The court may at any time, upon its own motion, the motion of a party or the stipulation of the parties, change the venue to any county in the interest of justice or for the convenience of the parties or witnesses, except that venue in a civil action to impose a forfeiture for a violation of chs. 5 to 12, subch. III of ch. 13, or subch. III of ch. 19 or for a violation of any other law arising from or in relation to the official functions of the subject of the investigation or any matter that involves elections, ethics, or lobbying regulation under chs. 5 to 12, subch. III of ch. 13, or subch. III of ch. 19, may be changed only as provided in s. 971.223 (1) and (2) or in the same manner that is authorized for a change in the venue of a criminal trial unCOMMENCEMENT OF ACTION AND VENUE 801.5625 der s. 971.22. This section does not apply to proceedings under ch. 980.
Wis. Stat. § 801.52
Discretionary change of venue
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case 380 Wis. 2d 354 - Department of Natural Resources v. Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District IV (2018)
Most recently applied in 380 Wis. 2d 354 - Department of Natural Resources v. Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District IV (April 2018)
1983 a. 228; 2005 a. 434; 2007 a. 1; 2009 a. 180.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Wisconsin State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Wisconsin statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.