Opinion ID: 532808
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Motion to Dismiss Appeal in Total.

Text: 20 On December 1, 1988, the Bank filed a Motion to Dismiss Appeal in Total based on Dairy Farm's acceptance of payment for the four cows which the Bank agreed they owned. The Bank argues that a party who accepts the money awarded him in the portion of the judgment in his favor thereby waives his right to appeal from the whole judgment. Memor. in Supp. of Motion to Dismiss at 1 (citing Laird v. Giffin, 84 Wis. 286, 54 N.W. 584 (1893)). The Bank's argument, which relies on the rule of waiver, was made before the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Estreen v. Bluhm, 79 Wis.2d 142, 255 N.W.2d 473 (1977), and failed there. 21 The rule of waiver was applied in Laird, because the plaintiff there had received payment of funds from the garnishee, Giffen, on condition that he pay Giffen's litigation costs. 54 N.W. at 585. The Estreen court explained, however, that [a] party which accepts the benefits of a judgment does not waive the right to take an appeal which does not involve a reversal of that part of the judgment under which the benefit was received. 255 N.W.2d at 479. In Estreen, as in the present case, the appeal did not involve a reversal of the partial judgment in favor of the appellant. Dairy Farm did not receive the proceeds of the four cows on condition that it relinquish any right to other proceeds. [T]he acceptance of payment under a jdugment for less than the amount claimed does not prevent an appeal to modify the judgment or to increase the recovery to the full amount claimed. Id. 22