Opinion ID: 1598427
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Lockhart's Burden in Proving Release

Text: Flynn ascribes a list of burdens to Lockhart which she alleges he failed to carry: consideration, absence of confusion, absence of mistake, absence of ambiguity, absence of misrepresentation, and absence of fraud. Flynn submits no authority to support her argument that Lockhart has the burden to prove the absence of these things. We disregard legal arguments unsupported by citation to authority. Corbly v. Matheson, 335 N.W.2d 347 (S.D.1983). Lockhart's burden was to plead and prove the existence of a valid release. SDCL 15-6-8(c). Lockhart need not prove separate consideration to avail himself of the release; Mines and DeSmet provided the required consideration. Compelling policy reasons support releases under the Uniform Contribution Among Joint Tortfeasors Act (SDCL 15-8-11 to 15-8-22): The defendant who originally procures the release gains nothing if the plaintiff can sue other joint or concurrent tortfeasors. In such a case, the original defendant is left open to claims for contribution and/or indemnity and may wind up having to litigate the case anyway. Douglas v. United States Tobacco Co., 670 F.2d 791, 794 (8th Cir.1982).