06/05/2026
Wisconsin Supreme Court Decision on Koble v. Marquardt: This Is a Victory for Residents, Owners, Managers, Communities, and Neighborhoods.
You may see today’s Supreme Court ruling in Koble Investments v. Marquardt described as a “win for landlords.” We want to push back on that framing immediately — because it misses the real story entirely.
The wave of litigation that followed the Court of Appeals’ 2024 decision spawned well over 80 copycat lawsuits across Wisconsin. The millions of dollars in legal costs generated by those cases don’t disappear. In a business where rent is the primary source of revenue, those costs get passed on — to residents, through rent increases. Our residents paid for this too. That is the story that needs to be told.
Today, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed that appellate decision. The Court ruled — effectively 6-1 — that the Wisconsin Consumer Act does not apply to residential leases. The theory that landlords are “debt collectors” subject to double-damages penalties for enforcing a lease is dead. The notion that a tenant could recover every dollar of rent ever paid, with no offset for the housing they received, based on a technical lease deficiency that caused no actual harm — dead. The economic engine driving 80-plus cases across this state has been shut off.
The decision was clear and robust. Notably, two justices felt the majority didn’t go far enough — they would have declared the entire Wisconsin Consumer Act inapplicable to residential leases, not just the single provision at issue. That is how strong the legal ground beneath our coalition’s position was.
We have been engaged in this fight for more than two years — tracking cases, testifying, helping draft legislation, and contributing to the coalition amicus brief argued before the Court. The work is not finished, but today the legal ground and financial footings beneath Wisconsin’s rental housing market are more stable than they were yesterday.
For the full analysis, read our complete blog post at aanw.org:
https://www.aanw.org/Blog/13639774
Apartment Association of Northeast Wisconsin (aanw.org) | Fox Valley Apartment Association (fvaa.info)
"Supporting and Advocating for Common-Sense Solutions that Promote a Sustainable Rental Housing Marketplace — Because Housing Works Best For Everyone When It Remains Financially Via
