Justia Contracts Opinion Summaries

Travis Naser died in a one-vehicle accident that occurred at a T intersection at a dead-end road. The east-west road (“268th Street”) was located in Aurora County. Lynn Foster-Naser, Travis’s wife, brought suit against Aurora County for wrongful death, alleging that the County negligently failed to maintain the double-arrow sign on 268th Street. The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of the County, concluding that Aurora Township had a statutory duty to maintain the double-arrow sign on 268th Street, and Aurora County did not assume a duty to repair or maintain the Township’s signage when it agreed to maintain the Township’s roads. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that Foster-Naser failed to present sufficient probative evidence that the County’s contract agreement to provide road maintenance included an agreement to maintain and repair the Township’s roadway signage. View "Foster-Naser v. Aurora County" on Justia Law

USA Tire Management Systems Inc. entered into a contract with Great Western Bank to “take title to, remove, and transport” tires and casings from a foreclosed property that a bank was attempting to sell. After an audit, the South Dakota Department of Revenue issued an assessment on the gross receipts USA Tire received from Great Western under their contract. USA Tire contested the assessment. The circuit court affirmed the assessment. USA Tire appealed, arguing that it was entitled to a trucking services tax exemption. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that USA Tire did not meet its burden of proving that its services were exempt trucking services under S.D. Codified Laws 10-45-12.1. View "In re Sales Tax Liability of USA Tire Mgmt. Sys., Inc." on Justia Law

John and Kimberly Nooney purchased tickets from StubHub, Inc. for a concert. The tickets were invalid, and the Nooneys were denied access to the concert. The Nooneys sued StubHub for breach of contract and fraudulent inducement. The circuit court granted StubHub’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, but in doing so, the circuit court considered a document that was not attached to the complaint. The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part, holding that the circuit court (1) did not err in considering the document without converting the motion to dismiss to a motion for summary judgment because the document was referenced in the complaint; but (2) erred in dismissing the complaint on the merits, as the Nooneys’ complaint stated a claim upon which relief could be granted. View "Nooney v. StubHub, Inc." on Justia Law

David Zerfas swerved to avoid a deer carcass in his lane of travel and lost control of his vehicle. Zerfas died after his vehicle was hit by oncoming traffic. Zerfas’s wife, Stacey, sought uninsured motorist benefits with their automobile insurance company, AMCO Insurance Company, alleging that an unidentified driver left the deer carcass in the lane of travel, which caused Zerfas to lose control of his vehicle. AMCO denied Stacey’s claim on the grounds that Stacey would not legally be entitled to recover damages from the unidentified driver. Stacey subsequently brought a breach of contract action against AMCO. The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of AMCO, concluding that the unidentified driver did not have a legal duty to Zerfas to remove the carcass or warn of its existence. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that no common law or statutory duty existed between the unidentified driver and Zerfas, and therefore, the circuit court did not err in granting AMCO summary judgment. View "Zerfas v. AMCO Ins. Co." on Justia Law

Adam Ray, a former employee of Granite Buick GMC, Inc., and Scott Hanna, a former employee of McKie Ford Lincoln, Inc., left their respect employment and started their own automobile dealership. Granite Buick and McKie Ford sought injunctions to enforce non-compete agreements Defendants signed during the course of their employment. After the Supreme Court reversed and remanded, the circuit court concluded that the non-compete agreements were valid but granted judgment in favor of Defendants on their affirmative defenses. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court properly determined (1) Ray’s covenant not to compete was fraudulently induced; and (2) McKie Ford waived its right to enforce Hanna’s covenant not to compete. View "Granite Buick GMC, Inc. v. Ray" on Justia Law

Duane Pankratz filed a complaint against Robert Cullum’s estate for breach of an oral promise to transfer corporate stock and for the recovery of corporate debt Robert Cullum allegedly personally guaranteed to pay. The Estate moved for summary judgment, asserting that there was no binding personal guaranty between Pankratz and Cullum and that the statute of limitations barred Pankratz’s claim for shares in Cullum’s corporation. The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of the Estate. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the circuit court did not err when it ruled that Cullum’s personal guaranty must be in writing to be enforceable; and (2) the circuit court did not err when it granted summary judgment on Pankratz’s claim that Cullum breached the parties’ oral agreement to transfer corporate stock because Pankratz did not bring his claim within the relevant statute of limitations period. View "In re Estate of Cullum" on Justia Law

Aggregate Construction, Inc. (Aggregate) hired Aaron Swan & Associates, Inc. (Swan) to conduct sodium-sulfate soundness testing of material to be used in a construction project for the South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) for sodium-sulfate soundness testing. Aggregate later filed this action against Swan, alleging breach of contract and negligence for Swan’s alleged failure to test adequately the material. The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of Swan, concluding that a release executed between Aggregate and SDDOT barred the claims against Swan. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that because Aggregate and SDDOT executed a release that applied to the causes of action brought by Aggregate against Swan, the circuit court correctly granted summary judgment to Swan. View "Aggregate Constr., Inc. v. Aaron Swan & Assocs., Inc." on Justia Law

Casper Lodging, LLC filed this breach of contract case against Robert Akers, alleging that Akers failed to deliver to James Koehler a hotel in compliance with the parties’ agreements. A jury found in favor of Casper Lodging and awarded $1,019,468 in damages, the full amount requested. During the settling of the jury instructions, the parties agreed to allow the circuit court to determine the appropriate date to calculate prejudgment interest in the event the jury found in favor of Casper Lodging. Upon receipt of the verdict, the circuit court declared that prejudgment interest accrued from the date of the delivery of the completed hotel and awarded Plaintiff $997,682 in prejudgment interest. Additionally, the court awarded Plaintiff post-judgment interest on the combined sum of the jury verdict and the prejudgment interest calculation. The Supreme Court (1) reversed the circuit court’s calculation of prejudgment interest and remanded for the court to compute prejudgment interest based on the cost of repairs incurred by Casper Lodging from the date the expenses were incurred; and (2) affirmed on all remaining issues. View "Casper Lodging, LLC v. Akers" on Justia Law

During their marriage, Brian Shabino and Sandra Wichman borrowed money from Sandra’s mother, Mary Ann Wichman, to use as a down payment on the purchase of their home. When Sandra and Brian divorced in 2003, the divorce decree apportioned to Brian the marital home as well as the remaining debt to Mary Ann. Brian failed to repay Mary Ann, In 2012, Mary Ann brought suit for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and enforcement of the divorce decree. The circuit court concluded that a portion of Mary Ann’s breach of contract claim was barred by the statute of limitations and that Mary Ann could not enforce the terms of the divorce decree. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the circuit court did not err in determining that Mary Ann could not enforce the divorce decree; and (2) the circuit court did not err in ruling that Mary Ann could not recover the entirety of the debt under the statute of limitations. View "Wichman v. Shabino" on Justia Law

Border States Paving Company, Inc. was the prime contractor on a South Dakota Department of Transportation road construction project. Weatherton Contracting Company, Inc. entered into a subcontract with Border States to supply crushed aggregate for the project. Stern Oil Company sold Weatherton fuel and petroleum products necessary for Weatherton to perform its subcontract, but Weatherton failed to pay Stern Oil for the products. Stern Oil Company brought suit against Border States and its surety, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, pleading causes of action against Border States for unjust enrichment and breach of an alleged third-party beneficiary payment agreement to pay the bill and against Liberty Mutual for payment on the bond. The circuit court granted summary judgment against Stern Oil on all claims. The Supreme court affirmed, holding that the circuit court did not err in granting summary judgment against Stern Oil on its claims. View "Stern Oil Co. v. Border States Paving, Inc." on Justia Law