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Terry Nussberger (“Nussberger”) is a
Wisconsin attorney whose State Bar
identification number is 1008127.
Nussberger lives in Ladysmith, Wisconsin.
Nussberger was first licensed to practice
law in Wisconsin on September 13, 1983.
Respondent represented a client in a
property dispute regarding the location and
existence of a driveway easement. After the
filing of a lawsuit against Respondent’s
client, Respondent answered the suit and
raised a counterclaim. During discovery,
opposing counsel served Respondent with
Interrogatories, Requests to Produce, and
Requests to Admit on both the underlying
claims, as well as Respondent’s client’s
counterclaim.
While Respondent forwarded the discovery
requests to his client, he never informed
the client of applicable deadlines, nor did
he communicate the significance of the
discovery requests and the consequences for
not responding to them. Respondent did not
submit any responses to the discovery
requests, and based on the failure to
respond to the Requests to Admit, the trial
court entered summary judgment against
Respondent’s client on both the original
claims as well as the counterclaim. In
addition, Respondent did not inform his
client that the court had dismissed his
counterclaim.
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By failing to respond to two sets of
Interrogatories, Requests to Produce, and
Requests to Admit, resulting in summary
judgment in favor of the opposing party on
all claims, Respondent violated SCR 20:1.1,
SCR 20:1.3, and SCR 20:3.4(d). SCR 20:1.1
states that a lawyer must provide “competent
representation to a client.” SCR 20:1.3
requires that a lawyer act with “reasonable
diligence and promptness” in representing a
client. SCR 20:3.4(d) mandates that a
lawyer make “a reasonably diligent effort to
comply” with discovery requests.
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By failing to keep his client reasonably
informed regarding the status of his case,
including the entry of a judgment that
dismissed his counterclaim in the case,
Respondent violated SCR 20:1.4(a)(3), which
provides that a lawyer must keep his
client “reasonably informed” regarding the
status of a case.
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By sending his client Interrogatories,
Requests to Produce, and Requests to Admit
received from opposing counsel, without
explaining to his client the significance of
the discovery requests, what his client’s
responsibilities were with respect to the
discovery requests, what the applicable
deadlines were, and the consequences for
failing to respond to the discovery requests
in a timely fashion, Respondent violated SCR
20:1.4(b).
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Respondent was suspended from the practice
of law for sixty days in 2006, and has two
previous public reprimands, one in 2003 and
another in 2009.
In accordance with SCR 22.09,
Attorney Terry Nussberger of Ladysmith,
Wisconsin is hereby publicly reprimanded.
Dated this 20 day of October, 2015.
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