Rosebud Federal Credit Union v. Mathis Implement, Inc.

I agree the circuit court’s order denying Rosebud’s motion for default judgment should be reversed, but write specially to assert that in South Dakota an individual who is not a licensed attorney may not appear pro se to represent a corporation of which he is a director, officer or shareholder.

In spite of protestations he was not representing Mathis Implement, Inc., Richard Mathis was neither a named defendant nor had he been made a party through intervention under SDCL 15-6-24(a).1 Mathis’ interest at the hearing was as a shareholder of fifty percent of the stock of the corporation of which…