend. she violated the order when he contacted her.

they have a child together and he keeps threatening to take her to court if she doesn't do what he says. is there anything that she can do?

William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on May 15, 2017

Your question is unclear. It sounds like a woman has a restraining order against a man. The restraining order prohibits the man from contacting the woman. The restraining order does not, however, prohibit the woman from contacting the man. As such, it follows that the man cannot "take her to... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Landlord - Tenant and Real Estate Law for Wisconsin on
Q: my LLC recently broke a lease with my landlord and we are being sued for unpaid rent and damages.

We didn't pay any rent because of disputes on a buildout that was done by the landlord prior to us moving into the space. we found out that the work had been done without the proper permits being obtained and no inspections being done. We were also not provided an occupancy permit upon moving... View More

William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on May 11, 2017

A lease is a contract. In general, non-performance entitles the other party to rescind the contract. Doing build-out work without permits is worse than non-performance, it is illegal. A party that acts unlawfully cannot come into court and ask for a legal remedy. You should consider counter-suing... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Real Estate Law for Wisconsin on
Q: About 9 years ago...our neighbor had his and our land resurveyed...according to his survey a substantial chunk (cont')

of our land was on his...At the time we were in no position financially to fight it now we are considering selling our home. is there a statute of limitations on real estate law and how come the title insurance we purchased with the house did not apply when we contacted the title company? What is... View More

William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on May 2, 2017

Your questions are more complicated than you probably intended. You do not have to accept the neighbor's survey. I am unable to determine, from the facts you provided, whether you signed anything waiving your right to challenge the survey. I am also unable to determine whether you made a claim... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Civil Rights and Criminal Law for Wisconsin on
Q: Can I video tape an officer who has stopped me
William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Apr 24, 2017

The short answer is yes.

1 Answer | Asked in Civil Rights, Constitutional Law and Criminal Law for Wisconsin on
Q: Can the police enter your home looking for someone that is not on your lease with a warrant for them by breaking it in
William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Apr 24, 2017

Your question is more complicated than you probably intended it to be. Police may use and act on false information. The real question is a quality of the false information. You should review the application for the warrant at the circuit court that issued the warrant. The application will show... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Civil Rights and Criminal Law for Wisconsin on
Q: Under what circumstances can a police officer require a drug test and can i refuse one in the state of WI
William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Apr 24, 2017

Police officers cannot impose drug tests unless there is a court order.

1 Answer | Asked in Civil Rights and Criminal Law for Wisconsin on
Q: Can a local police dept. eavesdrop on a citizen's wi-fi signal, eavesdrop and act on the gleaned information ?
William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Apr 24, 2017

The law requires a warrant first.

1 Answer | Asked in Civil Rights, Constitutional Law and Federal Crimes for Wisconsin on
Q: Is it legal to make a song about killing the president?

And if a disclaimer were used such as "I DO NOT MEAN ANY ACTUAL HARM ONTO THE PRESIDENT", would that suffice?

William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Apr 24, 2017

The short answer is yes. And you do not need a disclaimer. There are hundreds of songs about killing political figures. There is a different between artistry and threats. And there is a different between speech and true threats. I assume you fall squarely within the artistry and First Amendment... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Civil Rights, Juvenile Law and Criminal Law for Wisconsin on
Q: Can you Carry A karambit knife with a 3.5" blade and a 4" handle total of 7.5" long around in WI? Im not 18.
William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Apr 24, 2017

The short answer is yes. But you will need a permit if you want to conceal it. I should add that I am unaware of any current permit procedure for knifes. So you can only openly carry it at present. You also have to avoid certain places, like schools.

1 Answer | Asked in Family Law, Civil Rights and Libel & Slander for Wisconsin on
Q: Can a family member compel me to share a recording of a private conversation with a now deceased family member?

I have an audio recording of a private conversation with my father, shortly before his passing several years ago. This conversation contains content that may be embarrassing to me. Another family member would like to compel me to share that recording and is threatening to take legal action. Can... View More

William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Apr 24, 2017

Maybe. If the recording concerns the estate, it is probably discoverable. If not, then probably not. You can have the judge review the recording in camera (that means outside the presence of the parties to the case). That will solve the embarrassment concerns you have.

1 Answer | Asked in Civil Rights, Constitutional Law and Criminal Law for Wisconsin on
Q: Can a police officer hold a charge against you to make you be an informant
William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Apr 24, 2017

Police officers do not charge crimes, prosecuting attorneys do. Police officers do make criminal referrals to prosecuting attorneys. So I assume that is what you mean: the police officer is threatening to make a criminal referral unless you inform. And, yes, a police officer can do that.

1 Answer | Asked in Criminal Law and Civil Rights for Wisconsin on
Q: A police officer at my school asked me for my phone, I gave it to him not I'm trying to get it back how do I get it back
William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Apr 24, 2017

You should file a petition for the return of property with the local circuit court. There is no filing fee for this type of action.

1 Answer | Asked in Libel & Slander for Wisconsin on
Q: Is this libel? "I would hate to see Mulligan Restorations butcher your historic home the way he butchered mine."

The contractor has no credentials to substantiate his claim that he is an expert in historic restoration. 4 bona fide experts in historic restoration have assessed the work he did on my house and have provided me with written reports outlining the deficiencies in every part of his work. I sued the... View More

William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Apr 24, 2017

In order to prevail on a defamation claim (written defamation is called libel; verbal defamation is called slander), the statements have to be false. If the statements are true, then it is not defamation. However, you likely signed a settlement agreement that has confidentiality and... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Civil Litigation for Wisconsin on
Q: If a Large civil suit was filed while a small claim with similar claims in part was being heard

and the small claim was dismissed with prejudice then will that cause a loss of claims in the large case and attorney fund award for the large case

William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Apr 24, 2017

If the small claims case was dismissed with prejudice, the large claims case is likely frivolous.

1 Answer | Asked in Civil Litigation and Small Claims for Wisconsin on
Q: Verbal agreement with a coworker: I would pay $75 per month to be on his data plan. Can he sue me for overage fees?

I never agreed to pay for anything other than $75 per month. He complained about overage fees a couple of times but I never agreed to pay extra. Earlier this month he asked me to pay off the remaining amount due for my phone ($271) and get off his plan and on my own. We mutually agreed to do this... View More

William F Sulton
William F Sulton
answered on Apr 24, 2017

You should not be worried. The coworker could have avoided the overage fees by switching to plan that allowed for more data. You could also argue that the coworker caused the overages and breached the agreement by revoking your access.

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