Fitzgerald v. Meissner & Hicks, Inc.
Wisconsin Supreme Court
38 Wis. 2d 571, 157 N.W.2d 595 (1968)
- Written by Salina Kennedy, JD
Facts
After Marie Fitzgerald’s (plaintiff) husband was injured while working on a construction site, Fitzgerald sued the owners of the site (owners) (defendants) for loss of consortium. Relying on precedent that barred a wife from maintaining a cause of action for loss of consortium, the trial court granted the owners’ motion to dismiss the complaint. Fitzgerald appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. After the appeal was filed but before it was decided, the court issued its opinion in Moran v. Quality Aluminum Casting Co., 150 N.W.2d 137 (1967), overruling a previous case and establishing a new rule allowing a wife to sue for loss of consortium. The court applied the new rule retroactively to the parties to Moran, but the opinion was silent as to whether the new rule was generally applicable retroactively or prospectively.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Beilfuss, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 814,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.