In 2017, the Wisconsin Supreme Court adopted a new class action
rule, modeled after Fed. R. Civ. P. 23, with the avowed purpose of
aligning state class-action practice with the federal practice and
encouraging resort to the body of case law interpreting the federal
rule.
In the first published appellate opinion of which I’m
aware that undertakes that charge, written by Judge Kitty Brennan
of District I, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals affirmed
certification of a class of persons claiming that they had been
overcharged by a hospital for copies of their medical
records. The decision is Harwood v. Wheaton Franciscan Servs.,
Inc., No. 2018 AP 1836. The case provides a good
road map through the class-certification requirements.
