Iowa Supreme Court Justice Brent Appel will retire from the Court effective June 13 after serving on the Court for 16 years. Appel, who turns 72 this year, reached the ma …
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What the Iowa Supreme Court is doing this summer while you are on vacation
It may be the summer break for the Iowa Supreme Court, but the justices are not idle. During the months of July and August – between the end of one term and the beginning of the next – the justices take a break from hearing cases and writing opinions in order to focus on the administrative …
Iowa Supreme Court Announces New Calendar
By Ryan Koopmans
The Iowa Supreme Court is remaking its calendar. The Court will now hear arguments from September through April, with the goal of submitting most opinions in those cases by the end of the term, which is now June 30. The Cour …
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Iowa Supreme Court rejects bid to abolish exception to Fourth Amendment warrant requirement
A law enforcement officer making a roadside stop is legally allowed to search a vehicle without a warrant under an “automobile exception” to the protection against unreasonable searches and seizures granted by the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and separately under the Iowa Constitution. That exception, recog …
Iowa Supreme Court: Union Pacific Railroad not liable for worker’s suicide
The Union Pacific Railroad Co. is not liable under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) for the death of an employee who took his own life from emotional distress caused by his supervisor’ harassment, the Iowa Supreme Court held in a decision handed down April 25.
Kera Morgan, as administrator of her late husb …
Iowa Supreme Court removes judicial magistrate from bench for racially derogatory and ‘demeaning and sophomoric’ statements
The Iowa Supreme Court removed a part-time judicial magistrate from the bench in a unanimous decision issued April 18 for violations of the Iowa Code of Judicial Conduct in making a racially derogatory statement in an open court proceeding and by making a “demeaning and sophomoric” justification in a written order denying an arrest warrant.
Iowa Supreme Court revives suit against Polk County over rezoning decision on Family Leader project
Five individual plaintiffs living near a non-profit group’s proposed office and event center have standing to pursue claims alleging they would be injured by development in what is now an area zoned for agricultural use. The Iowa Supreme Court reached this conclusion in a decision handed down April 4.
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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.