South Dakota summary judgment: 28, 14 and 7 calendar days before the hearing — and the reply period counts weekends
South Dakota procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026
South Dakota measures every summary-judgment deadline backwards from the hearing, and it says calendar days each time. Then it does something no other state's rule does quite so explicitly: it turns off the usual weekend-and-holiday exclusion for the shortest of the three periods.
The schedule runs backwards, and it is all calendar days
§ 15-6-56(c) sets the sequence in a single sentence:
Unless different periods are fixed or permitted by order of the court, the motion and supporting brief, statement of undisputed material facts, and any affidavits shall be served not later than twenty-eight calendar days before the time specified for the hearing; any response or reply thereto, including any response to the movant's statement of undisputed material facts, shall be served not later than fourteen calendar days before the hearing; and a reply brief or affidavit may be served by the movant not later than seven calendar days before the hearing.
| Step | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Motion, brief, statement of undisputed material facts, affidavits | 28 calendar days before the hearing |
| Response, including response to the statement of facts | 14 calendar days before the hearing |
| Reply brief or affidavit | 7 calendar days before the hearing |
Nothing is measured from service of the motion. If the hearing moves, every deadline moves with it.
The sentence that catches people out
Immediately after the schedule, the rule disapplies the ordinary counting method for the last step:
The time computation rules of SDCL 15-6-6(a) requiring the exclusion of intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays shall not apply to the seven-calendar-day reply period.
Read that carefully, because it is easy to get backwards. South Dakota's general computation rule would normally exclude intervening weekends and holidays from a short period. For the seven-day reply, that exclusion is switched off — seven days means seven days on the calendar, weekend included. A reply counted the ordinary way will be late.
Who may move, and when
A claimant — § 15-6-56(a) waits thirty days:
A party seeking to recover upon a claim, counterclaim, or cross-claim or to obtain a declaratory judgment may, at any time after the expiration of thirty days from the commencement of the action or after service of a motion for summary judgment by the adverse party, move with or without supporting affidavits for a summary judgment in his favor upon all or any part thereof.
Thirty days is the longest hold among the states in this family — Maine and Rhode Island use twenty, North Dakota twenty-one. As elsewhere, service of the opponent's own motion releases the claimant from the wait.
A defending party — § 15-6-56(b) may move "at any time."
South Dakota has not conformed the rule to gender-neutral drafting; the text still reads "his" and "him," and is quoted here as it stands.
Both sides file a statement of material facts
This is the second structural feature. § 15-6-56(c)(1) requires the movant to attach one:
A party moving for summary judgment shall attach to the motion a separate, short, and concise statement of the material facts as to which the moving party contends there is no genuine issue to be tried. Each material fact in this required statement must be presented in a separate numbered statement and with appropriate citation to the record in the case.
And § 15-6-56(c)(2) requires one from the party opposing — with an additional duty to answer paragraph by paragraph:
A party opposing a motion for summary judgment shall include a separate, short, and concise statement of the material facts as to which the opposing party contends a genuine issue exists to be tried. The opposing party must respond to each numbered paragraph in the moving party's statement with a separately numbered response and appropriate citations to the record.
Then the consequence, in § 15-6-56(c)(3):
All material facts set forth in the statement that the moving party is required to serve shall be admitted unless controverted by the statement required to be served by the opposing party.
Note how narrow that is. A fact is admitted unless it is controverted by the statement — not by the brief, and not by an affidavit filed alongside. The document that does the work is the opposing statement of material facts, and it is due 14 calendar days before the hearing along with everything else.
The standard
The rest of § 15-6-56(c)(3) carries the familiar test: judgment "shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Partial judgment is available — "A summary judgment, interlocutory in character, may be rendered on the issue of liability alone although there is a genuine issue as to the amount of damages."
What an opposing party must produce
§ 15-6-56(e) sets the affidavit form and the response burden. Affidavits "shall be made on personal knowledge, shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated therein," with sworn or certified copies of referenced papers "attached thereto or served therewith." And:
When a motion for summary judgment is made and supported as provided in § 15-6-56, an adverse party may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of his pleading, but his response, by affidavits or as otherwise provided in § 15-6-56, must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. If he does not so respond, summary judgment, if appropriate, shall be entered against him.
If you cannot answer yet
§ 15-6-56(f):
Should it appear from the affidavits of a party opposing the motion that he cannot for reasons stated present by affidavit facts essential to justify his opposition, the court may refuse the application for judgment or may order a continuance to permit affidavits to be obtained or depositions to be taken or discovery to be had or may make such other order as is just.
With only 14 calendar days between the motion and the response, and the hearing already set, a continuance application under (f) often has to be made quickly.
Where the motion partly succeeds
§ 15-6-56(d) has the court ascertain "what material facts exist without substantial controversy and what material facts are actually and in good faith controverted," then make an order specifying the uncontroverted facts "including the extent to which the amount of damages or other relief is not in controversy." Those facts carry forward: "Upon the trial of the action the facts so specified shall be deemed established, and the trial shall be conducted accordingly."
Bad-faith affidavits
§ 15-6-56(g) makes the fee award mandatory on a finding of bad faith. Where affidavits "are presented in bad faith or solely for the purpose of delay, the court shall forthwith order the party employing them to pay to the other party the amount of the reasonable expenses which the filing of the affidavits caused him to incur, including reasonable attorney's fees, and any offending party or attorney may be adjudged guilty of contempt."