Opinion ID: 2226733
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Is a jury trial in small claims actions permitted by section 631.11, The Code?

Text: Our Small Claims Act, chapter 631, The Code, was developed as part of the legislation that established a unified trial court in Iowa. 1972 Session, 64th G.A., ch. 1124, § 60 et seq. We described its salient features in Barnes Beauty College v. McCoy, 279 N.W.2d 258, 259-60 (Iowa 1979). There is no separate small claims court, but there is a small claims docket in district court. Wilson v. Iowa District Court, 297 N.W.2d 223, 225-26 (Iowa 1980). Small claims are limited to a civil action for a money judgment where the amount in controversy is one thousand dollars or less, exclusive of interest and costs, and an action for forcible entry and detainer which is based on those grounds set forth in section 648.1, subsections 1, 2, 3 and 5. § 631.1, The Code. Jurisdiction over these controversies is exercised by [t]he district court sitting in small claims, id. § 631.2, although the limited jurisdiction over forcible entry and detainer cases apparently is a concurrent jurisdiction, id. § 631.1(2). The statute that requires our special scrutiny is section 631.11(1): Informality. The hearing shall be to the court, shall be simple and informal, and shall be conducted by the court itself, without regard to technicalities of procedure. (Emphasis supplied.) We must determine the legislative intent, applying the criteria we recently collected in Loras College v. Iowa Civil Rights Commission, 285 N.W.2d 143, 147-48 (Iowa 1979). If the legislature intended court to mean magistrate or judge, then use of the word shall, a term mandatory in nature, clearly eliminates any necessity or even option of trial by jury. See § 4.1(36)(a), The Code (The word `shall' imposes a duty.); Black's Law Dictionary 1233 (5th ed. 1979). It is true, as defendant argues, that the word court may be used to mean a judge only or, alternatively, the tribunal itself, including the judge and jury. Compare § 609.35, The Code (recall of jurors if warranted by business before the court), with Iowa R.Crim.P. 16 (Trial by jury or court). Defendant invokes our rule that if more than one construction is possible, one of which will render the statute constitutional and another that will render it unconstitutional or of doubtful constitutionality, the construction by which it will be upheld will be followed and adopted. Iowa City v. Nolan, 239 N.W.2d 102, 103 (Iowa 1976); see Stoller Fisheries, Inc. v. American Title Insurance Co., 258 N.W.2d 336, 346 (Iowa 1977). We think it is plain, however, that in section 631.11(1) the legislature intended to confine court to mean a magistrate or judge. Such interpretation is more consistent with the concept of a simple and informal proceeding. This interpretation is reinforced by the provision that the hearing is to be conducted by the court itself, an obvious step to enhance the role of the magistrate or judge and to diminish the role of lawyers. We are convinced the legislature would not use court to mean magistrate (or judge) and jury in the first provision in this subsection, and employ the same word a second time in the same sentence to mean the magistrate or judge alone. Other chapter 631 provisions support our conclusion that court as employed in section 631.11(1) refers only to the magistrate or judge. The first sentence in the next subsection makes it clear that court does not include the jury: The court shall swear the parties and their witnesses, and examine them in such a way as to bring out the truth. § 631.11(2), The Code. Under section 631.8(2), the court makes certain procedural orders when confronted with a small claim combined with one that is not a small claim. More directly, section 631.2 provides that except when transferred pursuant to section 631.8 from the small claims docket, small claims may be tried by a judicial magistrate, a district associate judge, or a district judge. Finally, chapter 631 is devoid of references to a jury, including jury demand or jury instructions. We hold the district judge correctly ruled that chapter 631 small claims must be tried without a jury. Thus we address the constitutionality of section 631.11(1).