Two years ago the Iowa Supreme Court overruled a quarter-century-old precedent that established an exclusive test for determining whether a criminal jury reflects a fair cross section of the community. In its decision in Thongvanh v. State ha …
Acting Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court David Wiggins will deliver the 2020 State of the Judiciary address to the Iowa General Assembly Jan. 15. The speech will be given to a joint session of both houses of the Legislature in the Iowa House chamber beginning at 10 a.m.
A public reception will follow in the Iowa Su …
A person cannot bring a common-law claim for wrongful discharge for a violation of a state statute that governs employer drug and alcohol testing procedures because the statute provides a civil remedy for violations of the statute, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled unanimously in a read more
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in nine cases Nov. 18 and 19. Eight more cases will be submitted to the Court without oral argument. Following are brief summaries of the cases. Go to On Brief’s Cases in the Pipeline page to read briefs submitted …
What is a non-profit institution to do when a gift becomes a burden?
That is more or less the predicament Coe College found itself in when it learned that a collection of Grant Wood paintings given to the Cedar Rapids school decades earlier, and which had grown significantly in value, could not be sold without violating …
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 …
In 2022 Brandon Lee entered the home of an elderly couple in Coggon, physically assaulted each of them with the aim of forcing them to reveal the location of cash, and left with $50,000 they had kept in a safe in the basement.
Lee was convicted by a Linn County jury for one count of theft and two counts of first-degree r …
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.
