Opinion ID: 2216235
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Remedial Statutes

Text: [7] Respondents characterize secs. 800.09 and 800.095, Stats., as remedial statutes because the municipal court is directed to suspend drivers' licenses only when an order to pay a fineimposed for a nontraffic municipal ordinance violationhas been ignored. We agree with this characterization. Remedial statutes should be liberally construed to advance the remedy which the statute is intended to afford. City of Madison v. Hyland, Hall & Co., 73 Wis. 2d 364, 373, 243 N.W.2d 422 (1976). [8] The distinguishing characteristic of remedial contempt is that the sanction imposed for violation of the court order must be purgeable through compliance. State ex rel. V.J.H. v. C.A.B., 163 Wis. 2d 833, 844-45, 472 N.W.2d 839 (1991). While we do not characterize petitioners' failure to pay as contempt in the usual context, the sanction imposed for failure to pay is a form of coercive action designed to compel petitioners to take affirmative and corrective action to remain in compliance with an existing court order. Id. at 845. The purge condition under ch. 800 simply requires payment of the fine that was initially imposed for the municipal ordinance violation. [9] The purge condition must be feasible and reasonably related to the cause or nature of the contempt. Id. (citing State ex rel. Larsen, 159 Wis. 2d 672, 676, 465 N.W.2d 225 (Ct. App. 1990)). In the instant case, petitioners never sought relief from judgment because of any alleged inability to pay the fines imposed; equally important, the purge condition under ch. 800, merely requires petitioners to pay fines imposed for conduct which was found to have violated a municipal ordinance. For these reasons we conclude that ch. 800 suspensions are properly characterized as remedial statutes, intended to assist the court in enforcement of its orders. Further, we find the purge condition, feasible in this case, reasonably related to the reason for the imposition of the sanction of suspension.