Court Opinion

ID: 9705439
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:06:18.804581+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:11.332020
License: Public Domain

JON P. WILCOX, J.
¶ 55. (,dissenting). The majority concludes that the legislature did not intend a replevin judgment based on improper venue to result in a legally binding and enforceable judgment when the creditor resorts to nonjudicial enforcement. Majority at 17, 23. Based on an error in venue, the creditor is, in effect, strictly liable and subject to disproportionate damages and attorney fees for enforcing its "invalid" *28judgment (for wrongful repossession and prohibited debt collection). See Wis. Stat. §§ 425.304, 425.305, 425.308 and 427.105.1 The 1971 legislature could not have intended an error in venue to result in such unfair consequences.
¶ 56. It is undisputed that the customers defaulted on their consumer credit loans. In fact, they have never raised a valid defense for their non-payment. Yet today the customers have hit the jackpot by simply defaulting on their consumer credit transaction. I believe the legislature intended the Wisconsin Consumer Act to provide more of a balance between the consumers' and the creditors' interests.2 The balance is now tipped, and only further legislative action can equalize the scale.
¶ 57. Because I do not agree with the majority's mandate, I dissent.
*29¶ 58. I am authorized to state that Justices N. Patrick Crooks and David T. Prosser join in this dissenting opinion.

 According to the majority, Community Credit is liable for the following damages: twice the amount of the finance charge in connection with the transaction up to $1,000 or the actual damages, including incidental and consequential damages, Wis. Stat. § 425.304(1) and (2); customer retains the goods, services or money without obligation to pay any amount, and recovery of any sums paid to the merchant, Wis. Stat. § 425.305; reasonable amount for attorney fees, Wis. Stat. § 425.308; and actual damages, including damages caused by emotional distress or mental anguish with or without accompanying physical injury, Wis. Stat. § 427.105.

 Jeffrey Davis, Legislative Restriction of Creditor Powers and Remedies: A Case Study of the Negotiation and Drafting of the Wisconsin Consumer Act, 72 Mich. L. Rev. 3, 6 (1973).