Owners of farmland in Story County seeking to block the Iowa Department of Transportation’s condemnation of part of their property for a highway project succeeded in getting their appeal before the Iowa Supreme Court even after missing one filing deadline, but they lost their bid to revive their case in district court because they missed a second and critical deadline.

Iowa’s statute governing hazardous underground pipelines that allows pipeline developers to enter private property to conduct surveys against a landowner’s will is not an unconstitutional taking, the Iowa Supreme Court held in a Nov. 22 decision.

In its first decision addressing a 2022 constitutional amendment that for the first time recognizes a “fundamental” right to bear arms in the Iowa Constitution, a divided Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the Pottawattamie District Court’s ruling denying an Iowa man’s bid to have his firearms rights restored after those rights had been revoked.

The Iowa Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Nov. 19 in an evening session in Marshalltown in a case that involves the legality of a home search under the Iowa Constitution.

The Nov. 19 argument in Marshalltown is one in a series of court sessions held outside of the Judicial Branch Building in Des Moines to give Iowa …

A manufacturer’s written package insert regarding the use of an obstetrical vacuum used to deliver a baby born with brain damage contained hearsay that should not have been allowed into evidence in a medical malpractice trial that resulted in a $97 million jury verdict, the Iowa Supreme Court held in a unanimous ruling issued Nov. 8.

The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments in eight cases Nov. 13 and Nov. 14. Five other cases will be submitted to the Court without oral argument. Following are brief summaries of the November cases.

When Dubuque police officer Katherine Avenarius accidentally shot herself in the leg while attending an Iowa Law Enforcement Academy firearms instructor school, she sued the academy claiming her injury was the result of an instructor’s advice on how to handle her firearm that contradicted how she had previously been trained. The State, which operates the academy, argued Avenarius signed a “clear and unequivocal” waiver and release of liability.

The Iowa Supreme Court upheld a 35-year minimum prison sentence for a Fairfield juvenile who pleaded guilty to first degree murder for the death of his high school Spanish teacher. In its unanimous decision, the Court rejected the defendant’s argument that, under the Iowa Constitution, the State must present expert testimony showing a minimum sentence is necessary for a juvenile offender.