When an order is made in favor of a person who is not a party to the action, he may enforce obedience to the order by the same process as if he were a party; and, when obedience to an order may be lawfully enforced against a person who is not a party, he is liable to the same process for enforcing obedience to the order as if he were a party.
Rule 71.Process in Behalf of and Against Persons Not Parties
Part VIII: Provisional and Final Remedies and Special Proceedings · Last amended 1966 · Last verified July 16, 2026
In one sentenceRule 15-6-71 lets a person who benefits from a court order enforce it using the same process available to parties, and lets a court use that same process to compel a non-party to obey an order that lawfully binds them.
Full Text of Rule 15-6-71
Plain-English Summary
A court order can touch people who never appear in the case caption. Rule 15-6-71 addresses that situation with a simple, two-way rule tied to enforcement process rather than to party status.
First, when an order is made in favor of someone who is not a party to the action, that person may enforce obedience to the order using the same process available if they had been a party. Their absence from the case does not strip them of a practical way to make the order stick.
Second, the rule runs the other direction. When obedience to an order may lawfully be enforced against someone who is not a party, that person is subject to the same process for enforcing obedience as if they were a party. Rule 15-6-71 does not create new grounds for binding a non-party; it presupposes that some other legal basis already makes the order enforceable against them, and it supplies the procedural means to carry that out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can someone who is not a party to a lawsuit enforce a court order that benefits them?
Yes. Rule 15-6-71 lets a person in whose favor an order was made enforce obedience to it by the same process as if they were a party.
Can a court order be enforced against someone who was never named as a party?
Yes, if obedience to the order may lawfully be enforced against that person. Rule 15-6-71 makes that person liable to the same process for enforcing obedience as if they were a party.
Does Rule 15-6-71 create new authority to bind someone who was not part of the case?
No. The rule presupposes that obedience to the order may already lawfully be enforced against the non-party under some other legal basis; it supplies the procedural mechanism, not the underlying authority to bind them.
What process can be used to enforce an order for or against a non-party?
Rule 15-6-71 says the same process available against a party applies, which reaches the enforcement tools described in the surrounding rules, such as attachment, sequestration, or contempt.
Why does South Dakota need a rule addressing people who are not parties to a case?
Because orders sometimes benefit or bind people outside the case caption, Rule 15-6-71 gives those people the same practical route to enforcement, or the same exposure to enforcement, that formal parties have.
Amendment History
—SD RCP, Rule 71, as adopted by Sup. Ct. Order March 29, 1966, effective July 1, 1966.
Source & verification. Rule text and History are
reproduced verbatim from the South Dakota Codified Laws, published by the
South Dakota Legislative Research Council. Last verified July 16, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: south dakota order against non-partyenforcing a court order for a non-party sdbinding a non-party to a court order south dakotasd rule 15-6-71 process