Court Opinion

ID: 9739830
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:21:50.073172+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:14.194495
License: Public Domain

SCHULTZ, Justice
(concurring specially).
I agree with the result in this case because it involves an action for a civil penalty in lieu of a criminal prosecution. I would not agree that the attorney general has unlimited authority to grant immunity to witnesses in all civil cases. I would confine this authority to criminal cases and to those civil cases of an enforcement nature seeking payment of a civil penalty, like Iowa Code section 553.13. The State is involved in a multitude of actions that are far afield from the State’s duty to protect the public from criminal violators. I do not believe the legislature ever intended the State to grant immunity in these cases, and I see no cogent reason that justifies giving the State tools which are unavailable to other litigants.