Wisconsin Supreme Court. However, only a few months after beginning his term as Chief Judge, the death of Judge John P. Foley created a vacancy on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. His old colleague, Governor Tony Earl, appointed him to the vacant seat. He won election to a full term on the court in 1985, and was subsequently re-elected in 1991. He retired at the end of his second full term in 1997, but continued to serve as a reserve judge in circuit and appeals cases for several years. Union decertifications As a reserve judge, LaRocque ruled in one of several cases arising out of the infamous 2011 Budget Repair Law. One of the law's controversial provisions was the requirement for annual recertification elections for unions representing state employees, under a process managed by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC). In 2014, the WERC determined two unions had failed to meet a filing deadline to qualify for recertification, and therefore decertified the unions. The two unions sued in state court and prevailed at the circuit court level. The WERC challenged the ruling to the District I Court of Appeals, where Judge LaRocque sat in with judges William W. Brash III and Kitty K. Brennan. The panel ruled in favor of the unions, finding that, under the plain language of the statute, an incumbent union can only be decertified by an election of the members. The ruling was a significant limitation on a new power claimed under the Budget Repair Law. Personal life and family Judge LaRocque has been married three times. He married his first wife, Rosalie, in 1959. They had five children together before they petitioned for divorce in 1982. The divorce was heavily litigated over several years and ultimately resulted in a case before the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1987 to settle the issues of property and alimony. His second wife was Donna J. Seidel, a Democratic politician who served in the Wisconsin State Assembly. Judge LaRocque and Donna Seidel divorced in 1993. He and his third wife, Jean Frey, moved to Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, after his retirement. Nepotism controversy In 2008, LaRocque's longtime friend, former Governor Tony Earl, was involved in a scandal over the hiring of Judge LaRocque's nephew, also named Daniel LaRocque. In 2005, the younger LaRocque was seeking a position as a lawyer in the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, and, at his request,