Wisconsin Statutes

Wis. Stat. § 344.34 (2026)

Notice of cancellation or termination of certified policy

✓ current as of July 2026

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344.34344.34 Notice of cancellation or termination of certified policy. When an insurer has certified a motor vehicle liability policy under s. 344.31 or a bond under s. 344.36, the insurance so certified shall not be canceled or terminated until at least 10 days after a notice of cancellation or termination of the insurance so certified has been filed in the office of the secretary. No insurance so certified may be canceled or terminated by the insurer prior to the expiration of 90 days from the effective date of the certification on the grounds of failure to pay a premium when due. Such a certified policy or bond subsequently procured shall, on the effective date of its certification, terminate the insurance previously certified. Any certification or recertification filed by the same insurer following cancellation shall be accompanied by a fee of $3 payable by the insurer.

344.34 HistoryHistory: 1973 c. 90; 1977 c. 29 s. 1654 (7) (c); 1979 c. 102 s. 236 (3); 1987 a. 27; 1991 a. 269; 1993 a. 213; 2009 a. 245.

344.34 AnnotationThe failure of an insurer to comply with the notice requirement under this section precludes the insurer from asserting that a previously certified policy had lapsed. Lang v. Kurtz, 100 Wis. 2d 40, 301 N.W.2d 262 (Ct. App. 1980).

344.34 AnnotationThe 10-day notice of cancellation requirement only applied to liability coverage of a policy acquired to satisfy proof of financial responsibility. Uninsured motorist coverage cancellation took effect immediately. Nutter v. Milwaukee Insurance Co. 167 Wis. 2d 449, 481 N.W.2d 701 (Ct. App. 1992).

344.34 AnnotationThe 10-day notice requirement in this section results in a period of time in which the insurer owes coverage to the public despite the fact that its policy with its insured was not contractually in force. However, s. 344.33 (7) allows an insurer to recover from its insured any claims it paid that it would not have been obligated to pay but for the Financial Responsibility law. When the insured’s policy lapsed 3 days before an accident, but the insurer did not send a notice of cancellation to the state under this section until after the accident, the insurer had a responsibility to cover 3rd-party losses and was entitled to seek reimbursement from the insured under s. 344.33 (7). Acuity v. Albert, 2012 WI App 87, 343 Wis. 2d 594, 819 N.W.2d 340, 12-0382.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 5 cases, 1980–2012 · leading case: Nutter v. Milwaukee Ins., 481 N.W.2d 701 (Wis. Ct. App. 1992).

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Nutter v. Milwaukee Ins., 481 N.W.2d 701 (Wis. Ct. App. 1992). · cites it 14× “The trial court held that the ten-day notice of cancellation requirement provided in sec. 344.34, Stats., 1 only applied *451 to the liability coverage of his policy.”

Lang v. Kurtz, 301 N.W.2d 262 (Wis. Ct. App. 1980). · cites it 5× “Mutual argued that Kurtz’s failure to pay the January 7, 1978, premium resulted in a lapse of the policy and not an affirmative act of “cancellation” of “termination” by Mutual which would give rise to the duty to notify pursuant to sec. 344.34, Stats. Lang argued that this…”

Magyar v. Wisconsin Health Care Liab. Ins. Plan, 2001 WI 41 (Wis. 2001). · cites it 2× “In Lang , the court examined Wis. Stat. § 344.34 (1977), which provided: "When an insurance carrier has certified a motor vehicle liability policy.”

Boatright v. Spiewak, 570 N.W.2d 897 (Wis. Ct. App. 1997). “1992), was whether the § 344.34, STATS., 10-day extension of coverage after the insured files a notice of cancellation applies to the policy's uninsured coverage.”

Acuity v. Albert, 2012 WI App 87 (Wis. Ct. App. 2012). · cites it 9× “" Wis. Stat. § 344.34 . The notification requirement allows the state time to revoke the license of the driver in the event the driver does not maintain the required insurance.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.