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S.D. Codified Laws § 15-7-6

Motor vehicle operation deemed appointment of secretary of state as agent to receive process--Binding on personal representative--Agreement as to legal force of process served

Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case Lekanidis v. Bendetti (2000)

Most recently applied in Kaiser Trucking, Inc. v. Liberty Mutual (February 2026)

Source: SDC 1939, § 33.0809; SL 1957, ch 178; SL 1963, ch 226; SL 1969, ch 153; SL 2006, ch 110, § 1.

How often courts cite this section

19831990200020102020202610
citing decisions per year

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.

The use and operation by a resident of this state or the resident's agent, or by a nonresident or the nonresident's agent of a motor vehicle within the State of South Dakota, shall be deemed an irrevocable appointment by the resident or the resident's agent when the resident has been absent from this state continuously for ninety days or more following a motor vehicle accident, or by the nonresident or the nonresident's agent at any time, of the secretary of State of South Dakota to be his or her true and lawful attorney upon whom may be served all legal process in any action or proceeding against the resident or nonresident or his or her personal representative growing out of such use and operation of a motor vehicle within this state, resulting in damages or loss to person or property, whether the damage or loss occurs on a highway or on abutting public or private property. The appointment is binding upon the nonresident's personal representative. The use or operation of a motor vehicle by the resident or nonresident is a signification of the resident's or nonresident's agreement that any such process in any action against the resident or nonresident or his or her personal representative which is so served, shall be of the same legal force and validity as if served upon the resident or nonresident personally or on the resident's or nonresident's personal representative.

Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.