AB255: Text as Enrolled

Date of enactment:
2003 Assembly Bill 255 Date of publication*:

* Section 991.11, Wisconsin Statutes 2001-02 : Effective date of acts. "Every act and every portion of an act enacted by the legislature over the governor's partial veto which does not expressly prescribe the time when it takes effect shall take effect on the day after its date of publication as designated" by the secretary of state [the date of publication may not be more than 10 working days after the date of enactment].

2003 WISCONSIN ACT

An Act to repeal 81.17; and to amend 81.15 of the statutes; relating to: liability of cities, villages, towns, and counties for damages caused by an insufficiency or want of repair of a highway.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

AB255, s. 1 Section 1. 81.15 of the statutes is amended to read:

81.15 Damages caused by highway defects accumulation of snow or ice; liability of city, village, town, and county. If damages happen to any person or his or her property by reason of the insufficiency or want of repairs of any highway which any town, city or village is bound to keep in repair, the person sustaining the damages has a right to recover the damages from the town, city or village. If the damages happen by reason of the insufficiency or want of repairs of a highway which any county by law or by agreement with any town, city or village is bound to keep in repair, or which occupies any land owned and controlled by the county, the county is liable for the damages and the claim for damages shall be against the county. If the damages happen by reason of the insufficiency or want of repairs of a bridge erected or maintained at the expense of 2 or more towns the action shall be brought against all the towns liable for the repairs of the bridge and upon recovery of judgment the damages and costs shall be paid by the towns in the proportion in which they are liable for the repairs; and the court may direct the judgment to be collected from each town for its proportion only. The amount recoverable by any person for any damages so sustained shall not exceed $50,000. The procedures under s. 893.80 shall apply to the commencement of actions brought under this section. No action may be maintained against a city, village, town, or county to recover damages for injuries sustained by reason of an accumulation of snow or ice upon any bridge or highway, unless the accumulation existed for 3 weeks. Any action to recover damages for injuries sustained by reason of an accumulation of snow or ice that has existed for 3 weeks or more upon any bridge or highway is subject to s. 893.80.

AB255, s. 2 Section 2. 81.17 of the statutes is repealed.

AB255, s. 3 Section 3. Initial applicability.

(1) This act first applies to actions arising on the effective date of this subsection.