Court Opinion

ID: 9486818
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:01:17.375911+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:57.160898
License: Public Domain

*660MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the judgment.
I am not confident that the statute on which the court relies, S.D.C.L. § 58-9-29, has any application to this case. It seems fair to conclude that that statute was intended to provide a general definition of surety insurance for purposes of the insurance code of South Dakota and, perhaps, other statutory provisions that were in existence at the time of the statute’s passage. It seems to me a mistake to use S.D.C.L. § 58-9-29 to interpret a phrase (which, in fact, is not identical to the one that it contains) that appears in another statute subsequently passed in response to a case decided by the South Dakota Supreme Court. See Sheehan v. Morris Irrigation, Inc., 410 N.W.2d 569 (S.D.1987). I believe that it makes a lot more sense to look to that case to decide the meaning of “surety contract” in S.D.C.L. § 53-9-6, since it was that case that created the mischief that the South Dakota Legislature wanted to undo.
The contract in Sheehan was a bond executed to secure the performance of a construction contract. The relevant portion of the policy sued on in this action, namely that part that insures against employee infidelity, is likewise intended to secure the performance of a contract. It appears, therefore, that the arrangement between the parties in this case falls within the statutory exception created in reaction to Sheehan and that the action is therefore barred.