Highway orders – Third-day period

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WI Supreme Court

Case Name: Margaret Pulera v. Town of Richmond and Town of Johnstown

Case No.: 2017 WI 61

Focus: Highway orders – Third-day period

Margaret Pulera (Pulera) appeals dismissals of the petitions for certiorari review of highway orders recorded in Rock and Walworth Counties. The issue certified is: what event triggers the thirty-day period under Wis. Stat. § 68.13(1)(2013-14)4 during which certiorari review may be obtained for a town board’s highway order. To address this issue, we must interpret the terms of § 68.13(1), the statute affording certiorari review, in accord with Wis. Stat. § 82.15, the statute governing appeals of highway orders. We conclude that the thirty-day period during which certiorari review is available for a town board’s highway order to lay out, alter or discontinue a highway begins to run on the date that the highway order is recorded by the register of deeds.6 This interpretation best comports with the language and structure of Wis. Stat. § 68.13 and Wis. Stat. § 82.15. And, in addition, it provides aggrieved persons and parties a date certain for commencement of the thirty-day period during which judicial review of a highway order is available.

Reversed and remanded

Dissent: A.W. Bradley, Abrahamson

Concurring: R.G. Bradley

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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.