Commentary: Proposed bill in Wisconsin could make me rich!

Byline: David Ziemer

I think I might be leaving the Wisconsin Law Journal to go back to private practice, depending on the passage of certain legislation pending in the Assembly. I think it could make me very wealthy.

Before joining the Law Journal, I spent nine years doing criminal defense, specializing in sexual assault cases. I tried many cases, defending everything from patently implausible claims to some of the most heinous sex crimes in Wisconsin.

It would be valuable experience should AB 453 become law.

Currently, sec. 893.57 provides that a civil claim alleging sexual assault of a child must be brought before the plaintiff turns 35 years of age. However, according to an Oct. 22 press release from the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Inc., that is arbitrary.

The standard statute of limitations for intentional torts, such as sexual assault, is two years, under sec. 893.57. For minors, sec. 893.16 tolls the statute of limitations for torts other than sexual assault, so it does not begin to run until the plaintiff turns 18.

So under current law, an adult who is injured by a garden variety intentional tort has two years to bring a claim. If the person is a day short of 18, he or she has two years and a day to bring a claim.

And if the intentional tort is a sexual assault, a plaintiff attacked on his or her 18th birthday still has just the two years to bring a claim. But if the person is a day short of 18, he or she has 17 years to bring a claim.

I can certainly see why some people would find that arbitrary. Or why some would say people shouldn't be able to wait until they are 34 to sue for things that happened when they were children. Or why some would dryly observe that all statutes of limitation are inherently arbitrary.

But the solution to the arbitrariness that has...