Opinion ID: 1309361
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Refusal to Allow Repudiation of Stipulation.

Text: French urges that the district court erred in refusing to permit him to repudiate the stipulation made concerning forfeiture of the bulk of the items contained in the State's application. He argues that to invoke the stipulation is tantamount to binding the court's determinations as to questions of law, i.e., that possession of the `pokers' was illegal. We conclude that the court did not act improperly in holding French to the terms of the agreement that his counsel approved on the record in the court proceeding. We have recognized that stipulations in formal litigation may be of two kinds: those that are a mere admission of fact, relieving a party from the inconvenience of making proof, and those that constitute a concession of entire issues in the litigation. See Graen's Mens Wear, Inc. v. Stille-Pierce Agency, 329 N.W.2d 295, 300 (Iowa 1983). The stipulation at issue here was obviously of the latter type. Such agreements, which are tantamount to a consent decree as to part of the case, are not against public policy. We have recognized that in such situations a court's role in approving a consent decree involves a determination of whether the provisions upon which the parties have agreed constitute an appropriate and legally approved method of disposing of the contested issues in the litigation. It is not necessary in order to uphold the validity of a consent decree that the solutions therein contained be those the court itself would have adopted if it were adjudicating the controversy. World Teacher Seminar, Inc. v. Iowa Dist. Court, 406 N.W.2d 173, 176 (Iowa 1987). There is no merit in French's contention that the agreement in question infringed on the role of the court in deciding legal issues. To the extent that our decision in Van Donselaar v. Van Donselaar, 249 Iowa 504, 87 N.W.2d 311 (1958), suggests that consent to judgment may be withdrawn as of right at any time prior to actual entry of judgment, that view is now specifically disapproved. We have recognized that a stipulation for disposition of an entire issue is entitled to all of the sanctity of an ordinary contract if supported by legal consideration. Graen's Mens Wear, 329 N.W.2d at 300. In the present case, the State made concessions as to criminal prosecution of French in exchange for the stipulation that designated items could be forfeited. This was a sufficient ground to cause the court to refuse French's efforts to withdraw the stipulation. We also believe that, even when an enforceable contract has not been made out, a court may consider the effect that repudiation of a stipulation will have on the expeditious processing of the case. If a scheduling decision or other major procedural step in the litigation has been made in reliance on a stipulation of either type described in Graen's Mens Wear, that circumstance may be considered by the court on later motions to set the stipulation aside. If the effect of releasing the party from the stipulation will cause an unnecessary burden on the court system, that circumstance may support the court's exercise of discretion against allowing a change of position. That was the situation in the present case. The district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to relieve French from the terms of the stipulation entered into on the record when, as here, the motion for such relief came nearly four weeks into the trial.