J. K. J. v. Polk County Sheriff's Department et al

Filing 15

ORDER granting 11 Motion to Intervene by Intervenor Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Corporation. Signed by District Judge William M. Conley on 11/3/2015. (jls)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

J.K.J.,
Plaintiff,

ORDER

v.

15-cv-428-wmc
POLK COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT
and DARRYL L. CHRISTENSEN,
Defendants.
and

M.J.J.,
Plaintiff,
v.

15-cv-433-wmc
POLK COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT
and DARRYL L. CHRISTENSEN,
Defendants.

Before the court are unopposed motions to intervene by Wisconsin County Mutual
Insurance Corporation ("WCMIC"), which seeks to litigate insurance coverage issues in the
two above-captioned cases related to the public entity liability policies it issued to defendant
Polk County.

('428 dkt. #11; '433 dkt. #11.)

The motions are unopposed; neither

plaintiffs nor defendants filed any response to the motions.

For the reasons previously

provided by the court in Richardson v. Helgerson, No. 15-cv-141-wmc, slip op. at *2-5 (W.D.
Wis. May 26, 2015) (dkt. #14), WCMIC may intervene as of right under Federal Rule of
Civil Procedure 24(a).

Accordingly, the court will grant the motion but also cautions

WCMIC, as it did previously, that unlike Wisconsin state courts, this court does not
generally grant requests to bifurcate trial on the issues of coverage and liability, nor does it

generally stay liability issues until coverage is determined.

Accordingly, WCMIC is

encouraged to move promptly on any issues of coverage that may be decided as a matter of
law. In return, the court will endeavor to render a decision promptly on that motion.
Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED that Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Corporation's
unopposed motions to intervene ('428 dkt. #11; '433 dkt. #11) are GRANTED.
Entered this 3~day of November, 2015.
BY THE COURT:

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