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Steiner v. Wisconsin American Mutual Insurance Co.6/9/2005
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Another hearing on the matter was held on December 1, 1999, and resulted in a document entitled "Final Judgment." That document confirmed the October 19, 1999 order "in all respects" and stated "all right, title and interest of [the land contract vendees] . . . shall cease to exist."
The court of appeals concluded that "the only reasonable explanation" for the discrepancies of the redemption dates in the documents of this matter "is that the period of redemption described in the December 1 final judgment is a mistake." According to the court of appeals, the parties agreed to change the remedy to strict foreclosure after September 7 and before the judgment entered on October 19 but agreed to use the same 30-day redemption period established by the court on September 7 for a sale. Under this reasoning the redemption period expired on October 7, 1999. There is no support in the record for the court of appeals' explanation of the discrepancy.
Regardless of possible explanations for the numerous conflicting dates, we conclude under our interpretation of Wis. Stat. ยง 846.30 that the equitable title of the Steiner Corporation (the land contract vendee) did not revert to the land contract vendors until December 1, 1999, the date of the final order. Thus, Steiner Corporation had equitable title to the property as vendee under the land contract when Patricia Steiner fell in the dry well on October 15, 1999.
VI.
The parties disagree whether Robert Steiner was an agent of Steiner Corporation at the time of the accident. If he was, his allegedly negligent actions (leaving the well uncovered) would be imputed to the Corporation and WAMIC would, according to plaintiffs, be required to indemnify him for Patricia's injuries.
The injury is alleged to have occurred as follows:
Robert Steiner, despite having sold his interest in the land, continued to perform maintenance at the resort, including draining water from the cabins in preparation for winter. The procedure, which Robert was following on October 15, 1999, was to drain the water from the cabins into dry wells. Covering each dry well was a removable wood cover, under which was a piece of Styrofoam. The wood cover protected the well should a car or other large object traverse it; the Styrofoam cover underneath was meant to keep the water from freezing. Robert Steiner had removed the wood coverings from some of the dry wells, but not the Styrofoam coverings.
Patricia Steiner, concerned about her husband, approached a dry well to see if he had fallen in. She noticed that the Styrofoam covering was still in place, but when she turned away from the well she slipped and fell into the dry well.
Robert Steiner heard Patricia Steiner's cries for help and found her wedged into the bottom of a dry well. She sustained a variety of personal injuries.
Neither the circuit court nor the court of appeals addressed Robert Steiner's possible status as an agent of the Steiner Corporation. Likewise, we will not address that issue here.
In summary, we hold that equitable title remains with a land contract vendee until a circuit court enters a final order, following the expiration of the redemption period for strict foreclosure, confirming the land contract vendee's failure to redeem. As a result, in the present case equitable title did not pass from the Steiner Corporation (the land contract vendee) to the land contract vendors until December 1, 1999, when an order confirming the nonredemption was entered. Accordingly, the Corporation had equitable title to the property under the land contract on October 15, 1999, the date of the plain
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