If an injury for which compensation is payable under this title has been sustained under circumstances creating in some other person than the employer a legal liability to pay damages in respect thereto, the injured employee may, at the employee’s option, either claim compensation or proceed at law against such other person to recover damages or proceed against both the employer and such other person. However, in the event the injured employee recovers any like damages from such other person, the recovered damages shall be an offset against any workers’ compensation which the employee would otherwise have been entitled to receive.

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Terms Used In South Dakota Codified Laws 62-4-38

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • employer: includes the state and any municipal corporation within the state or any political subdivision of this state, and any individual, firm, association, limited liability company, or corporation, or the receiver or trustee of the same, or the legal representative of a deceased employer, using the service of another for pay. See South Dakota Codified Laws 62-1-2
  • Person: includes natural persons, partnerships, associations, cooperative corporations, limited liability companies, and corporations. See South Dakota Codified Laws 2-14-2

Source: SDC 1939, § 64.0301; SL 1964, ch 224; SL 1994, ch 398.