Iowa Supreme Court Decisions 2013
Date: December 27, 2013
Docket Number: 121817
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, a financial advisor to Decedent, was sued by identified beneficiaries of Decedent’s signed written estate plan. The beneficiaries alleged that Defendant was negligent in the performance of his duties, and…
Date: December 20, 2013
Docket Number: 120222
Justia Opinion Summary: The parties in this case, William and Steven Burkhalter, were the sons of Louis Burkhalter. William challenged an unfavorable modification of Louis's revocable trust that occurred just before Louis's death, claiming (1)…
Date: December 20, 2013
Docket Number: 120338
Justia Opinion Summary: Lender loaned Borrowers $52,000 pursuant to a loan agreement (agreement) and promissory note ( note). After Borrowers stopped making payments on the loan, Lender filed a petition to collect the total principal due on the…
Date: December 20, 2013
Docket Number: 131230
Date: December 20, 2013
Docket Number: 131331
Date: December 13, 2013
Docket Number: 120064
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit against their sons, their former attorney, a limited liability company (SMP), and others, challenging the validity of their mortgages delivered to SMP. Without first seeking mediation, SMP…
Date: December 13, 2013
Docket Number: 120122
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff fled her home in Decatur County to escape Defendant, her abusive husband. Plaintiff found a safe house in Howard County and filed for an order of protection within two days of her arrival. After Defendant…
Date: December 6, 2013
Docket Number: 120647
Justia Opinion Summary: Anthony Geltz was prosecuted as a juvenile and adjudicated delinquent for sexual abuse in the second degree for an offense he committed when he was fourteen years old. After Geltz turned eighteen, the State petitioned to…
Date: December 6, 2013
Docket Number: 121944
Justia Opinion Summary: The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) revoked Plaintiffs' hunting licenses after finding that each Plaintiff did not meet the criteria to claim resident status under Iowa Code chapter 483A and that establishing…
Date: December 6, 2013
Docket Number: 130780
Date: November 22, 2013
Docket Number: 121542
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pled guilty to four counts of fraudulent practices for willfully failing to file his Iowa income tax returns and pay taxes for the years 2006 through 2009. After a restitution hearing, the district court…
Date: November 22, 2013
Docket Number: 131029
Date: November 15, 2013
Docket Number: 120912
Justia Opinion Summary: Kenneth and Melissa were married for over twenty years when they sought a divorce in 1994. In 2011, Kenneth filed a second petition for modification, requesting termination or reduction of his weekly spousal support and…
Date: November 15, 2013
Docket Number: 121645(Amended11/18/13)
Date: November 15, 2013
Docket Number: 121645
Justia Opinion Summary: Claimant, an undocumented worker, underwent surgery in 2007 to correct work-related hernias. Claimant returned to work, but in 2008 Employer terminated Claimant's employment. In 2007, Claimant filed for workers'…
Date: November 15, 2013
Docket Number: 122176
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of third-degree sexual abuse. Six years later, the Supreme Court overturned Defendant's conviction and sentence and remanded for a new trial. The second trial resulted in…
Date: November 8, 2013
Docket Number: 120283
Justia Opinion Summary: In the underlying action, Plaintiff filed a personal injury action against Defendants, the State, and a volunteer driver for the Iowa Department of Human Services. The Supreme Court held that Defendants were entitled to…
Date: November 8, 2013
Docket Number: 130856
Justia Opinion Summary: The Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board filed a complaint against Attorney Doe based on sexual misconduct allegations by the attorney's client, Jane Doe. The Grievance Commission of the Iowa Supreme Court…
Date: November 1, 2013
Docket Number: 120618
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to theft and agreed to enter a drug court program. The district court also ordered that Defendant participate in residential treatment at the Iowa Residential Treatment Center (IRTC). As a result…
Date: November 1, 2013
Docket Number: 121636
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was the driver in an accident that resulted in the deaths of Mark Empen and Lindsay Gibbs. Defendant entered into civil settlement agreements with the estates of Empen and Gibbs. Defendant subsequently pleaded…
Date: October 25, 2013
Docket Number: 121340
Justia Opinion Summary: Husband died in 1993, and his will was probated. Wife received almost all of Husband's property pursuant to a residuary clause in the will. In 2011, Wife died. Subsequently, several relatives (Relatives) who had not been…
Date: October 25, 2013
Docket Number: 130397
Date: October 18, 2013
Docket Number: 130102
Justia Opinion Summary: John Corrado and his company (collectively, Corrado) and Life Investors Insurance Company of America (LICA) entered into a settlement agreement following a dispute. The agreement purported to bear Corrado's signature,…
