Chapter 985

985.07(3)(a) (a) All notices designated as class 3 notices require 3 insertions.

985.07(3)(b) (b) Any legal notice not otherwise designated shall be a class 3 notice unless the time permitted by law necessitates a class 2 or class 1 notice, except that any notice required by law on January 2, 1966, which is not otherwise designated, shall be a class 1 notice.

985.07(4) (4) The classification provided herein does not apply to notices of public election or referenda or to notices governed by s. 815.31 but such notices shall be governed by the specific statutes relating thereto.

985.07 History History: Sup. Ct. Order, 67 Wis. 2d 585, 784 (1975).

985.075 985.075 Substance of 2nd and 3rd insertions.

985.075(1) (1) In this section, “summary” means a brief, precise, and plain-language description that can be easily understood.

985.075(2) (2) Except as provided in sub. (3), when a governing body of a municipality is required by law to publish a legal notice as a class 2 notice or a class 3 notice, the governing body may, for the 2nd and 3rd insertions and in lieu of publishing the full text of the material required to be included in the first insertion of the legal notice, publish a summary of the material included in the first insertion in the same manner in which the first insertion was published. The governing body shall ensure that the summary is accompanied by a notice that the full text of the material included in the first insertion is available for viewing at all of the following locations:

985.075(2)(a) (a) As an electronic document on the governing body’s Internet site.

985.075(2)(b) (b) In the newspaper in which the initial insertion was published.

985.075(2)(c) (c) As an electronic document on the Wisconsin newspapers legal notices Internet site.

985.075(2)(d) (d) In a readily accessible physical location within the municipality.

985.075(3) (3) This section does not apply to a legal notice required to be published by a municipality by order of a court or to a legal notice related to court proceedings required to be published by a municipality.

985.075 History History: 2017 a. 353.

985.08 985.08 Fees for publishing.

985.08(1) (1) The fee for publishing a legal notice shall be not more than the rate issued by the department of administration for the first and subsequent insertions per standard line. The charge for the publication of a facsimile ballot shall be computed as if the area occupied by the ballot were set in standard lines. If a legal notice contains tabulated matter, then the fees allowable for the area containing such matter shall be increased 50 percent of the standard line base rate without adjustment for circulation premium. Composed matter shall be interpreted as being tabular when it contains 2 or more justifications per line. The standard line rate shall be reviewed annually, the adjustment, if any, to be effective on January 1 of each year to reflect the relevant change in costs of the newspaper publishing industry during the previous year, as determined by the department of administration in consultation with representatives of the daily and weekly newspaper industry of the state. In making the determination the department shall base the standard line rate upon the factors of wage and independent indices of newsprint costs in the proportions determined by the department to be proper. No additional fee may be charged for placing a legal notice on the Wisconsin newspapers legal notices Internet site pursuant to s. 985.02 (3).

985.08(2) (2) 

985.08(2)(a) (a) All legal notices shall be in Arial type face. A standard line shall be 6-point Arial on a 6-point leading without spacing between the lines, and 11 picas in length. One inch equals 6 postscript pica and 72 postscript points. Nonstandard line lengths shall be allowed with adjustments in fees according to variations in line length. When the person or agency that places the notice elects not to use 6-point Arial, a larger Arial up to 12 point may be used; in which case adjustment shall be made in line rate, proportionately decreasing for sizes of type over 6-point to produce the same net average compensation per column area. Such adjustments shall be evaluated by the department of administration which shall certify the same to any newspaper, public official or other interested party upon request, and such certification shall be presumptive evidence of the correct adjustments.

985.08(2)(b) (b) When electronic copy for the entire notice or substantial areas thereof is provided, eliminating typesetting, enlargements or reductions, or other changes by the newspaper, the maximum rate is the same as the maximum rate established under sub. (1) for subsequent insertions.

985.08(3) (3) The publisher may increase rates allowed by this section up to 15 per cent for each 4,000 of circulation or fraction thereof above 8,000 of circulation, based on previous year-end circulation figures, but not to exceed an additional increase of 75 percent.

985.08(4) (4) In all counties having a population of 750,000 or more, the fees for the publication of a legal notice may be equal to, but not in excess of, the regular publishing rate actually required of private advertisers for similar advertising matter.

985.08(5) (5) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no fee shall be paid and no public funds shall be used for subsidizing any privately owned newspaper for payment for any legal notice, which newspaper has not previously qualified as a public newspaper as defined in s. 985.03.

985.08(6) (6) In addition to required legal notice, the requisitioning agency may also publish such notice in other media such as trade journals and newspapers published in this state devoted substantially to the publication of official notices to bidders, but such additional notice shall not be construed as a legal notice.

985.08(7) (7) Fees established herein are applicable to legal notices and are not intended to restrict the use of classified and display advertising which is not required by statute to be published or legal notices which the requisitioning agency orders to be published in a classified or display manner. The discretion of utilizing the display method of publishing official materials shall be vested solely in the public authority ordering such publication and the rate charged for publication in this instance shall not exceed the regular commercial display advertising rate of the publisher.

