The Iowa Supreme Court’s June 17 ruling overturning its 2018 decision that recognized a fundamental right to abortion under the Iowa Constitution did more than overturn that four-year-old precedent.
The Court, in four separate op …
James Dorsey broke into a home before shooting and killing an unarmed woman just five days after he turned eighteen in 1984. Dorsey was convicted of first-degree murder and he received the mandatory sentence for first-degree murder – life in prison without the possibility of parole. The case before the Iowa Supreme Court …
An emergency dispatcher traumatized by a distraught mother screaming for two minutes “Help me, my baby is dead” is eligible for workers’ compensation benefits even though the job comes with distressing calls, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled June 3.
In 2019, the publicly traded stock of EMC Insurance Group, Inc. (“EMCI”) was acquired in a “going private transaction.” Certain shareholders sued members of EMCI’s board of directors for breaching fiduciary duties owed to public shareholders. Those individual directors moved to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims, an …
Cedar Rapids resident Robert Teig asked Cedar Rapids city officials for records related to the hiring of a new city clerk and city attorney. When they mostly denied Teig’s requests, he filed suit naming six Cedar Rapids officials as defendants, which the Linn County District Court dismissed on summary judgment.
Teig ma …
Lasondra Johnson was tried for first-degree murder for the shooting death of Jada Young-Mills outside a Waterloo residence. Johnson argued she acted in self defense and the shooting was justified under Iowa’s “stand your ground” law that says a person is justified in the use of reasonable force in the belief that such …
The Iowa Code requires that a plaintiff who brings medical malpractice claims in state court serve the defendant with an affidavit signed by an expert witness regarding the merits of the claim that the medical provider was negligent. The statute requires that the affidavit be signed under oath obligating the witness to be t …
Two assistant Iowa attorneys general subpoenaed to testify by deposition in an employment suit against the State appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court after the trial court denied their motion to quash the subpoenas. The Supreme Court held that while one of the attorneys is shielded from testifying, the other is not.
Depart …
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.