Iowa Supreme Court Decisions 2012
Date: December 21, 2012
Docket Number: 101742
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with second-degree sexual abuse and child endangerment causing bodily injury after he admitted to sexually abusing a seventeen-month-old. Defendant moved to suppress his confession, claiming it was…
Date: December 21, 2012
Docket Number: 111857
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff worked for over ten years for Dentist. When Dentist's wife found out that her husband and Plaintiff often texted each other, she demanded that he terminate Plaintiff's employment. Dentist subsequently…
Date: December 14, 2012
Docket Number: 110927
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of second-degree burglary, operating a motor vehicle without the owner's consent, and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, second offense. Defendant appealed his…
Date: December 14, 2012
Docket Number: 111452
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant, an ALJ within the Iowa Department of Corrections (IDOC), presided over the hearing of an inmate charged with assaulting a corrections officer. Appellant found the inmate guilty of assault. The Office of…
Date: December 7, 2012
Docket Number: 120632
Date: December 7, 2012
Docket Number: 121203
Date: November 30, 2012
Docket Number: 111925
Date: November 30, 2012
Docket Number: 120811
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant received suspended sentences for drug offenses and two years of probation. He was incarcerated after his probation was revoked. At issue on appeal was whether an offender accrues earned time under Iowa Code…
Date: November 16, 2012
Docket Number: 111484
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs purchased a home along the Cedar River. At the time, they were told, incorrectly, that the property was not in a special flood hazard area and that flood insurance would not be required as a condition of their…
Date: November 16, 2012
Docket Number: 120098
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved a district court's denial of coverage under a fire insurance policy. A husband and wife had an insurance policy on their home. The policy included an intentional loss exclusion, voiding coverage when…
Date: November 9, 2012
Docket Number: 112097
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1995, Appellant was convicted of first-degree armed robbery. In 2011, the governor commuted Appellant's sentence. Thereafter, Appellant filed an application for postconviction relief seeking recalculation of his…
Date: November 2, 2012
Docket Number: 110877
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether a trial court's entry of a default judgment under Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.971(3) is justified when a party fails to appear personally for trial, but the party's attorney is present and able to…
Date: November 2, 2012
Docket Number: 111378
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this appeal was whether a surviving spouse's elective share, as defined in Iowa Code 633.238, includes pay-on-death (POD) assets. The probate court ruled that three of Karen Myers's assets, a checking…
Date: October 26, 2012
Docket Number: 101919
Justia Opinion Summary: Wife asked the Supreme Court to determine the validity of a premarital agreement, the fairness of a property settlement, the sufficiency of the spousal support, and the denial of expert fees incurred by Wife's attorney…
Date: October 26, 2012
Docket Number: 110469
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court found Defendant guilty of fraudulent practice in the third degree for possessing 218 packs of cigarettes lacking tax stamps. At issue on appeal was whether "the amount of money or value of property or…
Date: October 19, 2012
Docket Number: 110016
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant was convicted of first-degree in murder in 2005. In 2009, Appellant filed an application for postconviction relief alleging his trial was ineffective for (1) failing to raise the defense of temporary insanity…
Date: October 19, 2012
Docket Number: 120844
Date: October 19, 2012
Docket Number: 121025
Date: September 28, 2012
Docket Number: 120793
Date: September 21, 2012
Docket Number: 111551
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted further review of this dissolution-of-marriage case to consider the proper distribution of a retired spouse's monthly pension benefits. The district court awarded the entirety of those benefits…
Date: September 21, 2012
Docket Number: 120339
Date: July 27, 2012
Docket Number: 100010
Justia Opinion Summary: In this putative class action, Plaintiffs were doctors of chiropractic who alleged they had been victimized by the discriminatory practices of Iowa's largest health insurer, Wellmark, Inc. The district court (1) granted…
Date: July 27, 2012
Docket Number: 100898
Justia Opinion Summary: The operator of an establishment offering nude and seminude dance performances sought an injunction restraining a city from enforcing its ordinance regulating nude and seminude dancing. The district court found that…
Date: July 27, 2012
Docket Number: 101719
Justia Opinion Summary: This case required the Supreme Court to decide whether filmmakers receiving tax credits from the State of Iowa under the State's tax credit program could enjoin the State from releasing summaries of their films' final…
Date: July 27, 2012
Docket Number: 110095
Justia Opinion Summary: The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa Foundation submitted an open records request to the Atlantic Community School District records custodian requesting information pursuant to Iowa's Open Records Act concerning…
Date: July 20, 2012
Docket Number: 100631
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with murder in the first degree. Defendant provided notice he would be relying on the defense of insanity to the charge. The jury rejected the insanity defense and found Defendant guilty of…
