062793P.pdf   04/05/2007  County of Harding  v.  Ron Frithiof
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  06-2793
   U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota   
   [PUBLISHED] [Bye, Author, with Colloton and Benton, Circuit
   Judges]
   Civil case - Public bodies. District court erred in finding a lease
   between the county and defendant, a fossil hunter, was invalid under
   South Dakota Codified Law Sec. 7-18-32, which requires a public
   hearing if the annual value of the lease exceeds $500, because the
   county failed to produce evidence of the value of the lease at the time it
   was entered into; value of the lease is the fair market value at the time it
   is signed, without regard to events which may occur subsequent to its
   execution; County could not rely on $8.5 million offer for the sale of the
   fossil remains of a Tyrannosaurus Rex called Tinker to establish fair
   market value of the lease, as that offer came after the lease's execution;
   district court erred in relying on defendant's failure to contest the court's
   diversity jurisdiction and concomitant amount in controversy to establish
   that the lease exceeded $500 per year; nor could the court rely on value of
   defendant's counterclaim to conclude that the annual value of the lease
   exceeded $500. Colloton, Circuit Judge, concurring .