Smith v. ADM Feed Corp.

I dissent.

The majority concludes that jury trials are not available in chapter 601A civil rights actions brought in the district court pursuant to a “release to sue.” The arguments which the opinion advances in support of that conclusion are not persuasive and fly in the face of the general legislative classification of civil actions and the consequences which attend that classification. This supposed exercise in statutory interpretation is really a case of the majority expressing why it would not have permitted jury trials had it been the legislature.

Actions in the district court are…