2017 Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 893. Limitations of commencement of actions and proceedings; procedure for claims against governmental units.
893.15 Effect of an action in a non-Wisconsin forum on a Wisconsin cause of action.
893.15 Effect of an action in a non-Wisconsin forum on a Wisconsin cause of action.
(1) In this section “a non-Wisconsin forum" means all courts, state and federal, in states other than this state and federal courts in this state.
(2) In a non-Wisconsin forum, the time of commencement or final disposition of an action is determined by the local law of the forum.
(3) A Wisconsin law limiting the time for commencement of an action on a Wisconsin cause of action is tolled from the period of commencement of the action in a non-Wisconsin forum until the time of its final disposition in that forum.
(4) Subsection (3) does not apply to an action commenced on a Wisconsin cause of action in a non-Wisconsin forum after the time when the action is barred by a law of the forum limiting the time for commencement of an action.
(5) If an action is commenced in a non-Wisconsin forum on a Wisconsin cause of action after the time when the Wisconsin period of limitation has expired but before the foreign period of limitation has expired, the action in the non-Wisconsin forum has no effect on the Wisconsin period of limitation.
Judicial Council Committee's Note, 1979: Sub. (1) defines the term “a non-Wisconsin forum". “State" is defined in s. 990.01 (40) to include the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and territories of the United States.
Sub. (2) determines the commencement and termination of an action in a non-Wisconsin forum by the law of that forum. “Local law" is referred to so that the non-Wisconsin court determining the commencement of an action in, for example, Illinois will use Illinois law, not including any other law which an Illinois court might use under a choice of law theory.
Sub. (3) applies the tolling effect of Wisconsin statutes to actions on Wisconsin causes of action brought in federal courts in Wisconsin and to all other courts, state and federal, in the United States.
Sub. (4) prevents the commencement of an action in a forum whose statute of limitations has run from extending the Wisconsin tolling period.
Sub. (5) prevents the maintenance of an action in a non-Wisconsin forum from extending a Wisconsin statute of limitations. [Bill 326-A]
A voluntarily dismissed federal action does not toll the Wisconsin statute of limitations. A voluntarily dismissed federal action is a nullity, having no effect on a statute of limitations. Culbert v. Ciresi, 2003 WI App 158, 266 Wis. 2d 189, 667 N.W.2d 825, 02-3320.
