081540P.pdf   08/06/2009  Harding County, SD  v.  Ron Frithiof
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  08-1540
   U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota   
   [PUBLISHED] [Loken, Author, with Melloy and Benton, Circuit
   Judges]
   Civil case - contracts. For the court's prior opinion in this dispute over
   a lease for land where dinosaur fossils were found, see County of
   Harding, S.D. v. Frithiof, 483 F.3d 541 (8th Cir. 2007). Defendant did not
   breach a fiduciary duty to disclose during lease negotiations with the
   county that he had previously discovered, removed and attempted to sell
   the fossil remains of "Tinker," a tyrannosaurus rex, from the lease lands, 
   as the parties were dealing at arm's length, the county knew remains had
   been found in similar situations and defendant could reasonably expect
   the county to make its own investigations and protect its own interests by
   inquiring into prior discoveries that were basic to the transaction; district
   court did not err in dismissing county's claims for constructive and actual
   fraud; district court did not err in dismissing claim for rescission of lease
   agreement based on county's claim of unilateral mistake of fact as the
   county made no attempt to determine whether there had been any
   discoveries on the land or even inspect the property; county's failure to
   comply with the requirement that a public hearing be held before entering
   into a lease did not provide a basis for rescinding the lease; county is
   estopped from rescinding the lease based on its failure to comply with the
   South Dakota statute on leases; tort claims of trespass and conversion
   were properly rejected, as defendant entered the land with the then-
   current lessee's permission and an action for conversion will not lie after
   a lease is signed; in absence of an underlying tort, the county could not
   state a claim for civil conspiracy. Judge Melloy, dissenting.