Court Opinion

ID: 9520178
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:32:43.64102+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:45:42.313031
License: Public Domain

Wingert, J.
{dissenting). I cannot agree that the complaint fails to state a cause of action under the safe-place statute. In my opinion the toboggan slide as described therein is a “structure” constituting a “public building” as that term is defined by sec. 101.01 (12), Stats., and which the owner is required b)r sec. 101.06 to “so construct, repair, or maintain ... as to render the same safe.”
The complaint describes an integral unit, comprising a wooden platform, an inclined wooden sliding track surfaced with ice from the platform to a point nearer the surface of the ground, and from thence a sliding track made of ice blocks with ice-block railings or guides. This is a structure; a thing that has been constructed. It is immaterial that the *69part alleged to have been defective was made of ice instead of wood, steel, or concrete. The case differs from Cegelski v. Green Bay, 231 Wis. 89, 285 N. W. 343, where the toboggans slid on the surface of the ground as it was covered with snow or ice. A snow-covered strip of ground is not a “structure,” but the raised artificial track of ice blocks may qualify as one.
By the statutory definition, sec. 101.01 (12), ‘‘any structure” is a “public building” within the scope of the safe-place statute, if it is “used in whole or in part as a place of resort, assemblage, . . . traffic, occupancy, or use by the public.” The toboggan slide described in the complaint meets those specifications. The complaint alleges that it was “used in whole or in part as a place of resort and assemblage for occupancy and use by the public” in a public park maintained by the city; an allegation of ultimate fact which, if proved, would bring the slide within the coverage of the statute.
The decisions of this court have perhaps not been altogether consistent in drawing the line between structures that are within or without the statutory definition of “public building.” I think that the present case falls within the principle of the cases in which a bathing pier, a swimming pool, and temporary bleachers at an athletic field have been held to be “public buildings” within the meaning of the statute (Feirn v. Shorewood Hills, 253 Wis. 418, 34 N. W. (2d) 107; Flesch v. Lancaster, 264 Wis. 234, 58 N. W. (2d) 710; Bent v. Jonet, 213 Wis. 635, 252 N. W. 290), and is not controlled by the sidewalk, step, and concourse cases referred to in the majority opinion.
The words of the safe-place statute are broad enough, giving them their ordinary usage, to cover the toboggan slide. I cannot believe the legislature intended them to have a narrowly restricted interpretation with respect to amusement facilities installed at public parks for intended use by large numbers of children.
*70I also think that the complaint sufficiently states that the slide was not “safe,” when it alleges that the defendant “designed, constructed, and maintained a curve in said slide . . . in close proximity to several large trees, rendering the same unsafe and dangerous for users thereof.” Toboggan sleds attain high speeds, and we should not say as a matter of law that a curve could not render the slide unsafe.
I would therefore affirm the circuit court’s order overruling the demurrer.
I am authorized to say that Mr. Justice Steinle and Mr. Justice Fairchild join in this opinion.