Motion to Dismiss Ignored by Municipal Court

https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/authorized/does-sec--802-06-4--wis-stats-apply-to-pre-trial-m-4942019.html?answered=true

 Does sec. 802.06(4) Wis Stats apply to pre-trial motion challenging personal jurisdiction in Wisconsin municipal courts?    Some 100+ days prior to scheduled trial in a Wisconsin municipal court, I filed pretrial motion challenging personal jurisdiction. The court ignored my motion - never called for hearing, never issued any finding - but instead proceeded through trial and to guilty verdict.  It seems to me the judgment at trial is void, ab initio, for the court's failure to ever hear and/or decide my jurisdictional challenge. Further, failing to enter a decision on my challenge, I have been denied my due process right of review/appeal of said finding. Does 802.06(4) control the municipal court in such challenges? It is not clear to me that chapter 801 onward apply to chapter 800 governing municipal court. Any advice/insights?

Answer by Atty. Jay K. Nixon, criminal lawyer with offices in Kenosha & Janesville, WI

In WI, municipal courts on not considered courts "of record."  Although they are permitted by law and often have excellent judges, because of the fact that they are not considered courts of record, everyone has a right to a de novo appeal of their rulings in the circuit court system, since those are courts "of record."  If you are unhappy with your municipal court ruling(s) you should therefore retain a lawyer to start over for you to see if you can get it right on the 2^nd try.   In either court, however, pro se "motions" not properly prepared, filed or served may legally be ignored by the court.  You should therefore not be surprised by your outcome if you were trying to do this pro se.  Either way, however, you should think long and hard about whether or not you want to switch to a court of record if you are not already in one, since "of record," includes a public record on CCAP which is available to anyone in the world with web access with only a few clicks of a mouse.  While certain larger city municipal courts have their own public websites, many in the eastern part of WI tend not to post all their court data online.  Milwaukee is an exception, but its public website is not nearly as "wide open," as CCAP.  In Western WI, however, many municipalities use the circuit court system, which puts their records on CCAP, just like WI circuit courts' records. Either way, we all wish you better luck the next time, but since “wishing” is not a strategy, you should really consider retaining counsel next time if you want a better outcome.