## Facts

- Ruth E. Wilcox, a Wisconsin resident, was injured while riding as a guest passenger in a car driven by Grant W. Wilcox, also a Wisconsin resident.
- The accident occurred in Nebraska during a trip involving a vehicle garaged in Wisconsin and insured under a Wisconsin-issued liability policy.
- Nebraska law included a guest statute limiting a guest passenger’s recovery against a host driver to gross negligence.
- Wisconsin law allowed a guest passenger to recover on proof of ordinary negligence.
- The plaintiff sued the driver and his liability insurer in Wisconsin, asserting an ordinary-negligence claim.

## Issues

1. Whether Wisconsin must apply the law of the place of injury (lex loci delicti) as an automatic rule in tort cases involving an out-of-state accident.
2. Whether Nebraska’s guest statute or Wisconsin’s ordinary-negligence rule governs a claim between Wisconsin domiciliaries arising from a Nebraska accident.

## Decision

- The Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed the judgment sustaining the demurrer.
- The court overruled prior Wisconsin precedent requiring automatic application of lex loci delicti in tort.
- The court adopted a flexible choice-of-law approach centered on which state has the most significant relationship and whose policies are most implicated.
- Applying that approach, the court held Wisconsin law governed the plaintiff’s claim and the complaint stated a claim for relief under ordinary negligence.

## Legal Principles

- Wisconsin tort choice-of-law is not controlled by an inflexible lex loci delicti rule; the governing law depends on a policy-oriented evaluation of the states’ connections and interests.
- A Wisconsin court may apply lex loci delicti, lex fori, or another state’s law when that selection best serves sound legal administration and justice in the circumstances presented.
- In host–guest automobile cases involving Wisconsin domiciliaries and a Wisconsin-centered relationship, Wisconsin’s compensatory policy and the expectations tied to Wisconsin-issued insurance can justify applying Wisconsin negligence standards despite an out-of-state accident.
- A Wisconsin-issued liability policy for a Wisconsin-garaged vehicle may be treated as written in contemplation of potential liability under Wisconsin law, binding the insurer to that risk allocation when Wisconsin has the stronger connection.

## Conclusion

The court replaced Wisconsin’s automatic lex loci delicti rule with a flexible, relationship-and-policy-based method and, on the pleadings, applied Wisconsin ordinary-negligence law rather than Nebraska’s guest statute, allowing the Wisconsin guest passenger’s claim to proceed.


Wilcox v. Wilcox, 26 Wis. 2d 617, 133 N.W.2d 408 (Wis. 1965)