Opinion ID: 1763022
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Finality of District Court Ruling.

Text: Ordinarily a summary judgment that is not dispositive of the entire case is not a final judgment for purposes of appeal. Mid-Continent Refrigerator Co. v. Harris, 248 N.W.2d at 146. A ruling is not final when the trial court intends to act further on the case before signifying its final adjudication of the issues. Flynn v. Lucas County Memorial Hospital, 203 N.W.2d 613, 614-15 (Iowa 1973). That was certainly true here. The trial court explicitly recognized that new terms of the lease were genuinely in dispute and would need to be decided after a trial to the court unless the defendants would agree to the new terms plaintiff was directed to submit to them before trial. In exceptional cases there may be more than one final order, as when an interim judgment or order finally settles the relative rights of the parties and leaves only practical details of equitable relief to be worked out. See, e.g., Rowen v. LeMars Mutual Insurance Co., 357 N.W.2d 579, 581 (Iowa 1984); Green v. Advance Homes, Inc., 293 N.W.2d 204, 207 (Iowa 1980). This is not such a case. The relative rights of the parties under the renewed lease here in question cannot yet meaningfully be ascertained. Finality here must await a determination of the new terms of the lease, fixed either following trial or by a judgment recognizing that defendants have accepted the terms plaintiff is directed to propose. Defendants had no right to appeal, because the trial court's ruling granting partial summary judgment was not final within the meaning of Iowa Rule of Appellate Procedure 1.