814.28.Security for costs.

Section 814.28 gives defendants a specific right to demand security for costs, distinct from the court’s general discretion under section 814.27. Subsection (1) lists the categories of plaintiffs that trigger this right, except as section 814.29 otherwise provides: plaintiffs who are all nonresidents, foreign corporations, nonresident personal representatives, guardians, trustees, or receivers, trustees or assignees of a debtor, people imprisoned for crime for terms less than life, or plaintiffs who take issue upon a garnishee’s answer.

Once the defendant makes that showing by affidavit, subsection (2) requires the court to order the plaintiffs to file security in a sum stated in the affidavit, not less than $250, within 20 days after being served with the order, and it stays all proceedings on the plaintiffs’ part until the security is filed. Subsection (3) describes how plaintiffs comply: they file an undertaking with sureties who each justify by affidavit that they hold property in this state, above liabilities and exemptions, sufficient to cover the sum, conditioned to pay on demand whatever costs are awarded against the plaintiffs, up to the ordered amount. If the plaintiffs fail to file that undertaking, the court may dismiss the action on the defendant’s motion.

Subsection (4) offers an alternative: instead of an undertaking, the plaintiffs may deposit with the clerk of court money equal to the amount specified in the security order, and the clerk gives a receipt and notice of the deposit.