Court Opinion

ID: 9722933
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:56:21.642199+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:42.675566
License: Public Domain

Currie, J.
(dissenting). I feel that I must respectfully dissent from the opinion of the court in this case as it is my conclusion that the plaintiff Insurance Company, which stands in the shoes of the owner of the stolen Cadillac, is not entitled to recover against the defendant parent under the provisions of sec. 85.08 (9) (c), Stats. I am in thorough accord with the holding of the learned trial judge, as stated in his memorandum opinion, that this statute was never intended to authorize the recovery of damages against the parent for harm done to a motor vehicle being operated by the minor in a situation where the minor’s possession of the vehicle was obtained by a criminal act. To hold otherwise seems to me to reach an absurd result.
A statute should not be contrued so as to work an absurd result, even when the language seems clear and unambiguous. Connell v. Luck (1953), 264 Wis. 282, 58 N. W. (2d) 633; Laridaen v. Railway Express Agency, Inc. (1951), 259 Wis. 178, 47 N. W. (2d) 727; Pfingsten v. Pfingsten (1916), 164 Wis. 308, 159 N. W. 921:
I would, therefore, affirm the order.