814.01 Costs allowed to plaintiff.
(1) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, costs shall be allowed of course to the plaintiff upon a recovery.
(3) In an action for assault and battery, false imprisonment, libel, slander, malicious prosecution, invasion of privacy or seduction, a plaintiff who recovers less than $50 damages shall recover no more costs than damages.
History: Sup. Ct. Order, 67 Wis. 2d 585, 761 (1975); Stats. 1975 s. 814.01; 1981 c. 317.
This section does not provide for the awarding of costs to a party in an arbitration proceeding. This section requires a litigated court proceeding. Finkenbinder v. State Farm Mutual Insurance Co. 215 Wis. 2d 145, 572 N.W.2d 501 (Ct. App. 1997), 97-0357.
For purposes of sub. (1), a prevailing plaintiff is a plaintiff who is awarded a recovery in a judgment, not a plaintiff who obtains a recovery as a result of a recovery dispute resolved by a trial. In this case, the circuit court correctly entered a judgment incorporating the parties' stipulations. Regardless of the jury's zero dollar verdict on the question of the plaintiff's pain and suffering resulting from the defendant's negligence, the plaintiff made a “recovery" when the court entered a final judgment that included a recovery in the stipulated amount of $10,052.07. Estate of Radley v. Ives, 2011 WI App 144, 337 Wis. 2d 677, 807 N.W.2d 633, 09-0653.