Sisney v. State
South Dakota Supreme Court
754 N.W.2d 639 (2008)
- Written by Craig Conway, LLM
Facts
CBM, Inc. (defendant) contracted with the State of South Dakota (defendant) to provide food service to the state’s department of corrections (DOC) facilities. In 2007, CBM began serving a different menu at DOC facilities. Charles Sisney (plaintiff), a Jewish prison inmate who followed a kosher diet as part of his religion, filed an administrative complaint with the DOC alleging that the new menu included kosher meals that averaged 400-500 fewer calories than the minimum required under the state’s contract with CBM. Douglas Weber (defendant), the director of prison operations, rejected Sisney’s complaint. Thereafter, Sisney filed suit against the State, CBM, and Weber (collectively Defendants) alleging that CBM breached its contract with the state by failing to adhere to the correct calorie count in its kosher meals. Sisney claimed he was a third-party beneficiary to the contract. The trial court dismissed Sisney’s complaint for failure to state a claim and held that Sisney lacked standing to sue as a third-party beneficiary. Sisney appealed. The South Dakota Supreme Court granted certiorari to review.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Zinter, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 804,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