Date: July 20, 2012
Docket Number: 110834
Justia Opinion Summary: Tenant brought claims against her landlord, the City of Dubuque, and a City official (Defendants), asserting that they unlawfully caused her eviction from her apartment. Tenant alleged, among other things, that the…
Date: July 13, 2012
Docket Number: 091612
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2007, two University of Iowa football players were accused of sexually assaulting another student in a campus dorm room. The incident led to criminal charges, internal actions by the University, an external criticism…
Date: July 13, 2012
Docket Number: 101336
Justia Opinion Summary: In this breach of contract case, the Supreme Court considered whether the district court erred in denying Defendant's motion for a new trial based on several rulings by the district court that Defendant claimed…
Date: July 13, 2012
Docket Number: 110657
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the Supreme Court was asked to review a summary judgment ruling dismissing a wrongful death action because it was commenced later than is allowed under Iowa Code 614.1(9), a statute of repose limiting the…
Date: July 6, 2012
Docket Number: 090146
Justia Opinion Summary: Following his sentencing to consecutive prison terms totaling thirty-five years, Defendant asked the Supreme Court to review the district court's determinations that the written entry of the verdict was proper, that a…
Date: July 6, 2012
Docket Number: 100502
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case the Supreme Court was asked to determine whether Iowa's workers' compensation statute allows a claimant to recover healing period benefits - after he had reached maximum medical improvement and returned to…
Date: July 6, 2012
Docket Number: 110117
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was (1) whether a life insurance agent owes a duty of care to the intended beneficiary of a life insurance policy, and (2) whether a life insurance agent can be liable for negligent…
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 100061
Justia Opinion Summary: Chicago Central and Pacific Railroad Company (CCP) voluntarily performed repairs on a drainage improvement. When its request for reimbursement for those repairs was denied by the Calhoun County Board of Supervisors, the…
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 100843
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether the district court erred in admitting exhibits directed to the issue of fault in a pharmacy malpractice action that were not disclosed during the pretrial…
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 101677
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff corporation filed an action against Defendant, a resident of Nebraska, for damages related to the termination of an apartment lease in Iowa where Defendant formerly resided. Plaintiff attempted to serve notice…
Date: June 29, 2012
Docket Number: 101721
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this appeal was whether to judicially invalidate an insurance contract requirement that the insured file her lawsuit for underinsured motorist coverage (UIM) within two years of her auto accident. Plaintiff…
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 101291
Justia Opinion Summary: This case presented a battle between banks over the proceeds of the sale of cattle by a financially strapped borrower who had financial dealings with both banks. When Security Savings Bank (Security) obtained the…
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 110156
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Dontay Sanford was convicted for first-degree burglary for entering the car of a victim who later died from injuries received during the encounter. Sanford was sentenced to an indeterminate term in prison not…
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 120133
Justia Opinion Summary: A juvenile court terminated Father's parental rights to his two children. Father appealed, arguing, among other things, that the juvenile court violated his due process rights when it ordered him to provide a fingernail…
Date: June 22, 2012
Docket Number: 120256
Justia Opinion Summary: The Iowa Commission on Judicial Qualifications filed an application for imposition of discipline against Daniel Block, an associate juvenile court judge, for conduct that resulted in his arrest for the crime of operating…
Date: June 15, 2012
Docket Number: 091010
Justia Opinion Summary: After the State filed a child in need of assistance (CINA) petition, the juvenile court issued a temporary removal order removing Child from Mother's custody and placing her in foster care. Once the CINA proceeding was…
Date: June 15, 2012
Docket Number: 101172
Justia Opinion Summary: In this real estate dispute, some of the defendants filed a motion for sanctions, alleging Defendant brought the action to harass, cause unnecessary delay, and needlessly increase the cost of litigation. The district…
Date: June 15, 2012
Docket Number: 111868
Date: June 8, 2012
Docket Number: 100511
Justia Opinion Summary: Donald Clark was convicted of sexual abuse in the second degree for molesting a fifth-grade student while employed as a guidance counselor at the elementary school. Clark appealed, arguing that his constitutional rights…
Date: June 8, 2012
Docket Number: 101315
Justia Opinion Summary: Sergio Perez pled guilty to a misdemeanor drug possession charge in 2000. Perez later filed an application for postconviction relief seeking to have his conviction set aside, claiming that he did not receive advice from…
Date: June 8, 2012
Docket Number: 102080
Justia Opinion Summary: NextEra Energy Resources, LLC appealed the Iowa Utility Board's decision to grant advance ratemaking principles to MidAmerican Energy Company for a proposed wind generation facility. The district court affirmed the…
