It is a Class 1 misdemeanor for any manufacturer, factory, branch, distributor, or distributor-branch, or any field representative, officer, agent, or representative of any of them, unfairly, without due regard to the equities of the dealer and without just provocation, to cancel the franchise of any dealer.
S.D. Codified Laws § 37-5-3
Unfair cancellation of dealer franchise as misdemeanor
Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case Groseth International, Inc. v. Tenneco, Inc. (1987)
Most recently applied in 777 F. Supp. 2d 1198 - Diesel MacHinery, Inc. v. Manitowoc Crane Group (March 2011)
Source: SL 1951, ch 262, § 1; SDC Supp 1960, § 54.1103; SL 1970, ch 219, § 3; SL 1973, ch 200, § 2; SDCL Supp, § 37-5-1.1; SL 1977, ch 190, § 237; SL 1995, ch 228, § 3; SL 2004,…
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.