Estate of Stanley G. Miller v. Diane Storey

¶ 114.

Unlike the majority, I conclude that civil theft is an "action based in tort" within the meaning of Wis. Stat. § 799.01(l)(cr). Therefore, the Estate's compensatory damages should be capped at $5,000, and the Estate is not entitled to double costs.1

¶ 115. In reaching an opposite conclusion, the majority relies entirely on unremarkable truisms and simply ignores the wealth of prior cases in which Wisconsin courts have either explicitly or implicitly characterized certain statutory causes of action as "torts" or as "sounding in tort."

¶ 116. The majority repeatedly draws distinctions…