Any adult, or any emancipated minor as defined in § 25-5-24, or any parent or guardian of any unemancipated minor, who takes possession of any goods, wares, or merchandise displayed or offered for sale by a store or other mercantile establishment without the consent of the owner or seller, and with the intention of converting the goods to the person's own use without having paid the purchase price, is liable to the owner or seller for the retail value of the merchandise, regardless of whether or not the merchandise has been recovered in undamaged condition by the owner or seller. In addition, the owner or seller is entitled to a penalty of four times the retail value of the merchandise, or one hundred dollars, whichever is greater.
S.D. Codified Laws § 22-30A-19.1
Liability of shoplifter to owner or seller--Penalty
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Fin-Ag, Inc. v. Pipestone Livestock Auction Market, Inc. (2008)
Most recently applied in Fin-Ag, Inc. v. Pipestone Livestock Auction Market, Inc. (June 2008)
Source: SL 1989, ch 199, § 1; SL 1993, ch 213, § 108; SL 1994, ch 179, § 1; SL 1997, ch 138, § 1; SL 2005, ch 120, § 72.
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.