Wisconsin Statutes

Wis. Stat. § 784.04 (2026)

When action may be brought

✓ current as of July 2026

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784.04784.04 When action may be brought.

784.04(1)(1) An action may be brought by the attorney general in the name of the state, upon his or her own information or upon the complaint of any private party, against the parties offending in the following cases:

784.04(1)(a)(a) When any person shall usurp, intrude into or unlawfully hold or exercise any public office, civil or military, or any franchise within this state, or any office in a corporation created by the authority of this state; or

784.04(1)(b)(b) When any public officer, civil or military, shall have done or suffered an act which, by the provisions of law, shall work a forfeiture of office; or

784.04(1)(c)(c) When any association or number of persons shall act, within this state, as a corporation without being duly incorporated.

784.04(2)(2) Such action may be brought in the name of the state by a private person on personal complaint when the attorney general refuses to act or when the office usurped pertains to a county, town, city, village, school district or technical college district.

784.04 HistoryHistory: 1971 c. 154; 1979 c. 32 s. 61; 1979 c. 176; Stats. 1979 s. 784.04; 1993 a. 399.

784.04 AnnotationA competitive interest is sufficient to confer standing to sue in quo warranto. State ex rel. First National Bank of Wisconsin Rapids v. M&I Peoples Bank of Coloma, 95 Wis. 2d 303, 290 N.W.2d 321 (1980).

784.04 AnnotationBoth a neighboring city and a landowner-taxpayer in a town had standing in a quo warranto challenge to the incorporation of a town. City of Waukesha v. Salbashian, 128 Wis. 2d 334, 382 N.W.2d 52 (1986).

784.04 AnnotationA recount under s. 9.01 is the exclusive remedy for challenging mistakes in canvassing an election. Actions in quo warranto are precluded. State ex rel. Shroble v. Prusener, 185 Wis. 2d 102, 517 N.W.2d 169 (1994).

784.04 AnnotationA quo warranto action may be brought by private individuals under sub. (2), but the action must be in the name of the state. Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, 2023 WI 79, 410 Wis. 2d 1, 998 N.W.2d 370, 23-1399.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 10 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1982–2023 · leading case: State v. City of Oak Creek, 2000 WI 9 (Wis. 2000).

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State v. City of Oak Creek, 2000 WI 9 (Wis. 2000). · cites it 8× “The governor, legislature, state agencies and departments, or public officers requested the attorney general to challenge the constitutionality of a statute according to Wis. Stat. § 165.25 (1), or it was an original action, or it was a quo warranto action.”

Christensen v. Sullivan, 2009 WI 87 (Wis. 2009). · cites it 6× “01 (3) must not be read as limiting Wis. Stat. § 784.04 (1)(a)'s provision authorizing compensation as a remedial contempt sanction.”

City of Waukesha v. Salbashian, 382 N.W.2d 52 (Wis. 1986). · cites it 7× “Pewaukee argues that interpreting the word corporation to include a public or municipal corporation does not make the phrase public office redundant in sec. 784.04(1)(a), Stats. Several state officials hold public office without being members of a public or municipal corporation.”

Rebecca Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Comm'n, 2023 WI 79 (Wis. 2023). · cites it 7× “The Petitioners ground this request in a request for a writ quo warranto, arguing that state senators have "usurp[ed], intrud[ed] into or unlawfully [held] or exercise[d] any public office" and therefore should be "excluded from the office" 48 because they took office in…”

State Ex Rel. Shroble v. Prusener, 517 N.W.2d 169 (Wis. 1994). · cites it 3× “On July 17, 1992, Shroble filed an amended complaint in which he added an action in quo warranto under sec. 784.04, Stats., 3 to test Prusener's ability to *109 hold office.”

Joshua L. Kaul v. Frederick Prehn, 2022 WI 50 (Wis. 2022). “§ 784.04(1)(a) states that the Attorney General may bring a quo warranto claim "[w]hen any person shall usurp, intrude into or unlawfully hold or exercise any public office, civil or military, or any franchise within this state, or any office in a corporation created by the…”

Joyce v. Town of Tainter, 2000 WI App 15 (Wis. Ct. App. 1999). “4 The appropriate means of challenging a de facto public officer's title is a direct challenge under § 784.04, STATS., which codifies the common law quo warranto action and provides, in relevant part: (1) An action may be brought .”

State Ex Rel. Shroble v. Prusener, 503 N.W.2d 301 (Wis. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 2× “Section 784.04, Stats., states in pertinent part: *661 (1) An action may be brought .”

State ex rel. Frederick v. Cox, 330 N.W.2d 603 (Wis. Ct. App. 1982). “Frederick appeals from an order dismissing his action in quo warranto brought pursuant to sec. 784.04(2), Stats., challenging the right of Zimeri A.”

— Wis. Stat. § 784.04(1)(a) — 3 cases

Christensen v. Sullivan, 2009 WI 87 (Wis. 2009). “01 (3) must not be read as limiting Wis. Stat. § 784.04 (1)(a)'s provision authorizing compensation as a remedial contempt sanction.”

City of Waukesha v. Salbashian, 382 N.W.2d 52 (Wis. 1986). “Pewaukee argues that interpreting the word corporation to include a public or municipal corporation does not make the phrase public office redundant in sec. 784.04(1)(a), Stats. Several state officials hold public office without being members of a public or municipal corporation.”

— Wis. Stat. § 784.04(2) — 2 cases

— Wis. Stat. § 784.04(l)(a) — 1 case

Christensen v. Sullivan, 2009 WI 87 (Wis. 2009). “01 (3) must not be read as limiting Wis. Stat. § 784.04 (1)(a)'s provision authorizing compensation as a remedial contempt sanction.”

— Wis. Stat. § 784.04(l)(c) — 1 case

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.