Court Opinion

ID: 9723305
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 10:11:13.548152+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:16:42.682796
License: Public Domain

FOSHEIM, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
It is abiding law in this state that in a forcible entry and detainer action only the immediate right of possession is involved, Raich v. Weisman, 1931, 58 S.D. 4, 234 N.W. 664. It precludes the defense of usury, Robinson v. McKinney, 1886, 4 Dak. 290, 29 N.W. 658; Northwestern Mortgage Trust Co. v. Bradley, et al., 1897, 9 S.D. 495, 70 N.W. 648. In McManus v. Maloy, 1912, 30 S.D. 373, 138 N.W. 963 and Aegerter v. Hayes, 1929, 55 S.D. 337, 226 N.W. 345, we held that equitable rights of the parties cannot therein be litigated. This is not a position shared by only a few states as the majority opinion implies. Neither is it confined to courts without equity jurisdiction *70as the majority opinion distinguishes. Quite to the contrary, it seems clearly to be the general rule which is strictly applied without distinction as to jurisdiction, 35 Am.Jur.2d, Forcible Entry and Detainer, §§ 5 & 6, p. 895; see also 36A C.J.S. Forcible Entry and Detainer § 3, p. 963, citing Aegerter (footnote 16).
The majority opinion leans on Federal Land Bank of Omaha v. Matson, 1942, 68 S.D. 538, 5 N.W.2d 314, and Shaw v. George, 1966, 82 S.D. 62, 141 N.W.2d 405, as decisions holding otherwise. In Shaw, we do cite the Federal Land Bank case as being an action in forcible entry and detainer wherein this Court held that a party to an oral agreement may be prevented by estop-pel from invoking the statute of frauds. However, in Federal Land Bank of Omaha v. Matson, supra, the single assignment of error questioned a particular instruction. The Court held the instruction was inapplicable under the version of either party. The question was not raised as to whether an equitable defense can be invoked in a forcible entry and detainer action. Neither did we address that issue. We acknowledged our commitment to the rule that the doctrine of equitable estoppel may prevent a party to an oral agreement from invoking the statute of frauds. The thrust of the decision seems to adhere to the single issue principle. Since the estoppel statement did not relate to this issue and was not essential to the decision, it was at most obiter dictum. However, I would modify Shaw to the extent it indicates the language in Federal Land Bank of Omaha v. Matson, supra, is more than dictum.
Where by statute, as in SDCL 21-16-9, the title to the real property may be brought into question, it is a limited issue as we quoted with approval in McManus v. Maloy, supra:
“ ‘Forcible entry and detainer,’ or ‘forcible entry and unlawful detainer,’ is a proceeding at law, and the right to possession is the sole question involved, and evidences of title are only material in so far as they tend to show the right of possession, and no equities of parties can be determined.”
Again this seems to follow the general rule, 35 Am.Jur., Forcible Entry and Detainer, § 6, p. 895.
The forcible entry and detainer remedy is designed to furnish a summary remedy to one entitled to the possession of land, Murry v. Burris, 1889, 6 Dak. 170, 42 N.W. 25; 35 Am.Jur.2d, Forcible Entry and Detainer, § 2, p. 891; 36A C.J.S. Forcible Entry and Detainer § 3, p. 961. Toward that end the time for responsive pleading is shortened, SDCL 21-16-7. It may be brought on promptly for trial upon two days’ notice after issue has been joined with a special venire if necessary, SDCL 21-16-8. If equity issues are injected, they must be resolved in one of three ways:
1) The trial court can instruct the jury to render an advisory verdict as to equity matters,
2) With the consent of both parties, the jury can fully decide all questions of both law and equity, SDCL 15 — 6—39(c); or
3) The law and equity issues can be bifurcated with the legal questions tried to a jury and the equity issues to the Court, SDCL 15-6-39(a)(2).
Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law must be settled following an advisory verdict or a trial to the Court, SDCL 15-6-52(a). Whichever procedure is followed, the equity issues would tend to defeat the summary objectives of the statute. Since forcible entry and detainer is purely a creature of statute in derogation of the common law, 36A C.J.S. Forcible Entry and Detainer § 3, p. 962, any modification or extension thereof should also be statutory.
The equity issue of laches was not submitted to the jury with the consent of both partiés. Hence, the legal effect of the verdict to that extent was advisory, State v. Nieuwenhuis, 1926, 49 S.D. 181, 207 N.W. 77. An advisory verdict will not support a judgment, Central Loan and Investment Company v. Loiseau, 1931, 59 S.D. 255, 239 N.W. 487. Since Findings of Fact were not entered or waived, the judgment as to equi*71ty issues is supported by neither a verdict nor a decision. As we held in In Re Lansing’s Estate, 1927, 51 S.D. 615, 216 N.W. 353:
“Under such circumstances there has been no real trial of the case . . .."
On this basis alone, I fail to see how the judgment can stand.
The majority opinion justified breaking precedent on the grounds the distinction between actions at law and suits in equity has been abolished. That is not a contemporary innovation. It has been the law since statehood, Sykes v. First National Bank, 1891, 2 S.D. 242, 49 N.W. 1058. However, this abolition only operated to create a common form of action but left intact the two distinct systems of jurisprudence, law and equity. Whether an action is one at law or in equity is to be determined on the basis of the facts pleaded and the subject matter of the action. We have consistently adhered to this rule, Macomb v. Lake County, 1900, 13 S.D. 103, 82 N.W. 417; Byrne v. McKeachie, 1912, 29 S.D. 476, 137 N.W. 343; Cullen v. Dickenson, 1913, 33 S.D. 27, 144 N.W. 656; Parsons v. City of Sioux Falls, 1937, 65 S.D. 145, 272 N.W. 288; Holzworth v. Roth, 1960, 78 S.D. 287, 101 N.W.2d 393. With equal consistency when the issue has been raised, we have simultaneously maintained the purity of the forcible entry and detainer remedy.
I would accordingly reverse.