Opinion ID: 2142434
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Improper Claim.

Text: The complaint alleges that on March 21, 1961, the guardian ad litem made a demand upon the city for compensation to the minor for the injuries already referred to and that more than ninety days have elapsed since the demand. A copy of the demand is incorporated in the complaint. Sec. 62.25, Stats., forbids a plaintiff to maintain an action against a city for damages until he shall first have presented his claim to the city council and the claim has been disallowed or not passed upon by the council within ninety days after the claim was presented. The city's present contention is that the demand by the guardian ad litem appears on its face to be dated and verified March 6, 1961, whereas the complaint itself alleges that the guardian ad litem was appointed March 9, 1961. Appellant submits that on March 6th there was no guardian ad litem by whom the claim could be made or presented, wherefore no proper claim has been presented to the city council and the condition precedent to plaintiff's beginning an action has not been met. It is true, the claim was dated and sworn to by a purported guardian ad litem when she had not yet been appointed. It is arguable, though we do not so decide, that the claim, if then presented, might be so defective as not to comply with the requirement of sec. 62.25, Stats., and of no effect. But the claim was not presented then. It was kept back until the guardian ad litem had been appointed. Then, on March 21, 1961, she presented the claim. We consider the date of presentation is the controlling date, and on that date the guardian ad litem was qualified to act. Referring to a claim against a city we wrote in Moyer v. Oshkosh (1913), 151 Wis. 586, 593, 139 N. W. 378: No narrow rule of construction should be applied to the wording of the claim. A construction which preserves a bona fide claim so that it may be passed upon by a competent tribunal is to be preferred to a construction which cuts it off without trial. This court has said that `no great amount of formality is required in reference to the form in which claims are presented to a municipal corporation.' Hanrahan v. Janesville, 137 Wis. 1, 118 N. W. 194. The demurrer resting on the contention that no proper claim had been filed was correctly overruled.