MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel Sept. 4, 2013
Lawyers for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s $50 million-plus cemetery trust say efforts to force a federal judge to set aside his recent decision in favor of the church and recuse himself from the case border on frivolous and amount to judge shopping, according to a new brief filed in the lawsuit.
The brief, filed this week by attorneys for Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki, the trust’s sole trustee, says U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa has no financial interest in the cemeteries — contrary to claims by the archdiocese’s bankruptcy creditors — and that the issue is moot because the case is already headed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
“The pending motions targeting Judge Randa are a thinly disguised attempt to shop for a new district court judge who will agree with the (creditors) committee on the merits,” attorneys Jennifer Vandermeuse and Brady Williamson argued in the brief.
“The Court of Appeals will ultimately decide for itself whether the committee has any… right to pursue the trust funds,” they said.
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