A Milwaukee landlord who continued to buy foreclosed properties at auction after being sanctioned, must pay $64,550 in municipal court fines that he has been effectively dodging as far back as 2009, a Wisconsin Court of Appeals judge ordered.
In a 16-page decision, Judge Timothy Dugan flatly rejected all of Will Sherard's arguments that he be allowed to continue making small payments on building code fines imposed in 19 separate cases.
'Sherard did not testify or present any evidence showing that he was actually unable to pay the money judgment," Dugan wrote.
in fact, Sherard has continued to be a regular at the Milwaukee County sheriff's sales where foreclosed properties are auctioned off to lenders, landlords, slumlords and people seeking to buy a fixer-upper to live in.
Since January 2016, Sherard and his Morocco Investments LLC have spent more than $115,000 at the sheriff's sales to buy a dozen properties, according to a review of Milwaukee County Register of Deeds records.
Morocco Investments sold two properties for $60,500 during that time. Sherard has testified that he is the sole owner of Morocco.
"It is frustrating to see that Will Sherard keeps buying more and more properties while still neglecting to pay his municipal debts," said Patrick Leigl, the assistant city attorney who prosecuted the civil case against Sherard. "He fought this case yet he continues to buy more and more property. It frustrates the system."
Sherard learned of Dugan's order from a Journal Sentinel reporter. He refused to answer questions about the ruling.
"What is your reaction to it?" Sherard asked a reporter. He said he would call back and answer questions later, but has not done so.
The Journal Sentinel, in April 2016, disclosed how Sherard and others routinely received Municipal Court approval to make nominal payments on their building codes fines. Meanwhile, some, including Sherard, continued to buy more problem-plagued inner-city properties to rent to low-income residents.
In May 2016, the City Attorney's office objected to continuing Sherard's easy payment plan. In response, Municipal Court Judge Phillip Chavez in June 2016 ordered that Sherard pay $39,728 in building code fines within 60 days, plus an additional $24,822 one year after that.
Since that order, Sherard and Morocco Investments have racked up an additional $25,220 in court fines for code violations. More than $11,000 of that amount has not been paid. .
Sherard, who has been in the inner-city rental business for about a half-century, appealed Chavez's order, claiming he could not afford to pay the fines.
Dugan noted that during the 2016 Municipal Court proceedings Sherard "argued he had been making a good faith effort to pay the forfeitures" and told the court "we're all struggling to make payments." He asked the court for "something that he could live with," pointing out that he owed nearly $40,000 to various city departments, including those responsible for property taxes and water service.
The city countered Sherard's poverty plea, arguing last year that Sherard's properties were assessed at $1.41 million and that he had paid a $120,000 court judgment in 2015.
"The fact that Sherard recently paid a $120,000 judgment in full provides support" the city's demand that he pay up, Dugan wrote Tuesday.
The $64,550 owed by Sherard is being held by Sherard's attorney in an escrow account and will be forwarded to the city unless Sherard persuades the court to stay its order, Leigl said. The money was placed in escrow last year when Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Glenn Yamahiro rejected Sherard's appeal.
Sherard is one of a handful of problem landlords who have been subject to increased scrutiny since the Journal Sentinel launched a series of stories showing how some slumlords use various strategies to game the system.
In recent months, state lawmakers and city officials have:
* Introduced state legislation that would allow counties to conduct online sheriff's sales of property -- an action that is aimed at attracting a wider range of buyers to the sales. In Milwaukee County, the sales are conducted in the basement of the Safety Building and are attended largely by regulars.
* Introduced a second bill that would ban individuals who owe back property taxes or court fines for building code violations from buying properties at a sheriff's sale. Firms, including limited liability companies, owned or linked to people owing back taxes or fines would also be banned from buying at the sales. Both bills have bi-partisan sponsors and are scheduled to be discussed Wednesday at hearing before the Senate Committee on Insurance, Housing and Trade.
* Obtained a court order banning Mohammad Choudry from buying any more city properties and placing the properties he or his network of limited liability companies own into receivership. At the time of the action brought by the City Attorney's Office, Choudry's 76 properties had nearly 1,800 building code violations.
* Charged in court that landlord Elijah Mohammad Rashaed exploits poverty-stricken and desperate tenants by renting out unsafe properties that violate city codes. The City Attorney's Office initially sought to place his properties in receivership, but last month reached an agreement calling for Rashaed to sell the 166 properties owned by him and 18 LLCs he controls.
* Under pressure from the city and Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc., James Herrick sold at least seven of the problem plagued central city properties that he owned through LLCs. Herrick, a Baird executive who lives in a $1.1 million River Hills estate, was chastised in political circles after his holdings were revealed.
