476 N.W.2d 316 | Wis. Ct. App. | 1991
Theodore Borowski appeals from an order denying his motion to suppress certain evidence and from an order revoking his operating privileges for improperly refusing to submit to chemical breath testing.
Appeal no. 91-1614 is from an order revoking Borowski's operating privilege because he improperly refused to submit to chemical breath testing. See sec. 343.305(10), Stats. The order was rendered orally and had not been reduced to writing and filed with the clerk of circuit court's office prior to the filing of the notice of appeal.
Section 808.03(1), Stats., permits an appeal as of right from a final judgment or order which is "a judgment or order entered in accordance with s. 806.06(1) (b) or 807.11(2) or a disposition recorded in docket entries in . . . traffic regulation . . . cases prosecuted in circuit court which disposes of the entire matter in litigation as
Borowski notes that there is an exception to this rule for traffic regulation cases. In such cases, the final judgment or order requirement is satisfied by a disposition recorded in the clerk's docket entries. Section 808.03(1), Stats. The clerk's docket entries in appeal no. 91-1614 contain, a disposition of the refusal issue.
The question, then, is whether a refusal hearing is a "traffic regulation case" as that term is used in sec. 808.03(1), Stats. Construction of a statute is a question of law that we review de novo. Nick v. Toyota Motor Sales, 160 Wis. 2d 373, 380, 466 N.W.2d 215, 218 (Ct. App. 1991). We first resort to the language of the statute. Id. "A statute is ambiguous if reasonably well-informed persons could understand it in more than one way." Id.
Section 808.03(1), Stats., does not define the term "traffic regulation case." Borowski asserts that the authority to revoke an operator's privilege únder sec. 343.305, Stats., is a traffic regulation. However, reasonably well-informed persons could understand the term "traffic regulation cases" to mean only those cases involving statutes that regulate the operation of a vehicle. We conclude the term "traffic regulation cases" is ambiguous.
"When a statute is found to be ambiguous, rules of construction require us to look at the statutory context,
Appeal no. 91-1613-CR is from an order denying Borowski's motion to suppress statements made by him and results of field sobriety tests and Intoxilyzer test results in a prosecution for operating while intoxicated. The order denying the motion did not dispose of the entire matter in litigation as to any party and is not final under sec. 808.03(1), Stats.
In recognition of the lack of finality of the order, Borowski requests in his reconsideration motion that we grant leave to appeal from a nonfinal order. A petition for leave to appeal must be filed within ten days of entry of the nonfinal order. Rule 809.50(1), Stats. This section contemplates entry
By the Court. — Appeals dismissed. Petition for leave to appeal from a nonfinal order denied.
We consolidate these appeals on our own motion. Rule 809.10(3), Stats.
An order is entered when it is filed in the office of the clerk of circuit court. Section 807.11(2), Stats.