Milwaukee County v. Schmidt, Garden & Erikson

This appeal turns on the answer to a single question: On March 18, 1959, six years prior to the commencement of this action, had the statute of limitations started to run on such action against the plaintiff?

The trial court correctly saw this as the lone issue in this controversy and in holding that sec. 893.19 (5), Stats., rather than sec. 893.19 (3), applied in this matter, the trial court necessarily concluded that the cause of action was not in contract but in tort. Since either subsection invokes a six-year statute of limitation, the crucial inquiry must be as to from which event the…