Court Opinion

ID: 9687969
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:55:45.946762+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:33.820879
License: Public Domain

*400Hallows, C. J.
(dissenting). The amendment to sec. 895.045, our comparative-negligence statute, is remedial as is the statute itself. The change from “not as great as” to “not greater than” created no new cause of action but merely modified a defense of contributory negligence — a defense we have held must be pleaded. Nelson v. Hansen (1960), 10 Wis. 2d 107, 102 N. W. 2d 251. The history of the doctrine of comparative negligence as given in my dissent in Vincent v. Pabst Brewing Co. (1970), 47 Wis. 2d 120, 177 N. W. 2d 513, demonstrates the remedial character of sec. 895.045. The defendant in this case has no vested rights in a tort defense, the merits of which are not determined until trial and upon which he did not and could not very well rely in causing the injuries to the plaintiff. Being remedial in nature, the amendment applies to existing causes of action, the same as a change in the burden of proof does. See State ex rel. Sowle v. Brittich (1959), 7 Wis. 2d 353, 96 N. W. 2d 337.
The case of Brewster v. Ludtke (1933), 211 Wis. 344, 247 N. W. 449, relied on by the majority, is weak authority. Without discussion of the problem or citation of any authority, the court indirectly said in one sentence at the end of the opinion after it decided the only issue in the case, i.e., the contributory negligence of the plaintiff as a matter of law, that the facts were not subject to the 1931 comparative-negligence section. I would not be bound by the unreasoned Brewster Case and I would hold the amendment to sec. 895.045, Stats., remedial and apply it to the facts of this case.