Shirley Abrahamson questions secret tie vote at Wisconsin Supreme Court

Wisconsin's Supreme Court on Tuesday decided not to decide a business dispute between owners of a limited liability company, or LLC.

The court took one sentence to say, "The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided court," and another to say that the court's newest member, Daniel Kelly, did not participate.

Justice Shirley Abrahamson wrote a brief concurring opinion to note that it was the first time since 1979 that the court did not divulge where each justice stood in the tie. From 1885 to 1979, the names and votes of the justices were revealed in 118 tie cases and only withheld in 26 deadlocked cases from 1849 to 1979.

"I believe the court should explain why the voting information is revealed in a particular case and in another it is not," Abrahamson wrote, while noting that high courts in different states vary in their practices and that the U.S. Supreme Court does not delineate the votes in ties.

RELATED OPINION: Why keep Wisconsin Supreme Court vote secret?

For those interested in doing more research or trying to discern a pattern, Abrahamson conveniently cites all 114 Wisconsin Supreme Court cases she could find that ended it tie votes.

The effect of Tuesday's decision upholds a $499,000 jury verdict against Greg Kleynerman in favor of Scott Smith, his former business partner in  Alpha Cargo Technology, LLC.  In June, the Court of Appeals affirmed the award and post-verdict rulings by Milwaukee Circuit Judge Pedro Colón.