§ 140A.109.Abatement of Suit

The provision that gives the coordination scheme its force.

If the prosecutor determines that a suit would interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation or prosecution, after having notified the attorney general under the preceding section, the prosecutor may request, in writing, that the attorney general abate the suit. On receipt of this request, the attorney general shall abate the suit.

"Shall abate" leaves no discretion. The attorney general does not weigh the request, and a court is not asked to rule on it — the request produces abatement.

That is a striking allocation of authority. A county prosecutor can halt a statewide enforcement action brought by the attorney general, on their own determination, by writing a letter.

The determination is the prosecutor’s alone, and the section supplies no standard for it beyond interference and no mechanism for disputing it.

Two conditions do bound it. The prosecutor must have notified the attorney general of the investigation or prosecution under the preceding section first, and the request must be in writing.

The reasoning is the one running through all three sections. The local prosecutor knows what the criminal case needs; the attorney general does not, and cannot be told everything without risking the investigation further.

Abatement suspends rather than ends. The suit is paused, and the seven-year limitations period gives room for a criminal matter to conclude first.