Date: October 18, 2013
Docket Number: 130506
Date: October 11, 2013
Docket Number: 121515
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against the Defendants, county and municipal officials, alleging that he was wrongfully assaulted and arrested by certain law enforcement officers and deputies. The district court concluded that…
Date: October 11, 2013
Docket Number: 130480
Date: September 27, 2013
Docket Number: 130283
Date: September 27, 2013
Docket Number: 130372
Date: September 20, 2013
Docket Number: 121969
Justia Opinion Summary: After a trial, Angela and Patric were divorced pursuant to a dissolution decree that awarded the parties joint legal custody and joint physical care of the parties' two children. Angela appealed, arguing that the…
Date: August 23, 2013
Docket Number: 111082
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of six counts of child endangerment and sentenced to fifty years in prison. The victim was Defendant's seven-week-old son. The baby suffered fifteen rib fractures, a broken…
Date: August 23, 2013
Docket Number: 120255
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of the second-degree murder of his live-in girlfriend. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the district court did not reversibly err by (1) failing to submit an…
Date: August 23, 2013
Docket Number: 120292
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was terminated from his employment as dean of students and vice president of student services at the University of Iowa by the University's president, Sally Mason, after a report from the Stolar Partnership…
Date: August 16, 2013
Docket Number: 111080
Justia Opinion Summary: Pursuant to a plea agreement, Defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree robbery. Defendant was sixteen years old at the time he committed the offenses. The district court imposed a…
Date: August 16, 2013
Docket Number: 111214
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, seventeen-year-old Defendant was convicted of two counts of first-degree robbery and two counts of first-degree burglary. The district court imposed a fifty-year sentence, of which Defendant was…
Date: August 16, 2013
Docket Number: 121758
Justia Opinion Summary: Following a jury trial, Defendant, a juvenile, was convicted of first-degree murder and mandatorily sentenced to life without parole. Defendant subsequently pursued numerous postconviction relief actions, including an…
Date: August 2, 2013
Docket Number: 112100
Justia Opinion Summary: After Plaintiff, an at-will employee, reported a forgery on the part of supervisors at an assisted living facility, the facility terminated Plaintiff's employment. The Department of Inspections and Appeals later…
Date: July 19, 2013
Docket Number: 110552
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, Klever Miranda and Nancy Campoverde, entered the U.S. without documentation. Klever received a notice of removal order and was represented by attorney Michael Said. Said advised Klever and Nancy to leave the…
Date: July 19, 2013
Docket Number: 130367
Justia Opinion Summary: The Iowa Commission on Judicial Qualifications recommended that a magistrate, who had a private practice in addition to his work on the bench, be publicly reprimanded for placing advertisements in phone books featuring…
Date: July 12, 2013
Docket Number: 111857
Justia Opinion Summary: Dentist fired his long-time female dental assistant (Employee) at the request of his wife after she discovered Dentist and Employee had been texting. Wife claimed Employee "was a big threat" to the marriage. Employee…
Date: July 5, 2013
Docket Number: 110449
Justia Opinion Summary: The Attorney General brought an action against Corporation, which sold memberships in buying programs giving members the option to purchase various goods and services at discounted rates, alleging violations of the…
Date: July 5, 2013
Docket Number: 120010
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. Defendant appealed, claiming his counsel provided ineffective assistance because counsel permitted him to plead guilty…
Date: July 5, 2013
Docket Number: 120491
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was a construction supply business that entered into a dispute with City over a project upgrading City's wastewater treatment facility. After City excluded Plaintiff from its list of preapproved material…
Date: June 28, 2013
Docket Number: 110738
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with and convicted of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence. Defendant appealed, contending that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress the evidence obtained from…
Date: June 28, 2013
Docket Number: 111145
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, several nursing homes approved by the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) as Medicaid providers, submitted annual reports disclosing their income and expenses to DHS. DHS used the reports to calculate the…
Date: June 21, 2013
Docket Number: 110935
Justia Opinion Summary: Carl Hord's will created the Carl Hord Trust and directed that Carl's undivided one-half interest in 210 acres of farmland would pass to his niece and nephews upon the death of his wife, Lois, whom Carl named as a life…
