No compensation may be allowed for any injury or death due to the employee's willful misconduct, including intentional self-inflicted injury, intoxication, illegal use of any schedule I or schedule II drug, or willful failure or refusal to use a safety appliance furnished by the employer, or to perform a duty required by statute. The burden of proof under this section is on the defendant employer.
S.D. Codified Laws § 62-4-37
Injury or death due to willful misconduct of employee not compensable
Applied in 19 court decisions — leading case Holscher v. Valley Queen Cheese Factory (2006)
Most recently applied in Althoff v. Pro-Tec Roofing, Inc. (August 2022)
Source: SL 1917, ch 376, § 7; RC 1919, § 9442; SL 1921, ch 421; SDC 1939, § 64.0202; SL 1991, ch 420, § 1; SL 2008, ch 278, § 30.
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.