HOW WISCONSIN CIRCUIT COURTS CAN ENSURE PROPER SERVICE IN EVICTION ACTIONS AFTER 2013 WISCONSIN ACT 76.

The Wisconsin Legislature made extensive changes to Wisconsin's rental housing laws in a series of three deregulatory bills, which passed into law between 2011 and 2013. Under the most recent bill, 2013 Wisconsin Act 76 (Act 76), the Wisconsin Legislature made four significant changes to Wisconsin's summary eviction process: (1) Wisconsin county circuit courts may enact local rules that would allow landlords to serve eviction actions by certified mail, (2) Wisconsin county circuit courts must schedule return dates and eviction trials faster than previously required by law, (3) judges must issue writs of restitution immediately after entering a judgment of eviction, and (4) landlords may elect to remove and dispose of a tenant's personal property themselves after the sheriff executes the writ of restitution. Proper service is vital for both tenants and landlords. For tenants, proper service provides notice that their landlord commenced an eviction action against them, allowing them the opportunity to seek counsel or try to negotiate with their landlord for an alternative outcome. For landlords, proper service provides assurance that the tenant will not be able to reopen a judgment of eviction or sue them later for damages from a possibly illegal eviction. This Comment outlines ways in which Wisconsin circuit courts can act to ensure proper service in eviction actions. Even with the new law changes, Wisconsin circuit courts retain the autonomy to create their own local rules for service in all types of small claims proceedings. This Comment takes a county-by-county look at the current state of local rules for service in eviction actions. By comparing each county's local service rule for eviction to its local service rule for replevin, this Comment makes predictions about the long-term impacts of Act 76 on service rules for eviction actions. Then, this Comment suggests changes that each local court should make to ensure tenants are adequately served notice that their landlord has commenced an eviction action against them. This Comment concludes by urging each Wisconsin circuit court to think critically about its local rules and service requirements for eviction actions in light of the recent changes to Wisconsin rental housing law in order to ensure that tenants are properly notified of pending eviction actions and to ensure that judgments of eviction are certain and final. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]