SD DEPT. OF PUBLIC SAFETY v. Haddenham

339 N.W.2d 786
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 2, 1983
Docket13992, 13993
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 339 N.W.2d 786 (SD DEPT. OF PUBLIC SAFETY v. Haddenham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
SD DEPT. OF PUBLIC SAFETY v. Haddenham, 339 N.W.2d 786 (S.D. 1983).

Opinion

339 N.W.2d 786 (1983)

SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, ex rel. James MELGAARD, Deputy Secretary, Plaintiff and Appellee,
v.
Donald N. HADDENHAM, d/b/a Wholesale Fireworks, Defendant and Appellant, and
Starr Fireworks, Inc., Defendant and Appellant.

Nos. 13992, 13993.

Supreme Court of South Dakota.

Considered on Briefs May 24, 1983.
Decided November 2, 1983.

*788 Robert L. Timm, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Pierre, for plaintiff and appellee; Mark V. Meierhenry, Atty. Gen., Pierre, on brief.

James H. Wilson of Wilson, Bottum, Olson, Goodsell & Nash, P.C., Rapid City, for defendant and appellant Donald N. Haddenham, d/b/a Wholesale Fireworks.

Harvey A. Oliver, Jr. of Bantz, Gosch, Cremer & Peterson, Aberdeen, for defendant and appellant Starr Fireworks, Inc.

WOLLMAN, Justice.

This is a consolidated appeal from an order permanently enjoining appellants from selling fireworks over-the-counter to nonresident purchasers during the period from July 6 to June 26 without verification that the purchaser is a licensed fireworks wholesaler, manufacturer, or fireworks permit holder. We affirm.

Appellant Haddenham, a nonresident of South Dakota, is the principal owner of fireworks outlets doing business as Wholesale Fireworks at five South Dakota locations. Appellant Starr Fireworks, Inc. (Starr) is a foreign corporation which maintains fireworks outlets at two South Dakota locations. Appellants are licensed by the South Dakota Department of Public Safety to engage in retail and wholesale sales of permissible fireworks.

Since at all times material to this case SDCL 34-37-10 permitted retail sales of fireworks only from June 27 to July 5,[1] during the remainder of the year appellants engaged in wholesale sales over the counter principally to nonresidents. During this "off season" appellants required the over-the-counter purchasers to show proof that they were not residents of South Dakota. "Off season," over-the-counter purchasers at Wholesale Fireworks were required to sign the following sales slip:

FOR RESALE ONLY I AM NOT A RESIDENT OF SOUTH DAKOTA
Fireworks sold at wholesale for out-of-state use only. Will not be used in the State of South Dakota.

Such purchasers at Starr signed the following sales slip:

I certify that this order is purchased at wholesale for resale and will not be shot or sold in South Dakota before June 27, 19__ or after July 5, 19__.

The trial court refused to grant the temporary injunction sought by the South Dakota Department of Public Safety (Department), but later concluded that appellants had been violating SDCL 34-37-12 and permanently enjoined appellants from selling permissible fireworks over the counter to nonresident purchasers during the "off season" without verification that these purchasers *789 are licensed fireworks wholesalers, manufacturers, or permit holders.

As amended in 1982, SDCL 34-37-12 provided:

Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit licensed wholesalers or manufacturers from storing, selling, shipping or otherwise transporting, permissible fireworks to any person or entity outside of the state of South Dakota. The delivery of such fireworks shall only be made by a properly certified motor carrier as specified in chapter 49-28 or by licensed fireworks wholesalers or manufacturers or fireworks permit holders in vehicles owned or leased by them.[2]

Appellants argue that SDCL 34-37-12 does not apply to sales to nonresident tourists for transportation out of the state. We do not agree. The interpretation given a statute by the agency charged with its administration is entitled to great weight. Udall v. Tallman, 380 U.S. 1, 85 S.Ct. 792, 13 L.Ed.2d 616 (1965); Matter of State Sales Tax on Use Tax Liability of Webber Furniture, 290 N.W.2d 865 (S.D.1980). We agree with the Department and the circuit court that the phrase "person or entity outside of the state of South Dakota" includes all nonresidents.

Appellants contend that the language "any person or entity outside of the state of South Dakota," "permit holders," and "in vehicles owned or leased by them" as used in SDCL 34-37-12 is unconstitutionally vague. Violation of this statute was a Class 2 misdemeanor and since March 4, 1983, has been a Class 1 misdemeanor. SDCL 34-37-14, as amended by 1983 S.D.Sess.Laws ch. 259, § 12.

As set forth above, Department interprets "any person or entity outside of the state of South Dakota" as all nonresidents. Department interprets "permit holders" as those persons or entities licensed in another state to import, sell, or use fireworks. Although Department does not state its interpretation of "in vehicles owned or leased by them," it is obvious that the phrase means in vehicles owned or leased by licensed fireworks wholesalers, or manufacturers, or fireworks permit holders.

In State v. Bad Heart Bull, 257 N.W.2d 715, 720 (S.D.1977), appeal dismissed, 434 U.S. 1004, 98 S.Ct. 708, 54 L.Ed.2d 747 (1978), we set forth the following guidelines for determining whether a penal statute is unconstitutionally vague:

A crime must be statutorily defined with definiteness and certainty. A statute which either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application violates the first essential of due process. Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U.S. 347, 84 S.Ct. 1697, 12 L.Ed.2d 894. A criminal statute must give a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice that his contemplated conduct is forbidden. United States v. Harriss, 347 U.S. 612, 74 S.Ct. 808, 98 L.Ed. 989 and State v. Bullis (1975) S.D., 231 N.W.2d 851.

See also State v. Primeaux, 328 N.W.2d 256 (S.D.1982); State v. Crelly, 313 N.W.2d 455 (S.D.1981).

We conclude that persons of common intelligence need not guess at the meaning of *790 the above language but would interpret it in conformity with the above interpretation.

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