814.08.Costs on appeal from municipal court; certiorari.

Section 814.08 tells a municipal court litigant who pays the bill once an appeal is over. When there is no new trial, the outcome decides who gets costs: an affirmed judgment or a dismissed appeal means the respondent collects costs, a reversal means the appellant collects, and a judgment affirmed in part and reversed in part leaves the court free to divide costs as is just between the parties. Where the appeal does result in a new trial, the successful party ordinarily gets costs — but if the appellant was already the winner in municipal court, the appellant only collects costs on appeal by improving on that result; otherwise the respondent gets them.

The section also defines what “full costs” means in this setting. It is the fee set under section 814.61(8), plus disbursements for returning the judge and the officers’ and witnesses’ fees, plus whatever costs were already taxable in the municipal court proceeding itself. That combination folds the municipal court expenses into the appeal so the winning party is not left absorbing costs incurred at both stages.

Subsection (2) extends the same approach to certiorari review of a municipal court decision: where there is no new trial, the successful party recovers costs on the same terms that apply to an appeal without a new trial under subsection (1).