811.03.Basis for attachment.

Attachment is a powerful remedy, seizing a defendant’s property before the case is even decided, so section 811.03 requires the plaintiff to justify it with a sworn affidavit before the writ can be executed. Subsection (1) covers claims on a contract or judgment: the affidavit must set out specific factual allegations showing the defendant owes, or has available property amounting to, more than fifty dollars above any setoffs, and must show one of several circumstances — the defendant is absent or hiding from service, has disposed of or is about to dispose of property to defraud creditors, has removed or is about to remove property from the state to defraud creditors, incurred the obligation through fraud, is not a Wisconsin resident, is a foreign corporation or a domestic one with no local officer or agent to serve, or is a public official being sued as principal on a bond to recover money due the state or a municipality, or on an instrument securing embezzled or misappropriated public money.

Subsection (2) covers tort claims separately, with a narrower set of grounds. Except where sections 806.30 to 806.44 apply, the affidavit must show that a tort cause of action exists, that damages exceeding fifty dollars are claimed, and that the defendant is either a nonresident whose residence cannot be found with due diligence, or a foreign corporation.

Subsection (3) extends attachment to debts not yet due, using the same grounds and affidavit requirements as matured debts — except that it drops the nonresidence, foreign-corporation, and public-bond grounds, since those depend on facts unrelated to whether a debt has matured. The bond required under section 811.06 must be set at three times the amount claimed in that situation, and if the attachment issues before the debt is due and the defendant successfully traverses it, the plaintiff must pay the resulting judgment for damages and costs.