This week, Gov. Scott Walker signed Act 235, which contains a number of important civil litigation reforms, including discovery and class action rules. This major legislation will significantly reduce the cost of litigation for Wisconsin businesses.

Common-sense reforms under Act 235 will:

• Prevent litigants from abusing the discovery process to leverage a higher potential settlement or engage in a “fishing expedition.”
• Allow parties to appeal a trial court’s decision to certify a class in a class action lawsuit.
• Lower the statute of limitations for a number of claims.
• Prohibit the Department of Revenue from entering into a contract that includes contingency fee audits for any company domiciled in the state or that maintains its principal place of business in the state. Working under contingency fee arrangements incentivizes aggressive approaches to audits that unfairly increase costs for businesses in Wisconsin.
• Require notice of third-party litigation financing. Such third-party finance can increase the cost of litigation and cause suits to be brought that would not otherwise have been financially justified. Wisconsin will become one of the first states in the nation to require mandatory disclosure of third party litigation financing.

“Act 235 is a major victory for small to large Wisconsin businesses and will greatly reduce the cost of litigation. The legislation brings Wisconsin in line with the vast majority of other states when it comes to its discovery procedures and class action rules. WCJC thanks Gov. Walker and the bill authors, Sens. Tom Tiffany and Dave Craig and Reps. Mark Born and John Nygren,” said Bill G. Smith, president of the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council and state director for National Federation of Independent Business-Wisconsin.

For more information on Act 235, please visit the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council website.