Originally from:
Fine's Wisconsin Evidence - 2nd Edition - Hardcover
Fine's Wisconsin Evidence - 2nd Edition - Electronic
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PRESUMPTIONS
Ralph Adam Fine
Wisconsin Rule 903.01
Presumptions in general. Except as provided by statute, a presumption recognized at common law or created by statute, including statutory provisions that certain basic facts are prima facie evidence of other facts, imposes on the party relying on the presumption the burden of proving the basic facts, but once the basic facts are found to exist the presumption imposes on the party against whom it is directed the burden of proving that the nonexistence of the presumed fact is more probable than its existence.
Federal Rule 301
Presumptions in General in Civil Actions and Proceedings. In all civil actions and proceedings not otherwise provided for by Act of Congress or by these rules, a presumption imposes on the party against whom it is directed the burden of going forward with evidence to rebut or meet the presumption, but does not shift to such party the burden of proof in the sense of the risk of non-persuasion, which remains throughout the trial upon the party on whom it was originally cast.
Summary of Wisconsin Rule 903.01
Once a party relying on a presumption proves the “basic fact,” the opposing party must disprove the “presumed fact” by the greater weight of the credible evidence, unless a different mechanism or a different burden of proof is specified by statute. See Knight v. Milwaukee County, 2002 WI App 194, ¶¶ 4–5, 256 Wis.2d 1000, 1005–1006 (Ct. App. 2002).
Reason for the Rule
A party who asserts a claim or defense must generally establish the facts underlying that claim or defense by credible evidence to the requisite degree of proof. Sometimes, however, the party with this burden will not have sufficient access to information crucial to an ultimate fact underlying the claim or defense. In...
Chapter 903
Presumptions
903.01 Presumptions in General
903.03 Presumptions in Criminal Cases
Ralph Adam Fine has been a Judge on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals since 1988. He served as a judge on the Wisconsin circuit court from 1979 to 1988, and presided over in excess of 350 jury trials. He was the presiding judge in the PBS Frontline production Inside the Jury Room, which was the first time jury deliberations in a criminal trial were filmed and broadcast.
Judge Fine has taught trial-advocacy, evidence, and appellate-advocacy at over one hundred continuing-legal-education programs around the country, in-house trial-advocacy programs to law firm litigation departments, and as Professorial Lecturer in Law at the George Washington University National Law Center in Washington, DC. In January of 1995, the University of Virginia School of Law honored Ralph Adam Fine with the Honorable William J. Brennan, Jr., Award for his contributions to the teaching of trial advocacy.
Ralph Adam Fine is the author of The How-To-Win Trial Manual 4th Ed.(Juris 2008) and The "How to Win" Appeal Manual 2nd Ed. (Juris 2008). In addition, Judge Fine is a senior contributing editor and reporter for the four-volume treatise Evidence in America (Lexis); a contributor to the ABA publicationsEmerging Problems Under The Federal Rules of Evidence 2nd Ed. (West) and Emerging Problems Under The Federal Rules of Evidence 3rd Ed. (Lexis).
