South Dakota’s civil legal system outperforms much of the country’s. Business litigators surveyed in 2015 ranked South Dakota 9th in the nation at producing fair and reasonable justice. The state does, however, need some improvements to make jury service less burdensome and better representative.

Range: 0.34 - 0.93%

NERA Economic Consulting completed a study quantifying the economic impact of passing a bevy of lawsuit reforms. According to the report, passage of a complete package of lawsuit reforms could increase employment in South Dakota between 0.34 and 0.93%.