985.08(8) (8) Upon request, a tear sheet proof of a multiple insertion notice shall be mailed or sent in electronic format to the advertiser or the advertiser’s attorney within 72 hours after the first insertion, and an additional charge of $1 for such tear sheet proof may be made.

985.08 History History: 1977 c. 418; 1979 c. 34; 1987 a. 142; 1993 a. 486; 2009 a. 177; 2011 a. 228; 2015 a. 79; 2017 a. 207 s. 5; 2021 a. 32.

985.09 985.09 Computation of time, Sundays, legal holidays.

985.09(1) (1) The time for publication of legal notices shall be computed so as to exclude the first day of publication and include the day on which the act or event, of which notice is given, is to happen or which completes the full period required for publication.

985.09(2) (2) The time within which an act is to be done or proceeding had or taken, as prescribed by the rules of procedure, shall be computed by excluding the first day and including the last; if the last day be Sunday or a legal holiday the party shall have the next secular day in which to do the act or take such proceeding.

985.09 Cross-reference Cross-references: See s. 801.15 for exception as to computation of time. Also see s. 990.001 (4).

985.10 985.10 Publication on Sunday. Any legal notice may be published in a newspaper printed on Sunday, and such publication is a lawful publication and a full compliance with the order of the court or officer ordering such publication; and any such notice that may, by law or the order of any court, be required to be published for any given number of weeks may be published on any day in each week of such term, and if so published as many weeks and as many times in each week as may be required by such law or order, it shall be a lawful publication thereof.

985.11 985.11 Fees and work on Sunday.

985.11(1) (1) In any action to recover compensation for publication of legal notices, it shall be no defense that such publication was dated, printed or issued on the first day of the week.

985.11(2) (2) In any action to recover compensation for labor performed on any newspaper, dated, published or issued on the first day of the week, it shall be no defense that such labor was performed on the first day of the week.

985.12 985.12 Proof of publication.

985.12(1) (1) Affidavit of printing. The affidavit of the editor, publisher, printer or proprietor of any newspaper, or of his or her foreman or principal clerk, of the publication of any legal notice, annexed to a copy of the notice clipped from the newspaper in either hard copy or electronic format, and specifying the date of each insertion, and the paper in which it was published, shall be received in all cases as presumptive evidence of the publication and of the facts stated therein.

985.12(2) (2) Time of filing. Such affidavit may be filed with the proper officer at any time after the last day of the publication of such notice, unless the filing time is otherwise specified.

985.12(3) (3) Same. The affidavit of publication of any notice of a sale of real property required by law to be published may be filed, at any time within 6 months after the last day of such publication, with the register of deeds of the county in which the premises are situated.

985.12(4) (4) Fee. The fee for an affidavit of publication shall be $1.

985.12 History History: 1993 a. 486; 2019 a. 32.

985.13 985.13 Change of name or discontinuance of paper.

985.13(1) (1) Whenever a legal notice is required or ordered to be published in a particular newspaper and the name of such newspaper is changed before such publication is commenced or before it is completed, the publication shall be made or continued in the newspaper under its new name with the same effect as if the name had not been changed. The proof of the publication, in addition to other requirements, shall state the change of name and specify the period of publication in such newspaper under each name.

985.13(2) (2) When a newspaper ceases to be published before the publication of a legal notice is commenced, or when commenced ceases before such publication is completed, the order for publication, when one is required in the first instance, may be amended by order of the court or judge, on proof of the fact by affidavit, so as to designate another newspaper, as may be necessary; and if no order is required in the first instance such publication may be made or completed in any other newspaper; and any time during which such notice is published in the first newspaper shall be reckoned a part of the time required for the publication thereof, proof of which may be made by affidavit of any person acquainted with the facts. The second newspaper may be one published in an adjoining county in the cases mentioned in s. 985.14.

985.14 985.14 Refusal to publish. When there is only one newspaper in a county and the publisher thereof refuses to publish a legal notice, such legal notice may be published in a newspaper printed in an adjoining county; and proof by affidavit of the reason why such publication was made in an adjoining county shall accompany the proof of publication, or the order for publication, when any is necessary, may be made or amended by the court or judge so as to designate a newspaper in an adjoining county, upon affidavit showing the necessity therefor. Whenever a legal notice is required by law to be published in a newspaper in any county having a village or city situated partly in said county and partly in an adjoining county where there is no newspaper printed in such village or city within the county first mentioned, but there is a newspaper published in such village or city within such adjoining county, such notice may be published in such last mentioned newspaper.

985.15 985.15 Forfeiture for refusal to publish. If the publisher or printer of a newspaper shall, after payment or tender of the publisher’s or printer’s legal fees therefor, refuse or willfully neglect to publish any legal notice required in pursuance of law or a lawful order of publication to be published in the publisher’s or printer’s newspaper, being able to make such publication, the publisher or printer shall forfeit $25, one-half to the party prosecuting therefor.

985.15 History History: 1993 a. 486.