Kallas Millwork Corporation and Another, Plaintiffs and Respondents v. Square D Company and Another, Defendants…

Summary

The Wisconsin Supreme Court held that a high-pressure fire-protection water system was, as a matter of law, an 'improvement to real property' under sec. 893.155, Stats., rejecting the trial court's view that the question was one for the jury. The court then declared sec. 893.155, a six-year statute of repose protecting designers, planners, supervisors and constructors of improvements to real property, unconstitutional under the equal protection clauses of the United States and Wisconsin Constitutions because its classification arbitrarily immunized a narrow class while excluding similarly situated defendants such as materialmen and expressly excepting owners and occupants. The court found arguable merit in the argument that the statute also violates art. I, sec. 9, of the Wisconsin Constitution by denying a remedy for a recognized wrong, but did not rest its decision on that ground. The order overruling the demurrer was affirmed and the cause remanded to permit the defendant to answer.