Opinion ID: 2094205
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Heading: Iowa Code section 600B.41A. Iowa Code section 598.21(4A) provides:

Text: If, during an action initiated under this chapter or any other chapter in which a child or medical support obligation may be established based upon a prior determination of paternity, a party wishes to contest paternity of the child or children involved, all of the following apply: a. (1) If the prior determination of paternity is based on ... a court or administrative order entered in this state ... the provisions of section 600B.41A apply. Iowa Code section 600B.41A provides: 1. Paternity which is legally established may be overcome as provided in this section if subsequent blood or genetic testing indicates that the previously established father of a child is not the biological father of the child. Unless otherwise provided in this section, this section applies to the overcoming of paternity which has been established according to any of the means provided in section 252A.3, subsection 8, by operation of law when the established father and the mother of the children are or were married to each other, or as determined by a court of this state under any other applicable chapter. (Emphasis added.) Whether these provisions allow Connie to relitigate the issue of paternity turns on our interpretation of them. This is a legal question. Therefore, summary judgment and adjudication of law points are appropriate vehicles to decide the question. See In re Junkins v. Branstad, 448 N.W.2d 480, 482 (Iowa 1989). We agree with the district court that these two statutory provisions do not allow Connie to relitigate the issue of paternity in the face of the preclusive effect of the dissolution decree on Alishia's paternity. As the district court concluded, section 600B.41A specifically provides for actions to overcome paternity that has been previously legally established. There is no corresponding statutory provision that provides for an action to establish paternity by naming as the biological father a person who has previously been found by a court determination not to be the biological father. The district court was therefore correct in sustaining David's motion for summary judgment on this issue. The court of appeals was likewise correct in concluding that Connie could not relitigate Alishia's paternity. We affirm the court of appeals and the district court decisions on this issue. B. The district court's action in sealing and refusing to unseal the genetic test results. As mentioned, Connie challenges the district court's April 9, 1998 order sealing the genetic test results and the court's April 28, 1998 order refusing to unseal the genetic test results. In support of her challenge, Connie contends that Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 123 controls. Rule 123 provides in relevant part: a. Upon motion by a party ... and for good cause shown, the court in which the action is pending ...: (1) May make any order which justice requires to protect a party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense.... Connie points to the district court's finding that David would not be prejudiced by the completion of the genetic testing and that she had prepaid the cost of the testing. Because of these findings, Connie insists David could not, and did not, argue that the costs would be unduly burdensome or oppressive or that he would suffer annoyance, embarrassment, or oppression. Connie's contentions must fail for two reasons. First, she did not raise rule 123 to support her position. She therefore preserved nothing for appellate review regarding rule 123. Second, she ignores the reasons underlying the court's rulings. In denying David's motion to stop genetic testing and to destroy the genetic samples, the district court was simply carrying out Connie's wishes expressed at the summary judgment hearing. Her counsel had argued that, since Connie had already advanced the cost of testing, the court should allow the testing to be completed. As the district court noted in its April 9 ruling, the basis for her request was that, if she chose to appeal an adverse ruling on David's motion for summary judgment and her appeal was successful, the genetic testing would already be done. When the district court ruled on David's motion to stop genetic testing, the testing had not been completed. In these circumstances, the district court would have been justified in stopping the testing because the results would have been irrelevant in view of the court's summary judgment ruling. For this reason, the court was justified in attaching a condition to keep the status quosealing the test results until an appellate ruling on Connie's anticipated appeal. Therefore, in sealing the test results, the district court acted well within its discretion. In denying Connie's request to unseal the genetic test results in its April 28 ruling, the district court again explained that it had allowed the genetic testing to go forward at Connie's request for the reasons her counsel had argued at the summary judgment hearing. Nothing had changed since its April 9 ruling. If Connie's appeal was unsuccessful, the genetic test results would be irrelevant to these proceedings. The district court again acted well within its discretion in denying Connie's request to unseal the genetic test results. We therefore vacate the court of appeals decision and affirm the district court decision on this issue.