The fact that a person is intoxicated shortly after leaving a bar is sufficient evidence to submit to a jury in a lawsuit alleging liability under Iowa’s dramshop statute.
Thus said a divided Iowa Supreme Court on March 30 in …
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Iowa Supreme Court opens door to ‘actual innocence’ claims following guilty pleas
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a person who pleaded guilty to a crime has a right under the Iowa Constitution to later claim that he or she is, in fact, innocent based on newly discovered evidence.
The Court, in a 4-3 ruling handed down March 23, overtur …
Iowa Supreme Court: Changes within trailer park did not affect its zoning status
Does the “detritus of life” change a Des Moines trailer park’s legal nonconforming zoning status it has enjoyed for 63 years?
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Iowa Supreme Court preview: Is Iowa’s law protecting hog confinements from lawsuits unconstitutional?
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments Feb. 12 in a case that could dramatically affect all legal disputes between rural residents and livestock confinement operators. The session is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Judicial Branch Building in Des Moines to accommodate members of the publ …
Indecent-exposure conviction required physical presence, Iowa Supreme Court rules
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A statistical review of the 2023-2024 Iowa Supreme Court term: The Court finds a new equilibrium
[This article by Matthew A. McGuire, Spencer S. Cady, and Chris E. Slack was originally published in the August 2024 issue of The Iowa Lawyer magazine.]
The period between 2018 and 2022 was a period of great change for the Iowa Supreme Court, with five of the seven current justices joining the Court d …
Firing for posting rainbow flag criticism did not violate Civil Rights Act, Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals holds
When Daniel Snyder posted a comment on his employer’s intranet site expressing his opposition to the company’s use of a rainbow flag indicating support for LGBTQ+ equality, he believed he was sending the post to be seen only by the sender of an employee survey.
Instead, his post could be seen by all employees through …
June 2024 Opinion Roundup
The Iowa Supreme Court entered opinions in fifteen cases during June 2024. In addition to individual posts on six cases analyzed on this blog, the remaining opinions from June are summarized below.
Iowa Court of Appeals July 2024 Published Opinion Roundup
The Iowa Court of Appeals selects certain opinions for publication in the Northwestern Reporter. On July 3, 2024, the Court of Appeals selected four opinions for publication. Following are summaries of those opinions.
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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.