| South Dakota v. Fifteen Impounded Cats | |
|---|---|
| Court | Supreme Court of South Dakota |
| Full case name | South Dakota v. Fifteen Impounded Cats |
| Decided | June 23, 2010 |
| Citations | 785 N.W.2d 272 (2010), 2010 SD 50 |
| Case history | |
| Appealed from | South Dakota Circuit Court |
| Case opinions | |
| Decision by | Chief Justice Gilbertson |
| Concurrence | Justice Konekamp, Justice Zinter |
| Dissent | Justice Severson, Justice Meierhenry |
South Dakota v. Fifteen Impounded Cats, 785 N.W.2d 272 (S.D. 2010), is a 2010 Supreme Court of South Dakota civil forfeiture case brought by the American state of South Dakota against fifteen cats that they had seized on the grounds of interfering with a driver's visibility. The seizure was challenged by the owner of the cats and the court found on a 3–2 majority that the seizure was lawful because of the risk to pedestrians as well as to the cats.[1]
The form of the styling of this case – the defendant being animals (fifteen cats), rather than a legal person – is because this is a jurisdiction in rem (power over objects) case, rather than the more familiar in personam (over persons) case.