Date: June 8, 2012
Docket Number: 110197
Justia Opinion Summary: Peter Long was convicted of third-degree sexual abuse. Based on two prior convictions for lascivious acts with a child, the district court found that Long had committed a class A felony and sentenced Long to life in…
Date: June 1, 2012
Docket Number: 101278
Justia Opinion Summary: An owner and contractor entered into an agreement for the construction of a new home. During construction, the owner refused to pay the contractor after discovering markups on the cost of materials. In response, the…
Date: June 1, 2012
Docket Number: 110699
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, an alleged embezzler, entered an Alford plea to first-degree theft and entered a deferred judgment on that charge. The subrogated insurer (EMCC) of Defendant's employer brought a civil action against Defendant…
Date: June 1, 2012
Docket Number: 111581
Justia Opinion Summary: This case presented the question of whether an individual who made voluntary expenditures based on a mother's fraudulent representation that the individual had fathered her child has a cause of action against the mother…
Date: June 1, 2012
Docket Number: 111919
Date: May 25, 2012
Docket Number: 071879
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this employment case was whether the State was immune from claims under the self-care provision of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in state court. The district court denied the State's posttrial…
Date: May 25, 2012
Docket Number: 101889
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether a subcontractor that properly performs electrical work on a jobsite, then locks up the work and transfers control to the property owner, owes a duty of care to an employee of the owner…
Date: May 25, 2012
Docket Number: 111016
Date: May 18, 2012
Docket Number: 110444
Justia Opinion Summary: In this interlocutory appeal, the Supreme Court reviewed the district court's ruling consolidating condemnation appeals from proceedings by two separate condemning authorities taking property from the same parent tract…
Date: May 18, 2012
Docket Number: 112114
Date: May 18, 2012
Docket Number: 120228
Date: May 11, 2012
Docket Number: 110525
Justia Opinion Summary: This case presented the question of whether an officer is justified in activating his emergency lights and blocking a driver into a parking space under the "community caretaking function" exception to the warrant…
Date: May 11, 2012
Docket Number: 111498
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case the Supreme Court considered whether an area education agency (AEA) acted lawfully when it approved for submission to the voters a petition that proposed a consolidation of two community school districts,…
Date: May 4, 2012
Docket Number: 091633
Justia Opinion Summary: Employee sought workers compensation benefits after receiving two injuries at her place of employment. While working for Employer, Employee received a salary increase of $1000. Although Employee received a salary…
Date: May 4, 2012
Docket Number: 101911
Justia Opinion Summary: Roger Ennenga was arrested for failing to stop his vehicle when police attempted to pull him over and for possession of methamphetamine. The State failed to file a trial information within forty-five days, and Ennenga's…
Date: May 4, 2012
Docket Number: 110293
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue here was sex offenders serving prison time on a "revocation of release" from a "special sentence" under Iowa Code 903B.2 and whether the maximum time incarcerated was reduced by "earned-time credit" or…
Date: April 27, 2012
Docket Number: 110325
Justia Opinion Summary: Philip Vaughan and Arleen Wentworth divorced pursuant to a divorce decree that ordered Philip to pay child support until the couple's child, Allison, turned twenty-two if Allison continued a course of higher education.…
Date: April 27, 2012
Docket Number: 120229
Date: April 20, 2012
Docket Number: 082006
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, students or parents of students who attended Iowa public schools, filed a petition contending that Iowa's educational system was inadequate and urging the courts to impose additional public school standards,…
Date: April 20, 2012
Docket Number: 091500
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant Kenneth Madsen was convicted of two counts of sexual abuse in the second degree and one count of lascivious acts with a child. Madsen appealed, arguing (1) the district court erred in…
Date: April 20, 2012
Docket Number: 110389
Justia Opinion Summary: The Employment Appeal Board (Board) denied Willie Hall's application for unemployment insurance benefits. Hall filed a petition for judicial review. The district court affirmed the decision of the Board and assessed…
Date: April 13, 2012
Docket Number: 091914
Justia Opinion Summary: As part of an order approving the final report of the executor of the estate of Loren S. Bockwoldt, the district court approved extraordinary attorney fees for Pete Wessels and the law firm of Stanley, Lande and Hunter…
Date: April 13, 2012
Docket Number: 101516
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs sued a surgeon, alleging negligent performance of a pancreaticoduodenectomy, and a hospital, contending it negligently granted credentials to the surgeon. The district court entered judgment in favor of…
Date: April 6, 2012
Docket Number: 100335
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Anthony Polk confessed in a jailhouse interview to firing his handgun at the scene of a gang-related shooting that left two men with gunshot wounds. Polk filed a motion to suppress his conviction, contending…
Date: April 6, 2012
Docket Number: 111867
Date: March 30, 2012
Docket Number: 101751
