Opinion ID: 2039068
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Violation of a Plain Duty

Text: ¶ 22. A basic requirement for the issuance of a supervisory writ by an appellate court is a violation or impending violation of a plain duty by the circuit court judge. A plain duty must be clear and unequivocal and, under the facts, the responsibility to act must be imperative. State ex rel. Kurkierewicz v. Cannon, 42 Wis. 2d 368, 377-78, 166 N.W.2d 255 (1969). ¶ 23. The Kalals' briefs do not explain precisely how Wis. Stat. § 968.02(3) imposes a plain duty upon the judge, but at oral argument counsel advanced the proposition that the statute's requirement of a refusal by the district attorney to file charges suggests that the circuit judge has a plain duty to correctly determine the presence of this threshold refusal before authorizing the issuance of a criminal complaint. In essence, the Kalals argue that the judge sitting ex parte in a hearing under Wis. Stat. § 968.02(3) has a plain duty to correctly find facts and apply the law. ¶ 24. We cannot accept this proposition, as it would extend supervisory jurisdiction to a virtually unlimited range of decisions involving the finding of facts and application of law. The obligation of judges to correctly apply the law is general and implicit in the entire structure of our legal system. The supervisory writ, however, serves a narrow function: to provide for the direct control of lower courts, judges, and other judicial officers who fail to fulfill non-discretionary duties, causing harm that cannot be remedied through the appellate review process. See Burnett, 224 Wis. 2d at 96-97; see Gavcus, 127 Wis. 2d at 70. To adopt the Kalals' interpretation of the plain duty requirement in supervisory writ procedure would transform the writ into an all-purpose alternative to the appellate review process. ¶ 25. To the extent that a circuit judge's decision to permit the filing of a complaint under Wis. Stat. § 968.02(3) is legally or factually unsupported, the defendant named in the complaint may seek its dismissal in the circuit court after it has been filed, and may pursue standard appellate remedies thereafter. But the statutory prerequisite that the judge find a refusal to prosecute by the district attorney does not impose upon the circuit judge a plain, clear, non-discretionary, and imperative duty of the sort necessary for a supervisory writ. ¶ 26. Although the Kalals have failed to establish the existence of a plain duty and are not entitled to a supervisory writ, we will address the statutory interpretation question presented by this case. The proper interpretation of the term refuses in Wis. Stat. § 968.02(3) is central to the administration of this statute. It is also a question that is likely to recur but evade review, because a decision under the statute is not itself directly appealable, and the scope of supervisory writ procedure is limited to violations of a plain duty.