referral fee dispute regarding accounting services for credit cards

The SD Supreme Court handed down 1 new decision this morning. My summary is set forth below. 1) Dispute regarding referral fee for accounting services for credit cards; Summary follows: LJP CONSULTING, LLC v. VERVENT, INC., 2025 S.D. 74: This dispute involves accounting services for the servicing of credit card accounts. In particular, this dispute involves the payment of referral fees in regard to the accounts referred to Defendant’s predecessor in title by Plaintiff and whether Defendant was/is required to continue to make the referral fee payments. A jury determined that Defendant was liable for payment of “$1,000,064.75 for unpaid referral fees.” The trial judge then entered a permanent injunction in regard to payment of future fees. The SD Supreme Court lowered the damage award and reversed and vacated the permanent injunction, stating: [¶48.] We affirm the circuit court’s determination that the Referral Agreement was not terminable at the will of Vervent. We reverse the court’s denial of Vervent’s Rule 50 motions for judgment as a matter of law and vacate the circuit court’s final judgment and order granting a permanent injunction. We remand for the entry of a judgment determining, as a matter of law, that Vervent’s liability for referral fees ended after it acquired First Equity and amending the damages award accordingly. This ruling is unanimous (5-0), with opinion authored by Justice DeVaney. This decision may be accessed at http://ujs.sd.gov/Supreme_Court/opinions.aspx .