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Case Results
Family Dollar vs. City of Milwaukee
GRGB Attorney Josh Gimbel and Family Dollar Beat City In Court
Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown, LLP Partner Josh Gimbel obtained a highly successful outcome for the firm’s client, Family Dollar Stores of Wisconsin LLC, from the Wisconsin Court of Appeals District I.
The Court of Appeals overturned a City of Milwaukee attempt to shutdown a Family Dollar store near 27th and Kilbourn which is in a predominantly low income neighborhood and serves many people who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”) benefits. The Court ruled that the City denied Family Dollar its due process rights by providing insufficient notice of the alleged basis for the license denial and the failure to hold a “fair and impartial hearing” before the City’s Licensing Committee. The Court also ruled that the City’s decision was “arbitrary, representing its will rather than its judgment” since many other similar licensees were renewed or temporarily suspended for much more egregious conduct. Thanks to an injunction granted at the time the suit was filed in 2020, the store has remained open for business. The Court of Appeal has now sent the case back to the Circuit Court “with the direction to order the City to vacate its decision not to renew Family Dollar’s licenses.”
“Family Dollar is pleased with the decision and looks forward to continue to provide its local customers with necessary products at affordable prices.” - Joshua Gimbel
Area alderman and nonprofit pushed to close store, citing shoplifting, loitering and fighting.
Jacquese Harrell, Sr. v. Kevin A. Carr
The Court of Appeals sided with Mr. Harrell and determined that the Department of Corrections could not take more funds than ordered by the trial court judge. This decision along with the Ortiz decision (see below), where we represented another inmate pro bono, provides protections for prison inmates and does not allow the DOC to excessively tax inmates’ accounts. Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown, LLP is pleased that our pro bono representation of Mr. Harrell and Mr. Ortiz led to two important victories in the Court of Appeals.
Read the full story here.
United States v. Lockett, 782 F.3d 349 (7th Cir. 2015)
In United States v. Lockett, 782 F.3d 349 (7th Cir. 2015), Kristen successfully argued before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that Mr. Lockett's prior convictions did not qualify under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) because the Government failed to provide any evidence that Mr. Lockett was subject to Illinois' recidivist enhancement. Mr. Lockett was originally sentenced to the mandatory fifteen-year minimum under the ACCA. In August 2015, he was released from prison for time served.
Wisconsin Innocence Project's Effort To Exonerate And Free Daryl Holloway Applauded
Attorney Raymond M. Dall'Osto and his colleagues at Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown, LLP applaud the diligent and successful work done by the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which continued and built upon our efforts to obtain definitive new DNA testing. These efforts resulted in the exoneration and freeing of Daryl Holloway on October 6, 2016, after he served 23 years in prison for sexual assaults he did not commit.
Dall’Osto and GRGB were retained by Holloway’s family to conduct a postconviction investigation into his felony convictions, after his earlier appeal was denied and a subsequent attempt at DNA testing did not bear fruit. Noted Wisconsin DNA expert Dr. Alan Friedman was retained by Dall’Osto. After a careful review of the evidence, previous testing and methodology, new DNA testing was requested by the defense.
Victor Ortiz, Jr. v. Kevin A. Carr
In 2016, the Department of Corrections suddenly doubled the percentage it was withholding from Ortiz’s prison wages for the payment of restitution, even though this conflicted with the judgment of conviction. Ortiz fought the deduction in the prison and then the courts, and GRGB was asked to write a Response Brief on his behalf, pro bono. The court of appeals agreed with Ortiz and GRGB and ordered the DOC to cut in half the amount of Ortiz’s prison wages it was taking for the payment of restitution.
Read the full story here.
Franklyn Gimbel and Steven McGaver successfully represented Milwaukee County Deputy Sheriff's Association
Attorneys Franklyn Gimbel and Steven McGaver successfully represented an officer of the Milwaukee County Deputy Sheriff's Association in an action before the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission. Attorneys Gimbel and McGaver prevailed in the proceeding and the WERC concluded that Graber had been acting legally last year when he insisted the agency follow the union contract when selecting deputies to work mandatory overtime monitoring the garage at O'Donnell Park.
Women’s and Children’s Domestic Violence Shelter Gets Second Chance in Elkhorn
Due to the efforts of Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown, LLP partner Ray Dall’Osto, a circuit judge on April 29th vacated the decision of the City of Elkhorn Common Council, which last year denied a conditional use permit (CUP) for New Beginnings Association for Prevention of Family Violence to open a women’s and children’s shelter near the old courthouse square in Elkhorn. There is currently no such shelter for victims of family violence in Walworth County. Conditional use permits (CUPs) allow a zoning board to approve a land use that may be compatible in the zoning district in which it is proposed, but that is not permitted as a matter of right. A CUP is different than a variance. New Beginnings’ proposal, which would repurpose a former Aurora Medical Clinic building being donated for this purpose, was carefully put together and met the concerns of city planners and officials. However, the Common Council, in a 4-2 vote, summarily denied their application for a CUP, despite it being supported by hundreds of citizens and law enforcement officials.
