Title 15, CIVIL PROCEDURE

The following words have in this title the significance attached to them in this section unless otherwise apparent from the context: (1) An action is an ordinary proceeding in a court of justice, by which a party prosecutes another party for the enforcement, determination, or pro…

Where the violation of a right admits of both a civil and criminal remedy, the right to prosecute the one is not merged in the other. Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 33.0103.

An action is deemed to be pending from the time of its commencement until its final determination upon appeal, or until the time for appeal has passed, unless the judgment be sooner satisfied. Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 33.0104.

When an attorney or litigant is in immediate need of a judicial signature and no appropriate circuit judge or magistrate judge is present or available, such signature may be acquired in the following manner: (1) the attorney or litigant may telephonically contact a circuit judge …

Civil actions can only be commenced within the periods prescribed in this title after the cause of action shall have accrued except where in special cases a different limitation is prescribed by statute. The objection that the action was not commenced within the time limited can …

An action against a manufacturer, lessor, or seller of a product, regardless of the substantive legal theory upon which the action is brought, for or on account of personal injury, death, or property damage caused by or resulting from the manufacture, construction, design, formul…

Except where, in special cases, a different limitation is prescribed by statute, the following civil actions other than for the recovery of real property can be commenced only within six years after the cause of action shall have accrued: (1) An action upon a contract, obligation…

Except where, in special cases, a different limitation is prescribed by statute, the following civil actions other than for the recovery of real property can be commenced only within three years after the cause of action shall have accrued: (1) An action against a sheriff, corone…

An action against a physician, surgeon, dentist, hospital, sanitarium, registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, chiropractor, or other practitioner of the healing arts for malpractice, error, mistake, or failure to cure, whether based upon contract or tort, can be commenced on…

An action against a licensed attorney, his agent or employee, for malpractice, error, mistake, or omission, whether based upon contract or tort, can be commenced only within three years after the alleged malpractice, error, mistake, or omission shall have occurred. This section s…

Any action against any professional corporation or professional limited liability company organized under chapter 47-11 , 47-11A , 47-11B , 47-11C , 47-12 , 47-13 , 47-13A , or 47-13B can only be brought within the time and in the manner prescribed by the statute of limitations a…

Any action against a licensed public accountant or the accountant's agent or employee, for malpractice, error, mistake, or omission, whether based on contract or tort, may be commenced only within three years after the alleged malpractice, error, mistake or omission has occurred …

An action against a veterinarian or any member of a veterinarian's staff for malpractice, error, mistake, or failure to cure, whether based upon contract or tort, may be commenced only within three years after the alleged malpractice, error, mistake, or failure to cure has occurr…

No action may be brought against a licensed real estate broker, broker associate, or salesperson, or any agent or employee thereof, for malpractice, error, mistake, or omission, whether based upon contract or tort, unless it is commenced within three years of the occurrence of th…

No action may be brought against a licensed partnership, association, limited liability company, or corporation of a real estate broker, or any agent or employee thereof, for malpractice, error, mistake, or omission, whether based upon contract or tort, unless it is commenced wit…

No action may be brought after July 1, 2006, against any professional corporation formed pursuant to chapter 47-11 , 47-11 A, 47-11 B, 47-11 C, 47-11 D, 47-11 E, 47-12 , 47-13 , 47-13 A, or 47-13 B, or any shareholder of such corporation, or against any person individually engage…

Except where, in special cases, a different limitation is prescribed by statute, the following civil actions other than for the recovery of real property can be commenced only within two years after the cause of action shall have accrued: (1) An action for libel, slander, assault…

Any action brought under the federal civil rights statutes may be commenced only within three years after the alleged constitutional deprivation has occurred. This section is prospective in application. Source: SL 1983, ch 155 , § 1; SL 1986, ch 158 .

Any action to recover into the treasury of any municipality within this state funds illegally expended by any governing body or public official thereof, must, notwithstanding any other law or statute of limitation, be commenced within two years from the date of publication of the…

Except where, in special cases, a different limitation is prescribed by statute, the following civil actions other than for the recovery of real property can be commenced only within one year after the cause of action shall have accrued: (1) An action against a sheriff or other o…

This chapter does not affect actions to enforce the payment of bills, notes, or other evidence of debt issued by moneyed corporations, or issued or put in circulation as money. Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 33.0211.

No action may be brought against a director, shareholder, or an agent or employee of a bank or bank holding company, for any error, mistake, or omission, whether based on contract or tort, unless it is commenced within three years of the occurrence of the alleged error, mistake, …

The limitations prescribed in this chapter and chapter 15-3 shall apply to actions brought in the name of the state, or for its benefit, in the same manner as to actions by private parties, unless otherwise specifically prescribed by law. However, no statute of limitation or repo…

If when the cause of action shall accrue against any person he shall be out of the state, such action may be commenced within the terms herein respectively limited after the return of such person into this state; and if after such cause of action shall have accrued, such person s…

When a person shall be an alien subject, or a citizen of a country at war with the United States, the time of the continuance of the war is part of the period limited for the commencement of the action. Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 33.0206.

