Court Opinion

ID: 9845086
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:15:04.968016+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:51.481970
License: Public Domain

TERNUS, Justice
(concurring specially).
I concur in the majority opinion except in division IVB which reversed the district court’s decision ordering the township to preserve the cemetery’s fourteen different sets of burial records. I concur specially in that division because I disagree with the basis for the majority’s reversal.
The majority concludes that the court’s order concerning the burial records is erroneous because the receivership currently has the obligation to preserve and protect these records; therefore, section 566.33 does not apply. See Iowa Code § 566.33 (1993) (imposing duty on township where “protection and preservation is not otherwise provided”). I believe that the district court was incorrect in imposing a duty on the township to preserve the cemetery’s records for an even more fundamental reason: section 566.33 does not provide for such a duty under any circumstances. Section 566.33 requires a governmental subdivision to “preserve and protect the burial site.” (Emphasis added.) I know of no common definition of “burial site” that includes records pertaining to the site. See Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 1097 (10th ed. 1993) (defining “site” as “the spatial location of an actual or planned structure or set of structures”).
Nor are the burial records necessary to preserve the site’s “physical integrity,” a possible interpretation of the statute implied by the majority. Obviously accurate and complete records make it easier to locate specific graves within the site. However, I do not believe the legislature intended by enacting section 566.33 to compel that a township virtually operate a defunct cemetery within its boundaries; the only duty imposed is to maintain the “physical integrity” of the cemetery. This duty can be accomplished without the additional burden on the township to maintain extensive cemetery records. I would reverse on this basis.