807.13.Telephone and audiovisual proceedings.

Section 807.13 builds out Wisconsin’s framework for remote civil proceedings. Subsection (1) lets the court permit any oral argument by telephone. Subsection (2) covers evidentiary hearings in civil actions and proceedings, including those under Chapters 48, 51, 54, and 55: the court may admit oral testimony communicated on the record by telephone or live audiovisual means, subject to cross-examination, when applicable statutes or rules permit it, the parties stipulate, or the proponent shows good cause. The considerations bearing on good cause include whether undue surprise or prejudice would result, whether the proponent could not, after due diligence, procure the witness’s physical presence, the convenience and cost involved, whether the procedure allows full effective cross-examination, the importance of presenting testimony in open court, the quality of the communication, whether a physical liberty interest is at stake, and other factors the court finds relevant. Subsection (3) lets conferences in civil actions and proceedings be conducted by telephone whenever applicable statutes or rules permit it or the court finds it practical.

Subsection (4) sets the procedural guardrails for any proceeding conducted by telephone under this section. If the proceeding must be reported, a court reporter must be in simultaneous voice communication with all parties to the call. Parties entitled to be heard must receive prior notice of the manner and time of the proceeding, and a participant who elects to be physically present with another participant must give the others reasonable notice of that. Regardless of a party’s physical location, any waiver, stipulation, motion, objection, decision, order, or other action taken has the same effect as if made in open court. And except for scheduling and pretrial conferences, the proceedings must be conducted in a courtroom or other place reasonably accessible to the public, with participants free to appear by telephone from any location or to be physically present, and with simultaneous access provided to the public by loudspeaker or, on request, by making a person party to the call without charge.