Date: June 21, 2013
Docket Number: 120442
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs were employees of limited liability corporations located in Iowa. Plaintiffs filed lawsuits against the businesses and certain individuals affiliated with the businesses, alleging that Defendants violated the…
Date: June 21, 2013
Docket Number: 120794
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was the mother of a fourteen-year-old special education student, D.E. D.E. was raped by M.F., a nineteen-year-old special education student after the two students left school early. The sexual assault took…
Date: June 14, 2013
Docket Number: 110601
Justia Opinion Summary: The majority shareholder of a family farm corporation served as a director and officer of the corporation. A minority shareholder of the corporation (Plaintiff) sued the corporation and the majority shareholder…
Date: June 14, 2013
Docket Number: 130152
Date: June 7, 2013
Docket Number: 100319
Justia Opinion Summary: The State charged Defendant by way of trial information of "assault domestic abuse causing bodily injury - enhanced" and "assault domestic abuse by use or display of a weapon." At the close of evidence during the trial,…
Date: June 7, 2013
Docket Number: 110270
Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and three counts of sexual exploitation by a school employee. Defendant appealed, arguing, among other things, that he could…
Date: June 7, 2013
Docket Number: 111979
Justia Opinion Summary: The Sierra Club and two of its local members challenged the Iowa Department of Transportation's (IDOT) decision to locate a highway adjacent to and through the Rock Island State Preserve by filing a petition for judicial…
Date: June 7, 2013
Docket Number: 120305
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana. At the hearing on Defendant's plea and sentencing, the sentencing court threatened to convict Defendant, instead of deferring judgment, if Defendant's declined to…
Date: June 7, 2013
Docket Number: 121002
Justia Opinion Summary: A city and resident filed a petition against the Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission, a local governmental body, alleging various violations of the Iowa Open Meetings Act (IOMA). The district court granted…
Date: May 31, 2013
Docket Number: 111977
Justia Opinion Summary: The Iowa Board of Nursing and Iowa Department of Public Health (collectively, Defendants) enacted rules allowing advanced registered nurse practitioners (ARNPs) to supervise radiologic technologists using fluoroscopy…
Date: May 24, 2013
Docket Number: 111208
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant, a parolee, was charged with four drug-related crimes after a search of her house by narcotics police officers revealed firearms and marijuana. Defendant filed a motion to suppress the marijuana as evidence at…
Date: May 24, 2013
Docket Number: 111448
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner was a middle school teacher involved in a physical altercation with a student. The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners issued a statement of charges against Petitioner alleging student abuse. The Board…
Date: May 24, 2013
Docket Number: 130128
Date: May 17, 2013
Docket Number: 111630
Justia Opinion Summary: Employee sought unemployment benefits from Iowa Workforce Development after his discharge from employment by Employer. An ALJ concluded Employee was not entitled to benefits, and the Employment Appeal Board (EAB)…
Date: May 17, 2013
Docket Number: 120126
Justia Opinion Summary: Douglas Moad was driving his truck within the course of his employment with Employer when his truck was struck by an oncoming vehicle. Douglas died from his injuries. Employer maintained workers' compensation services…
Date: May 17, 2013
Docket Number: 120383
Justia Opinion Summary: Chartis Insurance issued two workers' compensation insurance policies to Action Warehouse Company. Action, in turn, contracted with two tire companies to provide employees to operate tire warehouses owned by the…
Date: May 17, 2013
Docket Number: 120650
Justia Opinion Summary: A husband and wife applied for life insurance policies from Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company and later sued Farm Bureau for its alleged negligence in failing to notify them of their HIV-positive status. Farm Bureau…
Date: May 17, 2013
Docket Number: 121280
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether the Iowa Insurance Commissioner's interpretation of a recently enacted law governing dental insurance plans should be upheld. Petitioner, the Iowa Dental Association (IDA), filed with…
Date: May 10, 2013
Docket Number: 111106
Justia Opinion Summary: Employee was injured while working for Employer and was awarded permanent partial disability benefits. Employee subsequently petitioned to review-reopen his workers' compensation claim, seeking additional workers'…
Date: May 10, 2013
Docket Number: 111784
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed a wrongful discharge suit against the State. The State moved to dismiss the action for failure to exhaust administrative remedies as required by the Iowa Tort Claims Act (Act). The district court granted…
Date: May 10, 2013
Docket Number: 120897
