Source: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/wi-supreme-court/1668711.html
Timestamp: 2014-07-24 21:42:09
Document Index: 61186182

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 895', '§ 895', '§ 895', '§ 895', '§ 895', '§ 895', '§ 895', '§ 895', '§ 895', '§ 895']

WARANKA v. WADENA INSURANCE COMPANY - FindLaw
WARANKA v. WADENA INSURANCE COMPANY
Sharon A. WARANKA Individually and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Nicholas Waranka, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. WADENA INSURANCE COMPANY, Auto Owners Insurance Company, Michael Eidenberger, Larry Neman and American Family Mutual Insurance Company, Defendants–Respondents. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Scott R. Brewer, Zachary G. Nelson, Mark Jonas, Defendants–Respondents–Petitioners, State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, Defendant.
No. 2012AP320.
For the defendants-respondents-petitioners, there were briefs by James O. Conway, Corrado Cirillo, and Olsen, Kloet, Gunderson & Conway, Sheboygan, and oral argument by Corrado Cirillo. For the plaintiff-appellant, the cause was argued by Susan R. Tyndall, with whom on the brief was Robert L. Jaskulski and Habush Habush & Rottier, S.C., Milwaukee.
Petitioners, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Scott R. Brewer, Zachary G. Nelson, and Mark Jonas (collectively referred to as State Farm) seek review of that part of a published decision of the court of appeals that reversed the circuit court's order in this wrongful death action.1 The circuit court determined that the wrongful death damage limitations applied to an action brought by the plaintiff, Sharon A. Waranka (Waranka), seeking recovery for the out-of-state death of her husband. The court of appeals disagreed. It concluded that because the damage limitations in Wis. Stat. § 895.04 (2011–12)2 must be read together with the wrongful death statute, Wis. Stat. § 895.03, and because the latter expressly provides that it does not apply to deaths caused out of state, the Wisconsin wrongful death damage limitations do not apply.¶ 2 State Farm argues that Wis. Stat. § 895.04, which sets a monetary cap on the amount of non-economic damages a plaintiff can recover in a wrongful death action, can apply independently from Wisconsin's wrongful death statute, Wis. Stat. § 895.03. According to State Farm, Michigan law, which does not set a cap on the amount of recoverable damages, is inapplicable. It asserts that when a conflict of laws analysis is conducted, the lack of significant ties to Michigan militates in favor of applying Wisconsin law.¶ 3 We conclude that the limitations on wrongful death actions in Wis. Stat. § 895.04 necessarily refer to wrongful death actions created by Wis. Stat. § 895.03. The language of the statutes, our case law interpreting both Wis. Stat. §§ 895.03 and 895.04, their statutory history, and the canon of statutory construction, in pari materia,3 dictate that Wis. Stat. § 895.04 cannot be applied separately from Wis. Stat. § 895.03.¶ 4 We further conclude that because Wis. Stat. § 895.03 does not apply to deaths caused outside the state of Wisconsin, there is no conflict between Wisconsin law and Michigan's wrongful death statute. Only Michigan's wrongful death statute applies here and thus we need not undertake a conflict of laws analysis. Accordingly, we affirm the court of appeals.I¶ 5 Nicholas Waranka, a Wisconsin resident, went on vacation to an annual snowmobile event in Michigan. The event, called “Rubbish Run,” was held by patrons and friends of Port Washington Yamaha, a snowmobile dealership located in Port Washington, Wisconsin. It was attended primarily by Wisconsin residents.¶ 6 On the morning of January 30, 2009, Nicholas joined nine other i