Iowa law requires that criminal defendants who invoke a “stand your ground” defense must have informed law-enforcement authorities of the use of deadly force. That requirement, on its face, may or may not violate a defendant’s constitutional rights, but a defendant’s Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination …
Two Wapello County residents who brought nuisance suits against operators of hog confinements and later voluntarily dropped them must pay the defendants’ costs, including legal fees, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled March 27.
Michael Merrill and Karen Jo Frescoln were among two of 70 original plaintiffs in Honom …
Homeowners may have to pay a contractor for labor and materials in a mechanic’s lien foreclosure, but they cannot be forced to forfeit their homestead to cover the contractor’s legal fees, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled. That is, however, unless the homesteader waits too long to make that claim.
That was the good-news, …
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 …
Jurors in a Pottawattamie County medical malpractice trial submitted a question to the court during jury deliberations about the meaning of instructions given to them by the trial judge for apportioning fault to a settled party, but the judge did not commit a prejudicial error by failing to cla …
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments in seven cases April 15 and 16. Two other cases will be submitted to the Court without oral argument. Following are brief summaries of the April cases with the exception of one attorney discipline case.
Did a video recording of a school board meeting posted by the board on its YouTube channel defame a former tennis coach who alleges she was slandered by statements made during the public meeting? That question will be before the Iowa Supreme Court at an oral argument at the Drake Law School at 9:30 a.m. April 3 in Villarini v. Iowa City Community School District.
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments in eight cases March 26 and 27. Two cases will be submitted to the Court without oral arguments. Following are summaries of the March arguments. Go to OnBrief’s Cases in the Pipeline page to read briefs filed in these cases.
A state statute enacted in 2022 that created civil and criminal penalties for fertility doctors who fraudulently use their own sperm to help infertile couples conceive children through artificial insemination does not apply retroactively, the Iowa Supreme Court held in three decisions handed down March 14.
All three case …
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.
