The SD Supreme Court handed down four decisions this morning,
holding inter alia:
1) State has no right of appeal from dismissal of Counts;
2) Engineer loses claim against City for work as employee;
3) State agencies are immune from EB5 litigation;
4) $45 million bad faith verdict reversed and remanded
Summaries follow:
STATE v. STEFFENSEN, 2020 S.D. 36: This decision is adverse to the State,
holding that the state has no right of appeal in regard to the dismissal of
counts in an indictment/information. The disposition in this case is nicely
summarized in ¶1:
The State
filed a separate notice of appeal as to each of three jointly indicted
defendants from a trial court order dismissing certain counts of the indictment
against them. We consolidate the three appeals for disposition in this
decision. Because the State has no right of appeal from the dismissal of counts
of an indictment or information, the appeals are dismissed.
This decision is unanimous, with opinion by Justice Kern. (This decision is handed down less than 2
months after submitted to the court on April 30, 2020.)
KOOPMAN v. CITY OF EDGEMONT, 2020 S.D. 37: This suit originated in small claims court as
an action by an engineer against the City of Edgemont for benefits due him as
an employee. The trial court awarded
engineer $11,372.28 plus interest of $4,651.87, but denied him attorney fees.
Both sides appealed. The SD Supreme Court
ruled for the City on the appeal, reversing the cash award. The SD Supreme Court also affirmed the denial
of attorney fees since the engineer was defeated on his claim for wages. NOTE: The
trial court was required to wrestle with the problematic issue that SDCL
60-11-24 only authorized attorney fees on wage claims removed for a jury trial
under SDCL 15-39-59, which had been repealed – an issue removed on appeal because
of the SD Supreme Court’s ruling for the City on the underlying wage claim.
This decision is unanimous, with opinion authored by Justice
Jensen. (This decision is handed down about
2 months after submitted to the court on April 20, 2020.)
LP6 CLAIMANTS v. S.D. DEPT OF TOURISM, 2020 S.D. 38: This case is neatly summarized in ¶1:
A group of
investors in the EB5 immigrant investment program sued various agencies that
implemented the program in South Dakota, claiming fraud in procuring their
investments, which were lost when the project went bankrupt. The circuit court
granted a motion to dismiss by the state agencies involved based on sovereign
immunity. The investors appeal the circuit court’s decision, and we affirm.
This decision is unanimous with opinion authored by Chief Justice
Gilbertson. Retired Justice Wilbur sat
on this case, in lieu of Justice DeVaney.
. (This decision is handed down about
2 months after submitted to the court on April 21, 2020.)
JOHNSON v. UPS, 2020 S.D. 39:
The SD Supreme Court reverses and remands jury verdict for plaintiff on
bad faith claim in the amount of $500,000 for bad faith, $2,750 on
"conversion" claim, and $45 million in punitive damages. This bad faith claim arose in the contest of
work comp proceeding. The concluding
paragraph of the Court’s opinion, ¶ 57 states:
This decision is unanimous (5-0) with opinion by Justice
Salter. Circuit Judge Means sat on this
case which was presented to the Court prior to the appointment of Justice
DeVaney.
These decisions may be accessed at
