Court Opinion

ID: 9727756
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 13:49:43.140777+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:42.515433
License: Public Domain

MORGAN, Justice
(concurring in result).
I concur in the result. It appears to me that Seymour is an officer of the Western Dakota Vocational School. However, rather than relying on SDCL 3-16-7, which deals with officers in general, I would so hold under the provisions of SDCL 6-1-1, which provides, in pertinent part:
It shall be unlawful for any officer of a county, municipality, township or school district, who has been elected or appointed, to be interested ... in any contract entered into by said ... school district ... for the purchase of commodities, materials, supplies, or equipment of any kind, the expense, price or consideration of which is paid from public funds_ (Emphasis added.)
SDCL 6-1-2 does provide for certain exceptions to the foregoing, but this transaction does not fall within any of them. I agree with the trial court that Seymour’s position as a department head and supervisor were such that he would be deemed a public officer as opposed to merely an employee.
Furthermore, I would distinguish Griggs v. Harding County, 68 S.D. 429, 3 N.W.2d 485 (1942), relied on by the majority, because it involves a workman’s compensation claim and only purports to define public official for the purposes of workman’s compensation claims under SDC 64.-0102(2)(b) (now SDCL 62-1-3(2)). Inasmuch as Seymour is not a worker’s compensation claimant, I would distinguish Griggs.
I would hold that the trial court arrived at the correct decision for the wrong reason, specifically it relied on SDCL 3-16-7 rather than on SDCL 6-1-1.