Justia Opinion Summary: Charles Oliver was convicted a second time of third-degree sexual abuse, and Oliver stipulated that he had a prior conviction for third-degree sexual abuse. Because of his prior conviction, Oliver was guilty of a class A…
Date: March 30, 2012
Docket Number: 101770
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner, a juvenile offender whom the State tried as an adult, brought a postconviction relief action claiming that his conviction for first-degree murder should be overturned and that his sentence was illegal because…
Date: March 30, 2012
Docket Number: 112062
Date: March 23, 2012
Docket Number: 111986
Date: March 16, 2012
Docket Number: 111626
Date: March 16, 2012
Docket Number: 112022
Justia Opinion Summary: On July 27, 2011, the Governor item vetoed several provisions in an appropriations bill passed in the General Assembly. Primarily at issue was $8.66 million the legislature appropriated in section 15 for the operation of…
Date: March 9, 2012
Docket Number: 090141
Justia Opinion Summary: Police officers initiated an investigatory encounter with William DeWitt in Walmart based initially on information provided to them by a confidential informant. The officers decided to confront DeWitt and take him…
Date: March 9, 2012
Docket Number: 100971
Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the Supreme Court considered whether an internal audit created by Broadlawns Medical Center as a result of the theft of drugs by an employee was a public record under the Iowa Open Records Act. The district…
Date: March 9, 2012
Docket Number: 110488
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of possession of marijuana as an accommodation offense. Defendant was previously convicted of simple possession of marijuana. Defendant requested a sentencing hearing to determine whether he…
Date: March 2, 2012
Docket Number: 091473
Justia Opinion Summary: This case was remanded to the district court for determination of whether a class should be certified and for determination of what, if any, part of the City's franchise fees for gas and electricity services are related…
Date: March 2, 2012
Docket Number: 102117
Justia Opinion Summary: Employee injured his shoulder while working for Employer. Employer offered Employee light-duty work in Des Moines, which was 387 miles from Employee's residence. Employee declined Employer's offer to perform light-duty…
Date: March 2, 2012
Docket Number: 111627
Date: February 24, 2012
Docket Number: 082056
Justia Opinion Summary: Hawkeye Foodservice Distribution filed a petition for declaratory and injunctive relief against the Iowa Educators Corporation (IEC) and ten Area Education Agencies (AEAs) comprising IEC, seeking (1) a declaration that…
Date: February 24, 2012
Docket Number: 111645
Date: February 17, 2012
Docket Number: 101955
Justia Opinion Summary: Rachel Overbay, the driver of a vehicle, was involved in an accident and transferred to the hospital. A law enforcement officer requested a blood sample from Overbay. Overbay, however, was incorrectly informed that her…
Date: February 17, 2012
Docket Number: 110118
Justia Opinion Summary: Kathy Morris and Dennis Morris divorced in 2003 pursuant to a stipulated decree of dissolution adopted by the district court. Trial counsel for the parties did not expressly address survivor rights when dividing…
Date: February 17, 2012
Docket Number: 111865
Date: February 10, 2012
Docket Number: 100795
Justia Opinion Summary: Employee filed a petition with the state workers' compensation commissioner, alleging that he suffered an injury to his shoulder while working for Employer and that his injury caused a permanent disability. The workers'…
Date: February 3, 2012
Docket Number: 101932
Justia Opinion Summary: Members of the Old Order Groffdale Conference Mennonite Church are forbideen from driving tractors unless their wheels are equipped with steel cleats. A Mitchell County road protection ordinance forbade driving such…
Date: January 27, 2012
Docket Number: 091673
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved a dispute between Insured and Insurer regarding underinsured motorist benefits. The district court denied Insurer's motion for summary judgment and entered judgment in favor of Insured with interest…
Date: January 27, 2012
Docket Number: 100418
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Jerin Mootz was convicted for assault on a police officer resulting in bodily injury. During voir dire, Mootz sought to use a peremptory challenge to remove a Hispanic juror. The district court found Mootz was…
Date: January 20, 2012
Docket Number: 080513
Justia Opinion Summary: After his vehicle collided with and killed a bicyclist, Defendant was convicted of homicide by vehicle, operating while intoxicated, and leaving the scene of an accident. The court of appeals affirmed his convictions but…
Date: January 20, 2012
Docket Number: 101454
Justia Opinion Summary: Robert Lowe was charged with several criminal counts related to Lowe's alleged manufacture of methamphetamine. Lowe moved to certain suppress statements he made to the police. The district court granted the motion,…
Date: January 13, 2012
Docket Number: 100218
Justia Opinion Summary: Dennis Richards was convicted of second-degree murder and second-degree arson for strangling his ex-wife to death and setting her house on fire. The court of appeals reversed and remanded for a new trial after concluding…
Date: January 13, 2012
Docket Number: 110886
Date: January 13, 2012
Docket Number: 111570
Date: January 6, 2012
Docket Number: 091170
Justia Opinion Summary: Lee Breuer was the apparent driver in a one-car accident. Breuer and the passenger were transported to the hospital, where a deputy sheriff asked Breuer to provide a breath test. Breuer refused. An officer then obtained…
Date: January 6, 2012
Docket Number: 110435
Date: January 6, 2012
Docket Number: 110799
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