In a quick hearing Wednesday, legal counsel for two local labor unions withdrew a request to combine two cases currently before the Dane County court system regarding the governor’s collective bargaining bill.

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk filed a lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin on March 11 alleging the conference committee responsible for removing the necessary fiscal items from Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill to allow the Senate to vote on the bill did not remove all fiscal items.

Laborers Local 236 and Firefighters Local 311, both under the AFL-CIO umbrella, filed a similar complaint on March 25.

The motion to consolidate the two cases was filed by union counsel March 28 due to their similarities and in the interest of reducing unnecessary cost and delay, according to the brief filed with the Dane County Circuit Court.

“We anticipated that some if not most of the defendants would be essentially the same in these cases,” union legal counsel representative Bruce Ehlke told the court Wednesday. “It actually crossed our minds that if we didn’t make a motion to consolidate, we thought maybe the defendants would make a motion to consolidate for reasons of judicial economy and economy on behalf of the defendants.”

But the state’s defense team objected to combining the cases, claiming the request came prematurely. Legal counsel for defendant Eric McLeod said there would be no consolidation so long as the case brought by Falk remained indeterminate.

None of the defendants listed in Falk’s lawsuit, including the secretaries of state and departments of administration and health services, had made an appearance in court, McLeod said.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi, who also heard the case presented by the Dane County district attorney Tuesday, agreed with McLeod.

“It is a little early before the defendants have filed an appearance to grant a consolidation,” Sumi told the court.

Shortly thereafter, Ehlke withdrew the consolidation request.

Before the court adjourned for the day, Sumi said with the spirited debate going on about all the issues she wanted to remind attorneys they have the responsibility to promote and not denigrate the judicial branch and role of law.

Department of Justice spokesperson Steve Means said he did not know at whom Sumi’s ending comments were directed.