Latest 2 Cases: Trask v. Meade County Commission (Constitutional Law), Graff v. Children’s Care Hospital & School (Health Law)

Department of Justice Once Again Proves Its Loyalty to the President, Not the Rule of Law

AUSTIN SARAT

Austin Sarat—Associate Provost, Associate Dean of the Faculty, and William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College—comments on the recent news that the Justice Department will seek dismissal of charges against Michael Flynn. Sarat suggests that because the decision does not seem to advance the fair administration of justice in this case, the court should take the unusual step of refusing to grant the prosecutor’s motion to dismiss.

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Trask v. Meade County Commission

Citation: 2020 S.D. 25

Opinion Date: May 6, 2020

Judge: Salter

Areas of Law: Constitutional Law, Government & Administrative Law, Real Estate & Property Law, Tax Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the circuit court affirming the assessed value of Appellants' agricultural land by the Meade County Commission sitting as a board of equalization (the Board), holding that the circuit court did not err. Before the Board, Appellants argued that the director of equalization incorrectly applied statutory provisions to determine their land's production value. The Board further adjusted the assessment from an average of $519 per acre down to an average of $512 per acre. Appellants appealed the Board's decision to circuit court. After a trial de novo, the circuit court affirmed the Board's tax assessment of the property. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court did not err when it determined that (1) the Board complied with the statutory provisions for evaluating agricultural land in their assessment of Appellants' property; and (2) the Board's tax assessment of the property did not violate provisions of the South Dakota Constitution that require uniform taxation at no more than its actual value.

Graff v. Children’s Care Hospital & School

Citation: 2020 S.D. 26

Opinion Date: May 6, 2020

Judge: Salter

Areas of Law: Health Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the circuit court in favor of Children's Care Hospital and School (CCHS) as to Benjamin Graff's complaint alleging that CCHS was negligent and inflicted emotional distress by using physical restraints on him when he received services at CCHS, holding that the circuit court did not err in excluding various Department of Health surveys and by taxing partial disbursements against Graff's parents. Graff, who was in the moderately to severely impaired range of intellectual ability, was receiving services through CCHS when, as a teenager, he began acting out aggressively. CCHS employees used physical restraints on him. Through his parents acting as guardians ad litem, Graff commenced this action alleging, among other things, that CCHS was negligent in its use of physical restraints on him. A jury returned a verdict in favor of CCHS on all of Graff's claims. The circuit court taxed partial disbursements against Graff's parents. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the circuit court's exclusion of the Department of Health surveys did not prejudice Graff; and (2) the circuit court did not abuse its discretion when it apportioned disbursements against Graff's parents.