Negligence – Immunity

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WI Court of Appeals – District IV

Case Name: Travis R. Mueller v. Mark P. Palan

Case No.: 2015AP2455

Officials: Kloppenburg, P.J., Lundsten and Sherman, JJ.

Focus: Negligence – Immunity

Travis Mueller was injured while operating an allterrain vehicle (ATV). Mueller was helping to assemble fish cribs on the frozen surface of Blackhawk Lake as part of a volunteer project organized by Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Biologist Eugene Van Dyck and Palan’s Outpost Sporting Goods and its owners Mark Palan and Barbara Palan. Mueller filed a complaint alleging that his injuries resulted from the negligence of Van Dyck and the Palan defendants. The circuit court dismissed Mueller’s complaint against Van Dyck and the Palans on the ground that Van Dyck and the Palans are immune from liability under Wisconsin’s recreational immunity statute, WIS. STAT. § 895.52 (2013-14).  Mueller appeals, arguing that the recreational immunity statute does not apply because the allegations of the complaint make it clear that he was not engaged in a recreational activity when he was injured, and the Palans were not “owners” of the lake as that term is used in the recreational immunity statute. We reject Mueller’s arguments and affirm

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.