904.12 Statement of injured; admissibility; copies.

(1) In actions for damages caused by personal injury, no statement made or writing signed by the injured person within 72 hours of the time the injury happened or accident occurred, shall be received in evidence unless such evidence would be admissible as a present sense impression, excited utterance or a statement of then existing mental, emotional or physical condition as described in s. 908.03 (1), (2) or (3).

(2) Every person who takes a written statement from any injured person or person sustaining damage with respect to any accident or with respect to any injury to person or property, shall, at the time of taking such statement, furnish to the person making such statement, a true, correct and complete copy thereof. Any person taking or having possession of any written statement or a copy of said statement, by any injured person, or by any person claiming damage to property with respect to any accident or with respect to any injury to person or property, shall, at the request of the person who made such statement or the person's personal representative, furnish the person who made such statement or the person's personal representative, a true, honest and complete copy thereof within 20 days after written demand. No written statement by any injured person or any person sustaining damage to property shall be admissible in evidence or otherwise used or referred to in any way or manner whatsoever in any civil action relating to the subject matter thereof, if it is made to appear that a person having possession of such statement refused, upon the request of the person who made the statement or the person's personal representatives, to furnish such true, correct and complete copy thereof as herein required.

(3) This section does not apply to any statement taken by any officer having the power to make arrests.

History: Sup. Ct. Order, 59 Wis. 2d R1, R99 (1973); 1991 a. 32.

The rule on the admissibility of statements made or writings signed by an injured party within 72 hours of an accident under sub. (1) does not to apply to releases. The supreme court's interpretation of the predecessor statute to sub. (1) in Buckland v. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway Co. 160 Wis. 484 (1915) that the legislature did not intend the prohibition on such writings to apply to a release of claims is controlling. Hart v. Artisan and Truckers Casualty Company, 2017 WI App 45, 377 Wis. 2d 177, 900 N.W.2d 610, 16-1196.

Postaccident Statements by Injured Parties. LaFave. Wis. Law. Sept. 1997.