Opinion ID: 1874417
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Is the State a Person Within the Meaning of the Declaratory Judgment Act

Text: [¶ 25.] SDCL 21-24-3 provides in relevant part: Any person ... whose rights, status, or other legal relations are affected by a statute, ... may have determined any question of construction or validity arising under the ... statute, ... and obtain a declaration of rights, status, or other legal relations thereunder. (emphasis added). The word person is defined to include a municipal, public or other corporation of any character whatsoever. SDCL 21-24-2. [¶ 26.] In determining whether this definition includes the State, we initially note that the State is considered to be a person or a public corporation in many provisions of South Dakota law. [10] It is also significant that many other jurisdictions have specifically concluded that the state and other governmental entities are persons within the meaning of the Uniform Declaratory Judgment Act. [11] These decisions often rely on the rule that the provisions of the Act, including the definition of the word person, are to be construed and administered liberally. SDCL 21-24-14; State ex rel. Smrha v. General Am. Life Ins. Co., 132 Neb. 520, 272 N.W. 555, 557-58 (1937) (stating that because the act is to be construed liberally, the state is embraced under the expression `any person'). See also Kneip v. Herseth, 87 S.D. 642, 647, 214 N.W.2d 93, 96 (1974) (stating [t]o effectuate the purpose of this remedial declaratory judgment legislation, the courts are to interpret it with liberality); Anderson v. McRae, 495 S.W.2d 351, 356 (Tex.Civ.App.1973) (explaining that [t]he Act is to be liberally construed and should not be hedged about by technicalities). Finally, the inclusion of the state as a person subject to the Act is consistent with South Dakota's long history of allowing declaratory judgment actions against the state. [12] Therefore, we hold that the State is a person within the meaning of SDCL 21-24-2, and as a result, the Declaratory Judgment Act does not preclude the state's joinder as a party defendant. [13]