WI · jury_instructions
Wis JI-Civil 8035
Highway or Sidewalk Defect or Insufficiency
Every municipality has the duty to exercise ordinary care to construct, maintain, and
repair its (highways) (sidewalks1) so that they will be reasonably safe for public travel.
This duty does not require the municipality to guarantee the safety of its (highways)
(sidewalks) or render them absolutely safe for all persons who travel upon them. It is
sufficient if they are constructed (and) (maintained) so as to be reasonably safe.
A (highway) (sidewalk) is defective when it is not (constructed) (maintained) so as to
be reasonably safe for anticipated public use.
(However, before you may find (municipality) negligent because of the existence of a
defective condition, you must first find that (municipality) through its officers or
employees had either actual notice of the defect, or constructive notice, because the defect
had existed for such a length of time before the accident that the municipality through its
officers and employees in the exercise of ordinary care should have discovered it in time
to remedy the defect.)
You may consider the topography and development of the locality (the standard of
sidewalk construction which this part of the municipality had attained), as well as the
amount and character of traffic on the (highway) (sidewalk) and the intended use of the
(highway) (sidewalk) by the public.
History
Wis JI-Civil 8035 (2/2025). Release No. 58. Wisconsin Court System, 2/2025. Prepared by the Wisconsin Civil Jury Instructions Committee of the Wisconsin Judicial Conference with the University of Wisconsin Law School; posted by the Wisconsin State Law Library with the University's permission.
Provenance
- Source
- wilawlibrary.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-24
- Edition
- 2026-09-24
- Content hash
2a8c1c8c1a4d6cd3eaaffb3c67fa4d98ff39002408b8191b2a45f44418ac2a34
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