In separate opinions, each issued on Friday, April 22, the Iowa Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that businesses that closed in spring 2020 to comply with COVID-19 emergency regulations could not obtain coverage under commercial insurance policies that required “direct physi …
The Iowa Supreme Court on April 20 will hear its final scheduled oral argument for the 2021-22 term, which ends in June.
One case, Hoffman v. Clark, will be argued at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Two other cases will be submitted to the Court without oral argument. Go to On Brief’s “read more
Nearly 40 years ago the Iowa Supreme Court held that “sex” does not mean the same as “gender” in an employment discrimination claim brought by a transgender plaintiff. It was the first, and last, time the Court addressed that issue until April 1 when the Court reached the same conclusion in read more
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in eight cases March 23 and 24. Seven other cases will be submitted to the Court without oral argument.
Following are brief summaries of the March 23-24 appeals. Go to On Brief’s “Cases in the Pipeline” page to read bri …
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments in nine appeals Feb. 21, 22 and 23. Three other cases will be submitted to the Court without oral argument, and three attorney-discipline cases will be submitted.
Following are brief summaries of the February cases to be argued. Go to On Brief’s “read more
A Polk County District judge denied a defendant’s motion to suppress evidence from a traffic stop initiated by a police officer who could not make out one letter on the vehicle’s license plate because it was partially blocked by a trailer hitch ball.
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments in nine cases Nov. 16 and 17. Three other cases will be submitted to the Court without oral argument. Following are short summaries of the November cases. Go to On Brief’s Cases in the Pipeline page to read the briefs in these case …
When a criminal defendant pleads guilty to a crime, it produces the same result as a criminal conviction at trial. So courts have created procedural requirements designed to ensure that any plea is legally and constitutionally valid before it is accepted.
One requirement is that there must be a factual basis for the crim …
[This article by Matthew A. McGuire and Spencer S. Cady was originally published in the August 2022 issue of The Iowa Lawyer magazine. The 2021-2022 term statistics were compiled by Chris Slack.]
The 2021-2022 term of the Iowa Supreme Court concluded o …
On Brief: Iowa’s Appellate Blog is devoted to appellate litigation with a focus on the Iowa Supreme Court, the Iowa Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
