Court Opinion

ID: 9726498
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 12:53:36.908872+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:27.812273
License: Public Domain

ANN WALSH BRADLEY, J.
¶ 37. (concurring). When interpreting a statute we must discern the intent of the legislature. This rule of statutory construction sounds simple. Yet, the gulf between the statutory language of Wis. Stat. § 895.52 and a reasonable conception of the statute's purpose obfuscates a determination of that intent.
¶ 38. When enacting the recreational immunity statute, did the legislature intend that it apply to an industrial yard? Did the legislature intend that it provide immunity from liability in virtually all cases involving the outdoor activities of children? Because I agree with the majority's answers to these questions, I join the opinion. I write separately to emphasize the lack of a coherent statutory purpose and scheme that frustrates our application of the statute.
, ¶ 39. The statute as written is difficult to apply. Its laundry list of specific "recreational activities" couched between two sweeping generalizations of what that term means is at the same time all-encompassing *316and overly specific. While it is well suited to handle a run-of-the-mill case, such as a softball injury or a camping accident, at the edges of the spectrum are activities that test the definition provided by the statute. In such cases we are required to create new formulations, all the while in the context of a shifting and evasive legislative purpose.
¶ 40. We have maintained that the purpose of the recreational immunity statute is to serve the public policy of encouraging landowners to open their property to recreational use. However, as the dissent correctly notes, the legislature's change in its perception of the statute has effectively divorced this public policy from the application of the statute. As a result of the legislative sea change, the statute serves simply to further the goal of relieving landowners from liability, bar none.
¶ 41. With relief from liability as the only purpose of the statute, what is our guiding light in construing the statute? Where do we draw the lines?
¶42. The answer supposedly lies in the amorphous definition of "recreational activity." This case illustrates the deficiencies of such an approach. As we strain to identify the controlling principles, the parties engage in fruitless debate over whether playing in bales of paper is sufficiently analogous to "exploring caves" so as to entitle the defendant to immunity. We could avoid such artificial distinctions if we were able to address the policy of encouraging landowners to open their property to recreational activities. How can that policy be served by providing immunity to the owner of an industrial yard who allegedly has failed to take adequate precautions against the potential for intruding children?
*317¶ 43. One of the most vexing difficulties the current statute creates is the seemingly universal application of "recreational activity" to the lives of children. With limited exception, all outdoor activities that children engage in during their idle hours might constitute a recreational activity under § 895.52(l)(g). The majority opinion correctly acknowledges this and avoids this harsh result. I do not believe that the legislature intended blanket immunity in cases involving young children. However, absent the majority's construction, the statute would seemingly relieve landowners of any duty to children engaged in an outdoor activity.
¶ 44. Given the difficulties inherent in the statute as currently drafted, I believe it is time that the legislature revisit it. A coherent purpose and scheme are needed to provide guidance, consistency, and reason to our application of the statute. I urge the law revision committee and the revisor of statutes to exercise their statutory duties under Wis. Stat. § 13.83(1) and § 13.93(2)(d) and examine the statute, as it is in need of revision.
¶ 45. I am authorized to state that Chief Justice SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON joins this opinion.