Town of Fifield v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance

The defendants appeal a judgment awarding the Town of Fifield $94,000 for the damages it sustained when Gary Halverson drove his forty-three-ton pulpwood truck onto a town bridge with a posted weight capacity of four tons. Halverson admitted liability for destroying the bridge, and the jury awarded the town $34,000 for its loss of the bridge and $13,000 for consequential damages. The trial court doubled these damages pursuant to sec. 86.14(2), Stats.1 Because the $34,000 award is based on testimony that the court should not have admitted, we reverse the judgment and *520remand this matter for a…