In the words of her attorney, Margaret Workman was “obsessed” with estate planning regarding the fate of the family’s 200-acre farm, creating and amending wills no fewer than 10 times. Margaret, who died at the age of 89 in 2012, may rest in peace: Her…
The Iowa Supreme Court in its first decision of the term handed down Oct. 13 agreed with a convicted sex offender that his prison sentence was wrongly extended by more than three years by the Iowa Department of Corrections (IDOC). The IDOC’s recent policy reversal…
Abraham Watkins was elected Van Buren County Attorney and took office on Jan. 1, 2015. Two years and two days later, a Van Buren County judge ruled that Watkins was guilty of maladministration of office for sexual harassment of a county employee and ordered him…
A legal dispute over a $75 traffic citation could have implications for thousands of drivers who receive speeding tickets in the mail based on evidence captured by an automated traffic-enforcement camera. A number of lawsuits have been working their way through state and federal courts…
The Iowa Supreme Court entered opinions in eleven cases in November 2025. On Brief’s analysis of In re Davenport Hotel Building Collapse, No. 24-0727, concerning whether statutory qualified immunity protections apply to the City of Davenport and city employees in the context of common law negligence claims brought by families of residents who died in a 2023 apartment building collapse, is posted separately on this blog. The remaining opinions from November are summarized below.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has informed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that the State of Iowa will be seeking review by the U.S. Supreme Court of the Eight Circuit’s October 2025 ruling affirming the district court’s preliminary injunction barring enforcement of Iowa’s statute that makes it a state crime for a noncitizen previously deported to reenter the state.
Trial courts have a duty under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to assure that a criminal defendant who cannot afford to hire a lawyer is provided one at the State’s expense. To comply with that constitutional mandate, Iowa created the Office of State Public Defender (SPD) to employ attorneys to provide indigent defense or to contract with attorneys in private practice willing to take on those criminal cases.
Online video provider TikTok does business with millions of American users in all 50 states, including Iowans who have downloaded the company’s app hundreds of thousands of times and who agree to its terms of service. Still, the company argues, it should not have to defend itself against a lawsuit filed in state court by the Iowa Attorney General claiming the company misrepresents the nature of its content available to Iowa children.
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.
