South Dakota

quick facts

South Dakota waives sovereign immunity for public entities only to the extent that the entity purchases liability insurance. ¹ Moreover, South Dakota law declares that employees are completely immune from personal-capacity lawsuits for actions within the scope of employment. ² However, the Supreme Court of South Dakota held that this provision was unconstitutional and that, under the open-courts provision in the South Dakota Constitution, employees must be liable for the performance of ministerial functions even if they are immune for discretionary functions. ³