Agenda

Webinar instructions will be emailed before the date of the webinar.

Please log into the webinar 15 – 30 minutes before start time.

Thursday, September 29, 2022 
8:30 am – 3:30 pm CDT (including a 30-min. break)

 

Presented by
Mark Hazelbaker
Charles (Chad) W. Pollard IV
Ryan Simatic
Duane H. Wunsch

Agenda
Identifying, Classifying and Locating Easements
What is and is not an easement
Reviewing state law on easements
Creating easements: easements by necessity, easements by use, written easements
Identifying critical distinctions between easements in gross, easements appurtenant and prescriptive easements
Maintaining easements
Obstructing use of easements and determining remedies for obstruction

Understanding Riparian and Water Rights
History and development of riparian rights
Determining land boundaries near the water line
Determining access rights to surface waters
Determining rights to groundwater
Complying with regulations restricting access to and use of surface water and groundwater
Alterations and encroachments

Avoiding, Identifying and Resolving Ethical Issues in Land Transactions and Disputes
Conflicts of interest: identifying your client
What duties do you owe, and to whom do you owe them?
Do you need to maintain confidentiality, and for whom?
Complying with your professional responsibility for honesty and truthfulness
Practicing only in areas of competence
Ethical solicitation of business
Taking referrals from other professionals

Eminent Domain Law
Understanding eminent domain powers
• Source of eminent domain powers
• History of the exercise of eminent domain powers
• Types of eminent domain “takings”
Just compensation: valuing “taken” property
Privatization of eminent domain and other current issues

Resolving Boundary Disputes
Types of boundary disputes
Obtaining and using boundary evidence
• Legal descriptions, natural monuments, artificial monuments adjoining boundaries, surveys and maps, statements and testimony
Methods for establishing boundaries
Role of title insurance coverage

   

Webinar Instructions
All attendees must log-on through their own email – attendees may not watch together if they wish to earn continuing education credit. HalfMoon Education Inc. must be able to prove attendance if either the attendee or HalfMoon Education Inc. is audited.

Certificates of completion can be downloaded in PDF form upon passing a short quiz. A link to the quiz will be sent to each qualifying attendee immediately after the webinar. The certificate can be downloaded from the Results page of the quiz upon scoring 80% or higher.

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Internet Explorer v11 (or later) with Flash enabled

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Credits

Professional Engineers & Land Surveyors:
6.0 PDHs (Includes 1.0 Ethics Hour)

Attorneys and Paralegals:
Pending

Title Insurance Agents:
Non-credit continuing education

 

Continuing Education Credit Information
This webinar is open to the public and is designed to offer 6.0 PDHs to professional engineers and 6.0 continuing education hours to professional land surveyors in Wisconsin.

Courses, providers, and activities are not required to be pre-approved by the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services to satisfy the continuing education rules and requirements.

This webinar has been submitted to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin’s Board of Bar Examiners for approval as a continuing legal education activity. Course approval is currently pending.

This webinar offers a continuing education opportunity to Wisconsin title insurance professionals. Continuing education is not mandatory in Wisconsin.

Visit this course listing at www.halfmoonseminars.org for updates on pending credits.

Completion certificates will be awarded to participants who complete this event and earn a passing score (80%) on the quiz that follows the presentation (multiple attempts allowed).

 

 

Speakers

Mark B. Hazelbaker

Mark Hazelbaker is an attorney at Kasieta Legal Group.  This coming January is his 40th anniversary in practice.  His career includes service as in-house counsel to the Wisconsin Counties Association, and work as a county attorney, personnel director, and administrator. His 30 years of private practice experience include extensive litigation and business experience. He focuses on municipal and land use law, employment, and small business. Mr. Hazelbaker draws on a wide range of experience to be of assistance to clients in land use and real estate, municipal, business, government relations and general practice. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from UW-Madison. Mr. Hazelbaker has represented individuals, communities, and businesses in every part of Wisconsin. He frequently teaches other lawyers in continuing legal education courses. 

Charles (Chad) W. Pollard IV

Charles (Chad) W. Pollard IV is the President and sole shareholder of Clair, Thompson & Pollard S.C., an established law firm with offices in Lake Geneva and Delavan, Wisconsin. Attorney Pollard’s unique focus on civil litigation, including riparian rights disputes, and real estate, land use and planning, provides property owners and developers the confidence to move forward with lawsuits and development projects knowing that Attorney Pollard has been successful on both sides of the coin. Clair Law has a long history for its representation of clients in riparian rights cases from the seminal riparian rights decision Borsellino v. Kole to a recent trial decision removing an unlawful easement pier and approving a 210 foot Association pier. Attorney Pollard obtained his J.D. degree from Marquette University Law School and his B.A. degree from Calving College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Attorney Pollard is licensed to practice in Wisconsin and Illinois. 

Ryan Simatic

Ryan Simatic is an Attorney and Officer at Biersdorf & Associates, a law firm representing property owners in eminent domain actions from Alaska to Florida and everywhere in between. Mr. Simatic has individually and cooperatively tried multiple eminent domain matters to verdict or award with estimated damages ranging from $50,000 to over $20 million. His practice has also involved other real estate litigation matters, including disputes on property taxes, adverse possession, and land use. Mr. Simatic has practiced extensively in the appellate courts and has obtained favorable rulings in Minnesota, Tennessee, and North Dakota. He obtained his J.D. degree from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota and his B.A. degree from the University of Minnesota. Mr. Simatic is licensed to practice in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Arizona, New York, and Idaho. 

 

Duane H. Wunsch

Duane H. Wunsch is Wisconsin State Counsel for Fidelity National Title Group, Brookfield, WI. Mr. Wunsch, who received a B.A degree from UW – Madison and J.D. degree from Emory University, has over 30 years of experience, including searching and examining titles, closing transactions and handling title insurance claims. He is a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Bar Association and former President of the Wisconsin Land Title Association.