Bernadette Marie Greenwood v. Roger Eugene Kaufman ( 2020 )

COURT OF APPEALS
DECISION NOTICE
DATED AND FILED This opinion is subject to further editing. If
published, the official version will appear in
the bound volume of the Official Reports.
October 14, 2020
A party may file with the Supreme Court a
Sheila T. Reiff petition to review an adverse decision by the
Clerk of Court of Appeals Court of Appeals. See WIS. STAT. § 808.10
and RULE 809.62.
Appeal No. 2019AP394 Cir. Ct. No. 2007FA1424
STATE OF WISCONSIN IN COURT OF APPEALS
DISTRICT II
IN RE THE FINDING OF CONTEMPT IN
IN RE THE MARRIAGE OF:
BERNADETTE MARIE GREENWOOD F/K/A BERNADETTE MARIE KAUFMAN,
PETITIONER-RESPONDENT,
V.
ROGER EUGENE KAUFMAN,
RESPONDENT-APPELLANT.
APPEAL from an order of the circuit court for Waukesha County:
LEE S. DREYFUS, JR., Judge. Affirmed.
No. 2019AP394
¶1 GUNDRUM, J.1 Roger Kaufman appeals pro se from an order of
the circuit court. He identifies the following as his issues on appeal: (1) “Judge
Dreyfus should have recused himself after making multiple previous erroneous
findings”; (2) “The GAL should have been dismissed from the case for his
contempt”; (3) “Judge Bohren made it very clear to the GAL what his authority
was in this case 2 times. It was in line with [WIS. STAT. §] 767.451(3)”;
(4) “Neither the Court, nor the GAL had the authority to substantially change
placement under [§] 767.451(1) without proof the children were in danger, and
signing an order doing so without a hearing violated the statute”; (5) “There was a
Temporary Restraining order in effect until 10-31-2018 against Ms. Greenwood
Prohibiting her from contacting Mr. Kaufman or coming to his residence.” For the
following reasons, we affirm.
¶2 Kaufman has submitted a twenty-page brief complaining about
various actions by various actors related to this case while it was before the circuit
court; however, he fails to actually develop any legal arguments to demonstrate
how the circuit court erred. We could affirm for that reason alone. See Clean
Wis., Inc. v. PSC, 2005 WI 93, ¶180 n.40, 282 Wis. 2d 250, 700 N.W.2d 768(“We will not address undeveloped arguments.”); State v. Pettit, 171 Wis. 2d 627,
646, 492 N.W.2d 633 (Ct. App. 1992) (an appellate court may decline to review
issues that are insufficiently briefed or unsupported by legal authority). While we
recognize that Kaufman is pro se, he is still required to abide by the same rules
governing attorneys. See Waushara County v. Graf, 166 Wis. 2d 442, 452, 480
N.W.2d 16 (1992). An appellate judge cannot properly serve as both advocate and
1
This appeal is decided by one judge pursuant to WIS. STAT. § 752.31(2)(h) (2017-18).
All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2017-18 version unless otherwise noted.
2
No. 2019AP394
judge, see Pettit, 171 Wis. 2d at 647, and thus, it is inappropriate for us to
“abandon our neutrality to develop arguments” for Kaufman, see Industrial Risk
Insurers v. American Eng’g Testing, Inc., 2009 WI App 62, ¶25, 318 Wis. 2d
148, 769 N.W.2d 82.
¶3 In addition, in all of his twenty pages of briefing, Kaufman fails to
provide even a single citation to the record showing support for any of the
statements he makes in his brief, which is a violation of WIS. STAT. RULE
809.19(1)(d) and (e). See Grothe v. Valley Coatings, Inc., 2000 WI App 240, ¶6,
239 Wis. 2d 406, 620 N.W.2d 463. We also could reject his appeal for this reason
alone as it is not our responsibility to search the record to seek out evidence in
support of a party’s argument.2 Id.; see also United States v. Dunkel, 927 F.2d
955, 956 (7th Cir. 1991) (“Judges are not like pigs, hunting for truffles buried in
[the record].”)
¶4 On appeal, it is the appellant’s (here Kaufman’s) burden to
demonstrate that the circuit court erred. See Gaethke v. Pozder, 2017 WI App 38,
¶36, 376 Wis. 2d 448, 899 N.W.2d 381. Having failed to develop any legal
arguments to demonstrate how the circuit court may have erred, Kaufman has
failed to meet that burden.
By the Court.—Order affirmed.
This opinion will not be published. See WIS. STAT. RULE
809.23(1)(b)4.
2
The record spans thirteen years and over 800 entries.
3