Court Opinion

ID: 9515296
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:55:31.23663+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:27.670993
License: Public Domain

ZINTER, Justice
(concurring and concurring in result).
[¶ 37.] I generally concur. However, I concur in result on Issue 1 because of the Court’s conclusion that “no fiduciary relationship existed” between this public cemetery and the family of the person buried there. See supra ¶ 20. Contrary to the Court’s opinion, a fiduciary relationship may exist. However, I would not reach the fiduciary relationship issue. I would not reach it because the parties have not adequately briefed the issue, and even if a fiduciary relationship existed, the parents’ actual knowledge of their cause of action precluded their use of fraudulent concealment to toll the notice provision of SDCL 3-21-2.
[¶38.] Although the Court concludes otherwise, a fiduciary relationship may exist between a public cemetery and the families of the people that are buried there. We have specifically recognized that “in a fiduciary relationship, the property, interest or authority of the other is placed in the charge of the fiduciary.” High Plains Genetics Research, Inc. v. J K Mill-Iron Ranch, 535 N.W.2d 839, 842 (S.D.1995) (citing Nelson v. WEB Water Development Ass’n, Inc., 507 N.W.2d 691, 698 (S.D.1993)). Certainly, once a decedent’s remains are interred, they are within the physical charge, custody, and control of the cemetery management. Furthermore, it is generally recognized that “a cemetery corporation is usually orga*504nized for a public rather than private purpose, and the cemetery management is in the nature of a trust.” State ex rel. Stephan v. Lane, 614 P.2d 987, 993 (Kan.1980) (citing Carlock v. Ladies Cemetery Association, 317 S.W.2d 432 (Mo.1958); Frank v. Kugler, 121 N.J.Super. 589, 298 A.2d 291 (1972); Dennis v. Glenwood Cemetery, 96 N.J. Eq. 399, 130 A. 373 (1924); 14 C.J.S. [Cemetaries § 5 (1991)]). In fact, “[cjemetery ... management has been held to be in the nature of a charitable, pious, or sacred trust.” In re Limestone Cemetery, 24 Pa. D. & C.2d 281, 294-295 (PaQuarSess 1960). For these reasons, “a non-profit cemetery corporation and the individuals who control its activities ... bear a fiduciary relationship not only toward lot owners and relatives of persons buried in the cemetery, but toward residents at large of the community.” Id. at 294. (citation omitted).
[¶ 39.] However, we need not definitively ascertain the exact nature of that relationship in this case because the decedent’s parents may not rely upon the doctrine of fraudulent concealment by a fiduciary. They may not rely upon that doctrine because “[flraudulent concealment [only] tolls the statute of limitations until the claim is discovered or might have been discovered with reasonable diligence.” Strassburg v. Citizens State Bank, 1998 SD 72, ¶ 14, 581 N.W.2d 510, 515 (citations omitted). Therefore, “[flraudulent concealment will not toll the statute of limitations, no matter the nature of the concealment, if a plaintiff is already on notice of a cause of action.” Id. ¶ 15. (citations omitted).
[¶ 40.] Here, the parents were on notice of their cause of action from the very beginning, and consequently, fraudulent concealment was an unavailable theory even if a fiduciary relationship existed. Because fraudulent concealment was an unavailable theory no matter what the nature of the relationship of the parties, the notice provision in SDCL 3-21-2 barred the state tort claims. Purdy v. Fleming, 2002 SD 156, ¶ 21, 655 N.W.2d 424, 432.
[¶ 41.] MEIERHENRY, Justice, joins this special writing.