Police investigated a trio of roommates after a neighbor suspected they were using drugs in their apartment. The rookie cop in charge slowly plodded through the investigation while the roommates are “detained” for questioning for several hours.Continue Reading

Can you fire yourself and still collect unemployment benefits? That was the question at the core of a recent decision issued by the South Dakota Supreme Court. The answer: “it depends.” The case is entitled Michael Manuel v. Toner Plus, Inc., and South Dakota Department of Labor, Unemployment Division, (2012 S.D. 47).Continue Reading

Beware: the guest speaker in your pulpit might be a con artist. That’s a warning that the victim in this week’s case might have appreciated. Instead, he was swindled out of $472,000.Continue Reading

[This column is the second in a two-part series.] Earlier this year, the South Dakota Supreme Court heard an appeal involving a proposal to disband a Hutterite colony near Aberdeen. Last week’s column (Part One) traced the history of the Hutterite tradition from the 1500’s. Its followers encountered persecution from the beginning and initially sought...Continue Reading

This column is the first in a two-part series. Earlier this year, the South Dakota Supreme Court found itself stuck in the middle of a religious dispute. Two factions of a Hutterite colony disagreed about their community’s direction and could not resolve their differences. The dispute resulted in two Supreme Court opinions, the most recent...Continue Reading

Why do witnesses raise their right hands and promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, so help them, God? Why do they place their left hands on a Bible? In modern times, these formalities are designed to “awaken a witness’s conscience and impress his mind with his duty to testify truthfully.” Long ago, however,...Continue Reading

In a 5-0 decision released last week, the South Dakota Supreme Court sided with Kevin Costner in a long-running dispute about a set of bronze, bison sculptures. The case is entitled, Peggy Detmers v. Kevin Costner and The Dunbar, Inc., 2012 S.D. 35.Continue Reading

Ten years ago, a Sturgis man was electrocuted while servicing a power line from a boom truck. He was badly injured but lived to tell about it. He and his lawyers then spent the next ten years trying to find insurance coverage to pay for his injuries and lost wages. After three different insurance companies...Continue Reading

A real estate agent was accused of forging her client’s signature, but it was later discovered that her client asked her to sign his name, so that he wouldn’t have to drive all the way back to her office. The resulting conflict put her real estate license in jeopardy. The case was heard on appeal...Continue Reading

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, how many apples would it take to fix the health care system? Last week, our nation’s Supreme Court heard oral arguments about the health care reform bill. After cutting through all of the underbrush, the dispute hinges upon how the nine Justices will interpret one very...Continue Reading