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Johnson Janklow Abdallah Attorneys Appointed as Special Deputy State’s Attorneys to Recover $1.2 Million in Bridge Grant Funds from South Dakota DOT

Mar 28, 17

The attorneys at Johnson Janklow Abdallah appointed to represent Minnehaha County in a dispute with the South Dakota Department of Transportation over Bridge Improvement Grant have been working diligently to vindicate their client’s rights in an administrative appeal recently argued in Second Circuit Court.
 
In August 2016, Attorneys Pamela Reiter and Ron Parsons were hired by the Minnehaha County Commission and honored to be sworn in as Special Deputy State’s Attorneys to handle the case for the County.  The dispute involves more than $1.2 million in funds that the County believes it should have been awarded under the objective scoring criteria established by the administrative rules governing the Bridge Improvement Grants (BIG), a program enacted by the Legislature in 2015.
 
Under South Dakota law, administrative rules have the force of law and bind the agency that issues them.  The County contends that the Transportation Commission’s decision to deny Minnehaha County’s BIG application and instead to reallocate the grant to a lower-scoring applicant contravened the objective criteria mandated by the governing statutes and rules.  As argued by Parsons at the hearing on the appeal, “it’s not fair to change the rules in the middle of the game.”

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It is great to work with the attorneys at Johnson, Janklow, and Abdallah. They always provide excellent advice and service that is second to none.

Mike Miller | former NBA player

The lawyers at Johnson, Janklow, and Abdallah are consistently ranked as the top business lawyers in the state. Our business can always count on them to aggressively fight for our rights and provide straight-forward advice on complex issues.

Mark McNeary | Primrose Retirement Communities, LLC

Lawyers from Johnson, Janklow, and Abdallah regularly participate in legal education by judging intramural student skills competitions; helping prepare our nationally competitive litigation skills teams; serving or leading the South Dakota State Bar's Law School Committee; and, from time to time , providing guest lecturers. The Law School is grateful for the generous participation of lawyers like those from Johnson, Janklow, and Abdallah.

Tom Geu | former Dean, USD School of Law