Shimkus v. Sondalle

In Shimkus v. Sondalle, 2000 WI App 238, 239 Wis. 2d 327, 620 N.W.2d 409, the Court decided to apply the rationale in Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266 (1988), because the Court found that rationale persuasive: unlike litigants who are not incarcerated, inmates are not able to file documents with the court directly and have no control over the documents once they are delivered to the prison officials for forwarding to the court. However, the Court did not decide that the deposit in the institution mailbox constituted "filing" within the meaning of Wis. Stat. 893.735(2) and (3) because we recognized that there were requirements for filing a petition for certiorari in addition to the time limitation-such as paying a filing fee or establishing the right to a waiver of the fee. The Court therefore concluded that deposit of the petition in the institution mailbox for forwarding to the circuit court tolled the forty-five-day time limit but did not prevent the court from rejecting the petition for other defects, such as the failure to pay the required fee or establish the right to waiver of the fee.