Justia Opinion Summary: Employee, who was injured while working for Employer, sought enforcement of an arbitration award he received from the workers' compensation commissioner against Employer and Employer's insurer. Employee requested the…
Date: May 10, 2013
Docket Number: 130103
Date: May 3, 2013
Docket Number: 100414
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant pleaded guilty to first-degree harassment. While Appellant was incarcerated for the offense, the State sought to have him committed as a sexually violent predator (SVP) under Iowa Code 229A. A jury found…
Date: May 3, 2013
Docket Number: 111501
Justia Opinion Summary: Attorney represented MC Holdings, LLC, a landowner in Davis County, and Keo Rental, LLC, a landowner in Van Buren County, both of whom desired to protest the property-tax assessment made by their county assessors.…
Date: May 3, 2013
Docket Number: 120243
Justia Opinion Summary: Melissa and Heather Gartner were a married lesbian couple. Heather conceived a child using an anonymous sperm donor. The child was born during the spouses' marriage. The Gartners requested a birth certificate recognizing…
Date: May 3, 2013
Docket Number: 121516
Date: April 26, 2013
Docket Number: 111065
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was convicted of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Defendant appealed the denial of his motion to suppress, arguing that the police officer who stopped his vehicle lacked either reasonable suspicion…
Date: April 26, 2013
Docket Number: 120335
Justia Opinion Summary: A lakefront property was zoned residential but was historically operated as a marina pursuant to special-use permits allowing nonconforming use. The Supreme Court previously held that while the use of the property as a…
Date: April 19, 2013
Docket Number: 100214
Justia Opinion Summary: After Appellant was granted parole, Appellant and his parole officer signed a parole agreement that contained standard and special terms of parole. One standard condition authorized any parole officer of law enforcement…
Date: April 19, 2013
Docket Number: 120036
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff and Defendant were brother and sister. Defendant was a longtime resident of Maryland. Plaintiff allegedly lived in Iowa in 2003. After Plaintiff obtained employment in Iraq in 2003, he opened a checking account…
Date: April 12, 2013
Docket Number: 110472
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with one count of robbery and one count of willful injury causing serious injury. The charges both stemmed from a single incident involving a single victim. Pursuant to a plea agreement, Defendant…
Date: April 12, 2013
Docket Number: 111543
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2006, the Iowa Department of Revenue assessed the value of Qwest Corporation's Iowa operating property. Qwest protested the assessment by challenging the general assembly's previous decision to tax the personal…
Date: April 12, 2013
Docket Number: 120344
Justia Opinion Summary: The Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) suspended a commercial driver's license (CDL) for one year for operation of a commercial motor vehicle with an alcohol concentration of .04 or more. The driver contested the…
Date: April 5, 2013
Docket Number: 110085
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sued Defendant, a bar, for injuries sustained when he was assaulted in the bar's parking lot. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the bar, finding as a matter of law that the assault in the…
Date: April 5, 2013
Docket Number: 120790
Justia Opinion Summary: Steven Sheeder and Barlett Grain Co. entered into oral agreements for the sale of grain. The parties later confirmed the agreement with a signed, written document containing an arbitration clause that was not part of the…
Date: March 29, 2013
Docket Number: 110683
Justia Opinion Summary: Property owners (Owners) had a lengthy dispute with Linn County over whether houses they had built were subject to the County's zoning and subdivision ordinances. In two separate decisions, the Linn County Board of…
Date: March 22, 2013
Docket Number: 102037
Justia Opinion Summary: In 1999, Appellant was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. In 2002, Appellant unsuccessfully sought postconviction relief. In 2006, the Supreme Court issued its decision in…
Date: March 22, 2013
Docket Number: 110549
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant pled guilty in 2000 to attempted burglary in the third degree. In 2011, Appellant filed an application for postconviction relief, arguing that, pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Padilla v.…
Date: March 22, 2013
Docket Number: 111394
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was involved in an automobile accident with Defendants. After seeking a settlement with Defendants' insurance company, Plaintiff commenced an action against Defendants. Plaintiff, however, failed to negotiate…
Date: March 22, 2013
Docket Number: 112031
Justia Opinion Summary: The State filed a petition alleging that fifteen-year-old J.W.R. committed delinquent acts of incest. J.W.R. entered an Alford plea to the incest allegation. A juvenile court officer recommended J.W.R. be adjudicated a…
Date: March 15, 2013
