Sisters must dissolve Butte County ranch operation

By Joe Kafka, The Associated Press | Monday, August 04, 2008

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A company formed to operate a Butte County ranch inherited by four sisters who no longer get along must be dissolved to settle the family dispute, the South Dakota Supreme Court has decided.

In a unanimous ruling, the justices say the economic purposes of the ranch are stymied by a 2-2 deadlock.

Two sisters, Dorothy Grohmann and Eileen Randell, have refused to break up the company. The other sisters, Lorraine Kirksey and Lucille Ruby, want the company dissolved.

The foursome inherited the 2,679-acre spread when their mother died in 2001. The ranch is estimated to be worth more than $3.2 million.

Grohmann lives on the land and manages the ranch; Randell lives in Rapid City; Kirksey lives in California; and Ruby lives in Colorado.

A lease on the land and management of the ranch have become issues, but none of the sisters will talk to each other. They communicate only through lawyers.

Kirksey and Ruby argue that the lease on the land is no longer beneficial to the company, but the other sisters disagree.

Kirksey and Ruby went to court to dissolve the company, but Circuit Judge John Bastian ruled against them because of the 2-2 split on dissolution.

Overturning Bastian, the Supreme Court said the deadlock on management of the ranch makes it necessary to dissolve the company so each sister can take their share of the land.

"The sisters created their company with the understanding that they would have relatively equal say in its overall management and operation. Although each sister has an equal vote, there no longer exists equality in the decision-making," wrote Justice John K. Konenkamp.

"Leaving two sisters, half the owners, with all the power in the operation of the company cannot be a reasonable and practical operation of a business."