Anthony E. Johnson and Melissa Johnson v. Deltadynamics, Inc.

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

We are asked to interpret the phrase “foreign cause of action” in a Wisconsin statute that provides that if a suit is brought in a Wisconsin court “on a foreign cause of action and the foreign period of limitation which applies has expired, no action may be maintained in this state.” Wis. Stat. § 893.07(2). Anthony Johnson, the plaintiff, was severely injured in 1983 at his place of work when a machine for testing motor vehicle transmissions malfunctioned. He is a resident of Indiana, and the accident occurred there. The machine had been made, however, in Wisconsin, in…