South Dakota Injuries Glossary

Legal and insurance terms explained plainly

Your money and your case can turn on whether someone is legally treated as an employee or an independent contractor. That label affects who may have to pay after an injury,...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-22

additional insured

You may see it in a contract, certificate of insurance, or claim letter saying someone was "named as an additional insured" under another person's policy. That usually means a...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-22

anticipatory breach

Miss this warning sign, and you can keep spending money, lining up work, or waiting on delivery while the other side has already made clear they will not perform. An...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-01

arbitration clause

Like agreeing ahead of time that if a dispute blows up, you will take it to a private referee instead of a public courthouse, an arbitration clause is a contract provision that...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-27

articles of incorporation

Insurance companies and defense lawyers sometimes bring this up to make a company sound separate, formal, and hard to reach. In an injury case, they may point to the paperwork...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-03

breach of contract

Insurance companies and defense lawyers may throw around this phrase to make a dispute sound technical, limited, or too late to fix. They may argue that a broken promise is...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-27

business dissolution

Money, unpaid wages, insurance coverage, and who can still be sued often turn on whether a company has been shut down properly or only stopped operating in practice. When a...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-02

choice of law provision

Not the same thing as deciding where a lawsuit must be filed, a choice of law provision is a contract clause that says which state's or country's law will govern disputes tied...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-26

commercial use exclusion

The bad surprise comes after a serious crash: the driver thought a personal auto policy would cover everything, then the insurer points to a clause denying coverage because the...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23

covenant not to compete

Think of it like handing over the keys to a pickup but being told you can't drive another one in the same town for a while. A covenant not to compete is a contract clause that...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-24

duty of care in business

Miss this idea, and a routine mistake can turn into a lawsuit, a denied insurance position, or a serious injury claim that costs far more than anyone expected. In plain terms,...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-03

duty of loyalty

What trips people up most is that loyalty here does not mean personal friendship or blind support. It means a legal obligation to put the company's, partnership's, client's, or...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-25

fiduciary duty

A legal duty to act loyally, honestly, and in another person's best interests. "Duty" means more than being nice or careful. It is an enforceable obligation. "Fiduciary" means...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-29

force majeure clause

People often mix up a force majeure clause with an act of God. An act of God is the event itself - a blizzard, flood, wildfire, or other natural event outside human control. A...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-31

indemnification clause

Wondering who has to pay if a deal goes bad and someone ends up owing money, facing a lawsuit, or covering a loss? An indemnification clause is a part of a contract that says...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-25

limitation of liability clause

People often mix this up with an indemnity clause, but they do different jobs. A limitation of liability clause sets a cap on how much money one party can be made to pay if...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-24

liquidated damages clause

People often confuse a liquidated damages clause with a penalty clause. The difference is basic but decisive: liquidated damages are a reasonable pre-set estimate of likely...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-25

LLC vs corporation

The point that trips people up most is that both can shield owners from personal liability, but they are not the same kind of business. An LLC, or limited liability company, is...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-01

material breach vs minor breach

Did the other side miss the contract in a way that blows up the whole deal, or just make a smaller mistake that can be fixed? That is the difference between a material breach...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-31

MedPay

In South Dakota, you generally have 3 years from the date of a crash to file a personal injury lawsuit, but MedPay is not the same thing as PIP. People mix up these two...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-21

non-disclosure agreement

Insurance companies and defense lawyers love these because silence is cheap. After a crash, workplace injury, or business dispute, they may offer money fast if the injured...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-29

operating agreement

Money can disappear fast when a business dispute hits, especially if nobody can prove who owned what, who had authority to act, or how profits and losses were supposed to be...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-28

PTSD

What the insurance company does not want you to know is that PTSD is not the same thing as ordinary stress, and it is not the same diagnosis as acute stress disorder. Acute...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-21

specific performance

You just got a letter that says the other side is demanding a court order forcing you to go through with a deal instead of just paying money. That usually means they want...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-01

TNC insurance gap

A TNC insurance gap is the period when a rideshare or delivery driver may not have full insurance coverage. Each part of that matters. "TNC" means a transportation network...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23