City of Neenah v. Alsteen

The defendant sought the adverse examination of the plaintiff’s police officers under the provisions of sec. 326.12, Stats.

This statute provides that the. right of adverse examination shall be available “in any civil action.”

The trial judge, however, took the position that the particular violation was unlike the ordinary civil action in that it partook of many of the characteristics of a criminal action. In his opinion he particularly stressed the recent case of Madison v. Geier (1965), 27 Wis. (2d) 687, 135 N. W. (2d) 761, which held that where conduct complained of under an ordinance is…