Washington County v. Kieper
Wisconsin Supreme Court
438 N.W.2d 597, 148 Wis. 2d 953 (1989)
- Written by Elliot Stern, JD
Facts
Kevin Kieper (defendant) was driving a dirt bike on a highway. Kieper’s driver’s license had previously been revoked, and Kieper was cited by Washington County (plaintiff) for operating a motor vehicle after revocation of his license in violation of the Wisconsin state statute prohibiting such conduct. The dirt bike was an off-road racing motorcycle. Kieper moved to dismiss the charge on the grounds that the dirt bike was not a motor vehicle within the meaning of the statute. The trial court agreed and dismissed the charge. Washington County appealed. Kieper argued that in order for a person to violate the statute, the vehicle involved must be one that required a license to drive and required registration. Kieper noted that a license was not required to drive a dirt bike and dirt bikes could not be registered. Therefore, he argued, operating a dirt bike could not give rise to a cause of action under the statute.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning ()
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 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.
