Trumble v. Trumble

2025 S.D. 65
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 12, 2025
Docket30966
StatusPublished

This text of 2025 S.D. 65 (Trumble v. Trumble) 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
Trumble v. Trumble, 2025 S.D. 65 (S.D. 2025).

Opinion

#30966-aff in pt & rem-JMK 2025 S.D. 65

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA

****

JACQUELINE M. TRUMBLE, Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.

ERIC TRUMBLE, Defendant and Appellee.

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SECOND JUDICIAL CIRCUIT MINNEHAHA COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA

THE HONORABLE JOHN PEKAS Judge

ALEX S. HALBACH ROBERT D. TRZYNKA of Halbach Szwarc Law Firm Sioux Falls, South Dakota Attorneys for plaintiff and appellant.

A. RUSSELL JANKLOW ERIN SCHOENBECK BYRE of Johnson, Janklow & Abdallah, LLP Sioux Falls, South Dakota Attorneys for defendant and appellee.

CONSIDERED ON BRIEFS AUGUST 26, 2025 OPINION FILED 11/12/25 #30966

KERN, Justice

[¶1.] The Plaintiff, Jacqueline M. Trumble (Wife), filed for divorce against

Defendant, Eric Trumble (Husband). The couple owned a large residential property

in Canada (Canadian Property) which burned to the ground during the pendency of

their divorce proceedings. During discovery, Wife disclosed an insurance policy

with a $2 million Canadian Dollar (CAD)1 coverage limit for the property and

represented that it was the sole policy covering the premises. The parties

subsequently entered a stipulation and agreement entitling Wife to the Canadian

Property and the related insurance policy proceeds upon divorce. After the

agreement was signed, the circuit court entered a divorce decree based on

irreconcilable differences and incorporated the agreement.

[¶2.] Nearly seven months later, Husband became aware that Wife was

receiving $4 million CAD in insurance proceeds, not the $2 million CAD originally

disclosed. Husband filed a motion for relief from the order on the grounds of fraud

under SDCL 15-6-60(b)(3) based upon Wife’s alleged fraudulent concealment of an

additional insurance policy. After a hearing, the circuit court granted Husband

relief from the judgment and found Wife committed fraud by failing to disclose

assets. Pursuant to the terms of the parties’ stipulation and agreement and the

court’s statutory authority under SDCL 25-4-77, the court ordered that the

undisclosed proceeds be split evenly between the parties. Wife appealed and moved

for a stay and supersedeas undertaking allowing the insurance proceeds to be

expended to rebuild the home. Husband objected. The court stayed the original

1. The Canadian Dollar is the official currency of Canada. -1- #30966

order and allowed Wife, under certain terms and conditions, to use the undisclosed

insurance proceeds to rebuild the Canadian Property. Wife’s appeal from the

original order challenges the circuit court’s determination that she committed fraud

under SDCL 15-6-60(b)(3) and the court’s order requiring an equal division of the

undisclosed insurance proceeds. We affirm in part, and remand for further

proceedings.

Factual and Procedural Background

[¶3.] After a 28-year marriage, Wife initiated divorce proceedings against

Husband on May 31, 2023. Two days later, on June 2, the parties’ largest marital

asset, a waterfront property on a remote island in Canada, burned to the ground.

Wife was living in the Canadian Property at the time of the fire, and many of her

personal belongings were lost in the fire. Husband was living in Sioux Falls at the

parties’ other residence at the time, where most of his personal belongings were

kept.

[¶4.] On August 9, 2023, Husband filed his answer and counterclaim to the

divorce proceedings. As discovery began, Wife disclosed through an email to

Husband and his counsel on October 15, 2023, an insurance policy covering the

Canadian Property issued by National Insurance Company. The term of policy

coverage was from February 3, 2023, through February 3, 2024, covering the

damages caused by the fire. The policy produced was a “replacement cost value”

policy, meaning the insurance proceeds would cover the cost to repair or replace the

damaged or destroyed property up to policy limits. The limits on the National

Insurance policy appeared to be $2 million CAD, and the policy was solely in Wife’s

-2- #30966

name. Because he was not a named insured, Husband had no authority to access

information related to the policy and he relied solely on Wife’s representations.

[¶5.] Husband’s counsel sought additional information through

interrogatories and requests for production of documents regarding the insurance

policy over the next four months. Counsel emailed Wife’s counsel multiple times,

requesting that Wife produce the information and threatening to file a motion to

compel if discovery was not forthcoming. Wife’s counsel maintained that Husband

and his counsel had “ALL of the documents he has requested” relating to the

insurance policy. In a January 3, 2024 email, Wife’s counsel reaffirmed the

proposition that the insurance company would “rebuild the home at $2 million

Canadian.”

[¶6.] Dissatisfied with this representation, on February 12, 2024, Husband

filed a motion to compel discovery and a motion to place the insurance proceeds in a

trust account or with the court. The circuit court set a motion hearing date. The

hearing was never held, however, because the parties reached a settlement

agreement prior to the hearing. The circuit court, on March 25, 2024, entered a

judgment and decree of divorce based on irreconcilable differences which

incorporated the parties’ stipulation and agreement equitably dividing the marital

estate.

[¶7.] The portions of the stipulation and agreement relevant to the issues

herein are set forth below:

4. Disclosure of Property. The Parties agree that they have disclosed the existence of all property, in whatever form, owned by either or both of them, and that this Agreement is based upon a full knowledge of all property. Should an item

-3- #30966

of property be discovered in the future or should a party have failed to disclose the existence of an item of property, the Parties shall share equally in the value of that property, or the party who does not receive the undisclosed item shall receive an equivalent value in cash or other property.

***

27. Representation of the Parties. Both Parties are aware of their discovery rights and the foregoing terms of this Agreement are based upon the representations of the Parties to each other that they have made a thorough and complete disclosure of their assets, liabilities and overall financial position, and each acknowledges that this Agreement is being executed in reliance on the validity of said information.

[¶8.] The agreement entitled Wife to the Canadian Property and any

insurance proceeds related to the claim due to the fire, while Husband kept the

Sioux Falls residence and all his personal belongings. During negotiations, the

parties valued the Canadian Property at $2.8 million CAD—$800,000 CAD more

than the insurance policy limits.

[¶9.] Two months after the parties signed the agreement, on May 22, 2024,

Wife hired a Canadian company to conduct a geotechnical assessment on the

property. An appraiser then used this assessment to generate a reconstruction cost

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Bluebook (online)
2025 S.D. 65, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trumble-v-trumble-sd-2025.