Court Opinion

ID: 9663017
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:26:00.096134+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:44.884250
License: Public Domain

DYKMAN, J.
(dissenting). I would affirm the circuit court because the plain meaning of secs. 340.01(18) and (34), Stats., compels the result that Britton’s vehicle fits the statutory definition of a farm truck.
Section 340.01, Stats., provides in part:
(18) “Farm truck” means a motor truck owned or leased and operated by a farmer and used primarily for *230the transportation of supplies, farm equipment and products on the owner’s farm or between his or her farms, the transportation of farm products from the owner’s farm to market, and the transportation of supplies to his or her farm.
It is undisputed that Britton is a farmer and uses the vehicle in question primarily for the transportation of farm products from Britton’s farm to market. The only question is whether the vehicle is a “motor truck.”
The majority concludes that because the legislature has defined the vehicle in question as a “truck tractor” in sec. 340.01(73), Stats., that it cannot be a farm truck. Section 340.01(73) has many uses in our statutes which have nothing to do with farmers or reduced fees. The term “truck tractor” appears in the following statutes, secs.: 70.112(5), 194.04(3) (a), 218.01 (lb), 218.01(6) (b)5, 340.01 (15f), 340.01 (67r), 341.05(12), 341.07(1), 341.07(2), 341.11(2) and (4), 341.15(1), 341.25(1) (e), (f), (g), (ge) and (2), 341.26(3) (g), 341.30(1) (d), 341.305(2) (a) and (b), 341.41 (8) (a), 341.41 (9) (a), 341.42(4), 341.51 (2m), 346.14(2), 347.02(4), 347.16(2) (a), 347.28(1), 347.29(1), 347.41, 347.45(1), 347.46(2), 348.02(5), 348.07(2) (fm), 348.15(3) (b), 348.185, 348.-26(3), Stats. There is no need to consider sec. 340.01 (73) because it is irrelevant whether the vehicle is a truck tractor. The legislature has not exempted truck tractors used by farmers from high cost registration, it has exempted motor trucks used by farmers. The legislature has defined motor trucks in sec. 340.01(34): “ ‘Motor truck’ means every motor vehicle designed, used or maintained primarily for the transportation of property.”
The thing used by Britton is concededly a motor vehicle. It is used primarily for the transportation of property. Whether it transports the property by carrying it on its back or pulling it in a trailer is not relevant. The *231thing fits the description of a motor truck. It is used for the purposes described in sec. 340.01(18), Stats., by the persons described in sec. 340.01(18). It is entitled to a reduced registration fee under sec. 341.26(3) (a), Stats.