Four Iowa Supreme Court opinions on State’s duty to protect nursing home residents from a convicted sex offender
The placement of a serial sex offender in a nursing home where he assaulted an elderly woman “cries out for a remedy,” Iowa Supreme Court Justice Thomas Waterman noted in an opinion concurring with the Court’s read more
Iowa Supreme Court: Patient safety reports are privileged under ‘morbidity and mortality’ statute
Patient safety reports produced by hospital employees are off limits to discovery in legal proceedings, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday, because confidentiality encourages hospital staff to be comfortable in candidly reporting safety concerns.
Dennis Wi …
read more2016-17 Iowa Supreme Court preview: Do high school baseball dugouts need to be completely enclosed?
Muscatine High School was at bat in the fifth inning and Spencer Ludman was waiting in the dugout for his turn at bat when a foul ball rocketed off a Davenport Assumption player’s bat and struck Ludman in the head. He suffered a skull fracture, spent months recovering from brain injuries and …
read moreEighth Circuit will take another look at ISU free speech ruling
2016-17 Iowa Supreme Court status report: 69 down; 49 to go
Tomorrow the Iowa Supreme Court is expected to hand down one decision, which will bring to 69 the number of cases disposed of in the first seven months of the 2016-17 term.
After the release of tomorrow’s decision, 43 submitted cases will remain to be d …
read moreNorthern District Judge Edward J. McManus (1920-2017): A half-century on the bench
U.S. District Judge Edward J. (“Nick”) McManus of Cedar Rapids died Monday. He was 97.
McManus, a native of Keokuk, attended St. Ambrose College in Davenport for two years before transferring to the University of Iowa where he earned bachelor …
read moreIowa Supreme Court 2016-17 preview: Did Iowa’s anti-slavery delegates in 1857 give criminal defendants broader rights today?
Eight years before the Civil War, drafters of the Iowa Constitution incorporated language into the Bill of Rights aimed at protecting the rights of fugitive slaves who traveled to Iowa. A convicted murderer is now asking the Iowa Supreme Court to apply that language in granting his bid for a ne …
read moreQuit horsin’ around! Your 38-year-old horse doesn’t make you a farmer.
By Ryan Leemkuil
Does a single horse grazing on your property make you a farmer?
Not so, said a majority of the Iowa Supreme Court in read more
Iowa Supreme Court denies review of Harrison County open meetings ruling by Court of Appeals
Iowa Supreme Court 2016-17 preview: Does confidentiality in a ‘morbidity and mortality’ report apply to a dislocated shoulder?
Dennis Willard was admitted to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for treatment of injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident. Among his injuries was a dislocated shoulder, but Willard alleges that was inflicted by hospital staff while he was sedated. Now he is asking the Iowa Supreme …
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Iowa Supreme Court to hear arguments in 10 cases Wednesday and Thursday
The Iowa Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in 10 appeals Oct. 20 and 21. Another four cases will be submitted to the Court without argument.
Following are summaries of 12 of those cases. Go to On Brief’s Cases in the Pipeline page to read briefs in these appea …
Iowa Supreme Court to again look at question of removing passengers from vehicles during roadside stops
An O’Brien County man is urging the Iowa Supreme Court to establish a more stringent standard under the Iowa Constitution for conducting roadside searches of passengers of a vehicle pulled over for a routine traffic stop.
The appeal in State v. Hauge will be heard at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 8 at the University of Iowa …
Article on Iowa dairy farm made potentially defamatory statements about California congressman, Eighth Circuit rules
In 2019 California Congressman Devin Nunes sued political writer Ryan Lizza and Esquire magazine in federal court claiming a 2018 story in the magazine defamed him by falsely implying that Nunes conspired to hide the suggestion that the Nunes family’s dairy farm in northwest Iowa employs undocumented immigrants.
U.S. D …
Iowa Supreme Court to hear seven cases Wednesday and Thursday
The Iowa Supreme Court kicks off its 2021-22 term with oral arguments Sept. 15 and 16, on seven appeals. Seven additional cases will be submitted to the Court without oral argument. The Court also will hear an oral argument in Oskaloosa on Sept. 23. (Read our earlier
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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.