The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Wisconsin
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Wis. Const. art. IV; 2021 Wisconsin Act 4 § 8, creating Wis. Stat. § 895.476; § 9(1) (retroactivity)
- Issued
- 2021-02-25 Feb. 25, 2021
- Effective
- 2021-02-27 (day after publication, Wis. Stat. § 991.11); immunity reaches acts and omissions 'Beginning March 1, 2020' and applies retroactively to all claims except actions filed before the effective date (§ 9(1)) (read as 2021-02-27)
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing since Feb. 27, 2021 (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Standing dutyOperating conditionOther
- Addressees
- employers; owners or persons in control of premises; every partnership, corporation, association, governmental entity, tribal entity, school, institution of higher education and nonprofit organization
- Character
- liability shield condition
- Collection
- Standing duties: Wisconsin DUT-WI
Operative words
(2) Beginning March 1, 2020, an entity is immune from civil liability... caused by an act or omission resulting in or relating to exposure... to the novel coronavirus... in the course of or through the performance or provision of the entity's functions or services. (3) Subsection (2) does not apply if the act or omission involves reckless or wanton conduct or intentional misconduct.
Penalty
Not a penal statute; the immunity is lost for 'reckless or wanton conduct or intentional misconduct' (sub. (3)).
What it required
Immunity from civil exposure claims for every 'entity' (defined to include any 'employer or business owner, employee, agent, or independent contractor' and 'an employer covered under ch. 108') from March 1, 2020, withheld where the act or omission 'involves reckless or wanton conduct or intentional misconduct'; § 895.476(4) makes the immunity 'in addition to, not in lieu of, other immunity granted by law,' and the Act repeals no duty under ch. 252, ch. 254 or § 101.11.
Retrieval noteWisconsin's general shield carries no compliance-with-guidance condition; the condition appears in the health-care shield of 2019 Wis. Act 185 § 98, Wis. Stat. § 895.4801 (Ex. WI-032), recorded below. The Act's own text is what is recorded: the exception for reckless or wanton conduct is stated, and the standing duties are untouched (sub. (4)).