Docket Number: 110934
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff brought suit against Defendants, residential landlords, after Plaintiff slipped and fell on the premises while visiting her son, who leased an apartment from Defendants. After a jury trial, the trial court…
Date: March 15, 2013
Docket Number: 111714
Justia Opinion Summary: After Defendant was twice arrested and convicted of sexual offenses, proceedings were commenced for Defendant's commitment as a sexually violent predator. After a jury trial, Defendant was committed to the Civil…
Date: March 8, 2013
Docket Number: 110770
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2010, Defendant pled guilty to stalking, first offense, with protective order, and fourth-degree criminal mischief. In 2011, Defendant was charged by information with stalking, second offense, or, alternatively,…
Date: March 8, 2013
Docket Number: 111516
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant killed her longtime boyfriend. At trial, Defendant raised a defense of justification based on evidence of battered women's syndrome and a defense of insanity based on various diagnoses including depression and…
Date: March 1, 2013
Docket Number: 110445
Justia Opinion Summary: Wife filed for divorce from Husband in 2009 after a dozen years of marriage. The district court (1) ordered Wife to pay child support of $219 per month, and (2) awarded Husband a share of the marital assets in excess of…
Date: March 1, 2013
Docket Number: 110687
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent was incarcerated with an approaching release when the State filed a petition alleging Respondent was a sexually violent predator (SVP) under Iowa's civil commitment statute. After a jury trial, Respondent was…
Date: March 1, 2013
Docket Number: 122089
Date: February 22, 2013
Docket Number: 110719
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was arrested and charged with operating a vehicle while under the influence of a controlled substance in violation of Iowa Code 321J.2(1)(c). Defendant asserted an affirmative defense under section…
Date: February 22, 2013
Docket Number: 121927
Justia Opinion Summary: Decedent's last will and testament and her correspondence with family members included specific directions to bury her in a plot she had already purchased at a cemetery in Montana. Decedent's surviving husband,…
Date: February 15, 2013
Docket Number: 110892
Justia Opinion Summary: While accompanying students on a field trip to a dairy farm, a chaperone (Plaintiff) was injured when she fell through a hole in the floor of a hayloft. Plaintiff filed a negligence suit against the dairy farm's owners…
Date: February 15, 2013
Docket Number: 121024
Date: February 8, 2013
Docket Number: 111398
Justia Opinion Summary: The district court entered a decree dissolving the marriage of Steven and Diana Kimbro. To equalize the property distribution, the district court required Steven to make an equalization payment to Diana totaling $50,060.…
Date: February 8, 2013
Docket Number: 120694
Date: February 1, 2013
Docket Number: 110570
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, farmers, purchased a Farm-Guard insurance policy from First Maxfield Mutual Insurance Association. Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company (Grinnell Mutual) reinsured the policy. Two years later, 535 of the hogs…
Date: February 1, 2013
Docket Number: 111637
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2007, Hardin County Drainage District 55 provided Union Pacific Railroad Company with statutory notice requiring the railroad to rebuild and reconstruct damaged subterranean drainage tile found under the railroad's…
Date: January 25, 2013
Docket Number: 111262
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was one of several adult caregivers for a five-year-old girl suffering from malnutrition. The State charged Defendant with two counts of child endangerment, and a jury found Defendant guilty of child…
Date: January 25, 2013
Docket Number: 111967
Justia Opinion Summary: This dispute centered around a revocable trust Settlor created during her lifetime. Settlor was the trustee of the trust until shortly before her death, when she substituted Judith Cunningham as trustee. After Settlor…
Date: January 18, 2013
Docket Number: 101503
Justia Opinion Summary: After a contentious divorce from his ex-wife, Beth Weier, Scott wrote a memoir called Mind, Body and Soul. The book discusses Scott's personal transformation following his divorce. Beth and her father, Gail Bierman,…
Date: January 18, 2013
Docket Number: 121567
Date: January 11, 2013
Docket Number: 121529
Date: January 4, 2013
Docket Number: 120158
Justia Opinion Summary: After Appellant's emergency hospitalization, a district court concluded that B.B. was seriously mentally impaired. Appellant was subsequently involuntarily committed. During the pendency of the appeal, Appellant was…
Date: January 4, 2013
Docket Number: 120608
Justia Opinion Summary: Two petitions were filed alleging that fifteen-year-old A.K. was a delinquent child for committing three counts of sexual abuse in the second degree and four counts of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse involving…
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