We were all set to detail the Iowa Supreme Court's recent opinion in Garrison v. New Fashion Pork LLP, No. 21-0652 (June 20, 2022), when we discovered that Iowa State University's Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation beat us to it with "Iowa Supreme Court Overrules Key Ag Nuisance Case."
On June 30, 2022, the Iowa Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, overruled 18-year-old precedent to find that Iowa’s right to farm statute, Iowa Code § 657.11, does not violate the inalienable rights clause of the Iowa Constitution. This decision generally restores statutory immunity from nuisance lawsuits seeking special damages for many animal feeding operations.
The "18-year old precedent" mentioned made Iowa an "outlier" the majority concluded, because every other state that has considered RTF statutes has upheld them. Welcome back, Iowa.
We couldn't do a better job at summarizing the case and the arguments, so we'll stop right here and suggest you read the summary.
Garrison v. New Fashion Pork LLP, No. 21-0652 (Iowa June 30, 2022) b
