Estate of Engebose v. Moraine Ridge Ltd. Ptshp

In Estate of Engebose v. Moraine Ridge Ltd. Ptshp., 228 Wis. 2d 860, 864, 598 N.W.2d 584 (Ct. App. 1999), the Court held that an estate's "recourse to the benefit of an available statutory amendment is not an element of prejudice that precludes the trial court from granting the estate's motion to voluntarily dismiss the originally filed claim without prejudice." Id. at 867. The Engebose court noted: "While it is true that the defendant faces the prospect of higher wrongful death limits, the legislature specifically provided for the existence of higher limits and the application of those limits measured by the date of filing." Id. at 865. Consequently, the court concluded that the disadvantages flowing from the legislature's decision to amend the wrongful death statute to provide for higher limits is "not the concept of prejudice that is inherent in the cases analyzing 805.04(2)." Id.