DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - A company that touted its stem cell cures for aging wasn’t entitled to a jury trial over claims by the Iowa Attorney General it violated state consumer protection laws, the state’s highest court ruled.
While the Iowa Constitution states “the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate,” the Iowa Supreme Court ruled, state legislators have the power to declare some civil actions are subject equitable jurisdiction, or the sole decision-making authority of a judge.
The Iowa AG sued Travis Autor and companies Regenerative Medicine and Anti-Aging Institutes of Omaha and Omaha Stem Cells, accusing them of engaging in false and misleading advertising. The defendants moved for a jury trial but the trial judge refused.
The state Supreme Court accepted an interlocutory appeal and rejected the defendants’ argument in a May 26 decision.
Article 1 of the Iowa Constitution guarantees the right to jury trial, the high court observed. But when the Constitution was adopted, there was a right to jury trial in civil actions but not equitable actions, such as cases seeking a court injunction. The Iowa Supreme Court later ruled the legislature can declare some civil actions to be equitable and thus beyond the reach of a jury trial.
The defendants argued that since the state was seeking money as well as injunctive relief, they should at least have a jury for the monetary portion of the case. But the court rejected that argument, with a caveat: The decision applies to cases brought by the AG. Lawsuits under another part of the consumer protection law in which consumers can seek damages aren’t covered by this decision, the court concluded.