In addition to providing real estate opinions, members of
Reinhart's Real Estate Opinion Team are also fortunate to be
called upon regularly to tailor loan documents prepared by
out-of-state clients and their principal attorneys to fit with the
peculiarities of Wisconsin law. In providing that service, one of
the issues that crops up fairly regularly involves the use of the
term "gross negligence." In contrast to other states,
Wisconsin courts have not recognized a distinction between simple
and gross negligence since 1962, when the Wisconsin Supreme Court
effectively abolished the concept of "gross negligence"
in Bielski v. Schulze, 16 Wis. 2d 1, 14-19 (1962).
As a result, in our capacity as local counsel, we frequently
suggest replacing the term "gross negligence" with
something more appropriate, such as "recklessness." For
example, we recently modified an exception to the borrower's
indemnity provision in an out-of-state client's draft loan
agreement to swap
