Court Opinion

ID: 9517459
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 00:17:35.229263+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:53:01.242702
License: Public Domain

DONIELSON, Judge
(concurring specially)
I.agree that the case must be reversed. Contrary to the majority’s holding, however, I would also conclude that plaintiff was not entitled to notice of termination of the lease under Iowa Code § 562.7.
Despite plaintiff’s contentions regarding the mandatory nature of notice based on the public policy considerations behind § 562.7, it is clear that statutory notice is not an absolute prerequisite to the termination of a farm lease in every case. The rule of law is clearly stated in Denton v. Moser, 241 N.W.2d 28, 31 (Iowa 1976): “... a farm tenancy may be terminated by agreement of the parties, by proof of estoppel or by waiver” (citations omitted). Nothing in this rule or in the case limits its applicability to situations where the agreement or waiver occurred after the lease was entered into.
I cannot imagine a more clear example of waiver of statutory notice than the situation involved in the present case. Lessee under the 1980 lease, which status plaintiff claims here, “specifically waive[d] any notice of cancellation or termination of said lease and specifically agree[d] that this lease shall not be extended by virtue of failure to give notice of cancellation or termination thereof.” I would hold that the right to receive notice of termination under § 562.7 was specifically waived by the terms of the 1980 lease and that, therefore, plaintiff was not entitled to receive such *366notice and was not entitled to a declaratory judgment that he was the rightful lessee for 1981.