Media Release
For Immediate Release
Subject: Defense Lawyers Score Against State
Date: Tuesday, August 04, 2015
A Wisconsin criminal defense lawyers’ group won its civil rights case against a Madison police detective and the city when federal judge William Conley entered judgment for the organization on Friday, July 31. The case involved the search of the organization’s accounting firm, Precise Accounting, in October, 2011. Although Detective Maya Krajcinovic had obtained a warrant to search for evidence related to the city’s investigation into the Rising Sun Massage parlor in downtown Madison, the lawyers’ group, the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, had alleged in its lawsuit that, in conducting the search, she had seized financial records belonging to other clients of the accounting firm that had no relation to that investigation.
The case was resolved when the defense lawyers’ group decided to accept a settlement offer conveyed by the city of Madison in the amount of $1,500. Acceptance of the formal offer gave the lawyers’ group a judgment against the defendants, just as if it had won a trial.
“We were proud to be asked to represent the defense lawyers,” said Jeff Scott Olson, the group’s attorney. “We knew from the start this would not be a large-damages case but important legal principles were involved.” The Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is a corporation, and so cannot recover damages for outrage, loss of privacy, or emotional distress. “The defense lawyers thought they had been targeted deliberately and that it was important to draw the line,” said Olson. “The law guarantees the confidentiality of lawyers’ records the highest respect, and that is a lesson we have to re-teach from time to time,” Olson concluded.
The lawsuit was filed in March of this year on behalf of the lawyers’ group and the owner of the accounting firm, Christina Mandeville. Her part of the case is still pending.
For further information, contact:
Jeff Scott Olson The Jeff Scott Olson Law Firm, S. C. 131 West Wilson Street, Suite 1200 Madison, WI 53703 |
Phone: 608 283 6001 E-mail: jsolson@scofflaw.com
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