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Richards v. Anderson Erickson Dairy Co.7/8/2005
Plaintiffs challenge change of venue. AFFIRMED.
Iowa City must be a special place. The plaintiffs in this personal-injury action filed suit in Johnson County, notwithstanding the fact that it hardly had any connection to the case. The district court granted the defendants' motion for a change of venue. The plaintiffs lost their trial and now appeal the venue change. Because we agree venue was not proper in Johnson County, we affirm.
I. Facts and Prior Proceedings
This appeal stems from a chain-reaction collision on a highway in Grundy County in early 2001. The accident involved a semi-truck owned by the Anderson Erickson Dairy Company ("AE"). Lorraine and Ward Richards suffered injuries in the accident and sued AE for negligence. They also sued Gary Link, the AE employee driving the semi-truck, and Kellie and Mary Barney, the operator and the owner of another car involved in the accident.
The Richards filed their lawsuit in Johnson County, even though none of the parties resided there. The Richards are residents of Grundy County; Link is a resident of Story County; the Barneys are residents of Polk County; and AE is an Iowa corporation whose principal place of business is in Polk County. Although the motivation for filing in Johnson County remains unknown, the Richards claimed venue was proper there because AE regularly drove its trucks through Johnson County.
Before filing an answer, AE and Link moved for a change of venue. See Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.808(1). They sought to have the trial moved to Grundy County, where the accident occurred. The district court granted the motion.
At trial, the jury found in favor of the defendants. The Richards filed a motion for a new trial. They argued the district court should not have transferred the case to Grundy County. The district court denied the motion, and the Richards appealed.
II. Principles of Review
"The scope of our review of a district court's ruling on a motion for new trial depends on the grounds raised in the motion." Channon v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 629 N.W.2d 835, 859 (Iowa 2001). That is, o the extent the motion is based on a discretionary ground, we review it for an abuse of discretion. But if the motion is based on a legal question, our review is on error.
Roling v. Daily, 596 N.W.2d 72, 76 (Iowa 1999). The parties disagree about what standard of review should be applied. The disagreement stems from the fact that some motions for a change of venue require the district court to exercise its discretion, whereas others do not.
For example, Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 1.801(3) permits the district court to change the venue of a trial if the inhabitants of the county are prejudiced against the moving party. In a number of appeals concerning this and similar rules, we have reviewed for an abuse of discretion. See, e.g., Peters ex rel. Peters v. Vander Kooi, 494 N.W.2d 708, 711 (Iowa 1993) (reviewing district court's application of what is now rule 1.801); see also State v. Evans, 671 N.W.2d 720, 726 (Iowa 2003) (reviewing application of Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 2.11 to a claim of excessive pretrial publicity). In the case at bar, however, we are asked to assess the district court's grant of a motion for change of venue pursuant to Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 1.808. Unlike rule 1.801, rule 1.808 requires the district court to move the case to another county if it was brought in the wrong county. See Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.808(1) (stating that the district court "shall" move the trial to a "proper" county). To determine whether or not the plaintiff filed suit in an improper place, the court only makes a legal determination b
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