South Dakota Codified Laws 25-5-15. Parental liability for willful acts of child–Limitation of recovery–Motor vehicle cases excepted–Specific findings in disputed cases
Any person, firm, association, private or public corporation, including the State of South Dakota and its political subdivisions, suffering damages to real, personal, or mixed property, or personal injury, through any malicious and willful act of a minor child under the age of eighteen years while residing with the child’s parents, has a cause of action against and may recover from the parents of such child. In each case the amount of recovery against one or both of the parents is limited to actual damages of two thousand five hundred dollars and the taxable court costs, and does not apply to damages proximately caused through the operation of a motor vehicle by the minor child. If the issue is disputed, any determination that a parent is not responsible for the full amount of actual damages and costs authorized by this section shall be justified in a specific finding, in writing or on the record.
Terms Used In South Dakota Codified Laws 25-5-15
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Person: includes natural persons, partnerships, associations, cooperative corporations, limited liability companies, and corporations. See South Dakota Codified Laws 2-14-2
- Property: includes property, real and personal. See South Dakota Codified Laws 2-14-2
Source: SL 1957, ch 41; SDC Supp 1960, § 14.0309-1; SL 1979, ch 166; SL 1980, ch 188; SL 1993, ch 194; SL 2010, ch 136, § 1.