(July 25, 2016, 1:24 PM EDT) -- PIERRE, S.D. — A majority of the South Dakota Supreme Court on July 20 reversed a lower court’s ruling that an insurer has no duty to indemnify its insureds for their loss of 93 cattle during winter storm Atlas, finding that the insurance policy’s drowning provision is ambiguous (Richard Papousek v. De Smet Farm Mutual Insurance Company of South Dakota, No. 27658, S.D. Sup.; 2016 S.D. LEXIS 93).

(Opinion available. Document #51-160811-009Z.)

Richard and Lorayna Papousek, who own and operate a crop-and-livestock ranch, discovered that 93...