If a person entitled to bring an action other than for the recovery of real property, except for a penalty or forfeiture, or against a sheriff or other officer for an escape, was at the time the cause of action accrued, either: (1) Within the age of minority as defined in chapter…

No person can avail himself of a disability unless it existed when his right of action accrued. Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 33.0209.

When two or more disabilities coexist at the time the right of action accrues, the limitation does not attach until they are all removed. Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 33.0210.

When the commencement of an action is stayed by injunction or statutory prohibition, the time of the continuance of the injunction or prohibition is not part of the time limited for the commencement of the action. Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 33.0208.

At the expiration of fifteen years from the date the cause of action accrues on any mortgage as provided in § 15-2-5 , such mortgage shall be conclusively presumed to have been paid and the mortgage and the record thereof shall cease to be notice of the mortgage as unpaid and the…

No acknowledgment or promise is sufficient evidence of a new or continuing contract, whereby to take the case out of the operation of this chapter, unless the same be contained in some writing signed by the party to be charged thereby; but this section shall not alter the effect …

In an action for relief on the ground of fraud the cause of action shall not be deemed to have accrued until the aggrieved party discovers, or has actual or constructive notice of, the facts constituting the fraud. Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 33.0235; SL 1961, ch 178 .

An action is commenced as to each defendant when the summons is served on him, or on a codefendant who is a joint contractor or otherwise united in interest with him. Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 33.0202.

An attempt to commence an action is deemed equivalent to the commencement thereof when the summons is delivered, with the intent that it shall be actually served, to the sheriff or other officer of the county in which the defendants or one of them, usually or last resided; or if …

If an action be commenced within the time prescribed therefor and a judgment therein be reversed on appeal, the plaintiff or, if he die and the cause of action survive, his heirs or representatives, may commence a new action within one year after the reversal. Source: SDC 1939 & …

If a plaintiff in a civil action has not satisfied a judgment for expenses, attorney's fees, or both, entered in a prior civil case involving substantially the same parties brought in the circuit where the present action is pending, and the court, in support of the judgment, made…

Any action to recover damages for personal injury or death caused by the negligence of a regional airport authority, created pursuant to § 50-6A-2 , may only be commenced within two years of the alleged negligence. This section is prospective in application. Source: SL 1998, ch 2…

No action may be brought against a licensed real estate appraiser, or any agent or employee thereof, for malpractice, error, mistake, or omission, whether based upon contract or tort, unless it is commenced within three years of the occurrence of the alleged malpractice, error, m…

If § 21-22-30 or 55-3-45 do not apply, absent fraud, intentional misrepresentation, or material omission, an action to recover for breach of trust against a qualified person as defined in § 55-3-41 or an officer, director, or employee of a qualified person may be commenced only w…

In an action brought to recover a balance due upon a mutual, open, and current account where there have been reciprocal demands between the parties, the cause of action shall be deemed to have accrued from the time of the last item proved in the account on either side. Source: SD…

For the purposes of this chapter a cause of action for the foreclosure of a mortgage shall be deemed to have accrued at the last date of the maturity of the debt or other obligation secured thereby, as stated in, or as ascertainable from the record of such mortgage or in an exten…

An action to challenge the validity of proceedings for the nonjudicial foreclosure of a mortgage on real property, or an action to challenge the validity of a title derived from such proceedings, may be commenced only within one year from the date the sheriff's certificate of sal…

Except where, in special cases, a different limitation is prescribed by statute, the following civil actions other than for the recovery of real property can be commenced only within twenty years after the cause of action shall have accrued: (1) An action upon a judgment or decre…

Except where, in special cases, a different limitation is prescribed by statute, a civil action for the foreclosure of any real estate mortgage by action or by advertisement can be commenced only within fifteen years after the cause of action shall have accrued, and said period o…

Except where, in special cases, a different limitation is prescribed by statute, the following civil actions other than for the recovery of real property can be commenced only within ten years after the cause of action shall have accrued: (1) An action upon a judgment or decree o…

The Legislature finds that subsequent to the completion of construction, persons involved in the planning, design, and construction of improvements to real estate lack control over the determination of the need for, the undertaking of and the responsibility for maintenance, and l…

This chapter is prospective in application. Source: SL 1985, ch 156 , § 11.

The Legislature intends that this chapter shall bar any action for defects, unsafe conditions, errors, and omissions in the planning, designing, and construction of improvements to real estate after the times limited in this chapter, subject to the exceptions described in this ch…

No action to recover damages for any injury to real or personal property, for personal injury or death arising out of any deficiency in the design, planning, supervision, inspection, and observation of construction, or construction, of an improvement to real property, nor any act…

The limitation in § 15-2A-3 may not be asserted by way of defense by any person in actual possession and control as owner, tenant or otherwise, of the improvement at the time any deficiency in such an improvement constitutes the proximate cause of the injury or death for which it…