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 a corporation be defendant, to the sheriff or other officer of the county in which such corporation was established by law, or where its general business was transacted, or where it kept an office for the transaction of business. Such an attempt must be followed by the first publication of the summons, or the service thereof, within sixty days.
S.D. Codified Laws § 15-2-31
Attempted commencement of action by delivery of summons to sheriff--Publication or service following attempt
Applied in 16 court decisions — leading case Peterson v. Hohm (2000)
Most recently applied in Robinson-Podoll v. Harmelink, Fox, & Ravnsborg Law Office (January 2020)
Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 33.0202.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.