UPDATES & ANALYSIS

Lawsuit by victims of Davenport apartment collapse not barred by Iowa qualified immunity statute, Iowa Supreme Court holds

by Rox Laird | November 17, 2025

Iowa’s statute that provides qualified immunity for municipal employees does not apply to common law negligence claims against the City of Davenport and city employees by families of residents who died in the 2023 collapse of an apartment building and other residents who were injured and left homeless, the Iowa Supreme Court said in a decision handed down Nov. 7.

Multiple lawsuits were filed in Scott County District Court against defendants including the apartment building’s owner and city officials responsible for safety inspections, which were consolidated into one by the trial court.

The City of Davenport defendants moved to dismiss the suit against them, arguing the claims of negligence and nuisance against them were barred by the qualified immunity provisions of Iowa Code Section 670.4A of the Iowa Municipal Tort Claims Act. They also argued that they owed no duty to the plaintiffs based on the legal doctrine that a government entity cannot be held liable for a breach of a duty owed to the public at large but not to a plaintiff individually.

The district court denied the City defendants’ motion, and they appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court.

In its Nov. 7 decision dismissing the appeal, the Iowa Supreme Court held that the qualified immunity provisions in Section 670.4A do not apply to the common law tort claims against the City defendants. The decision written by Justice Matthew McDermott was joined by all participating members of the Court. Justices Thomas Waterman and Edward Mansfield did not participate in consideration or decision of the case.

The question before the Court is whether the qualified immunity requirements in Section 670.4A apply to the common law tort claims in this case. And the result is controlled by its decision in Doe v. Western Dubuque Community School District issued May 9, in which the Court held that Section 670.4A applies only where the plaintiff has asserted a state constitutional tort claim or statutory claim, not where the plaintiff has asserted only a state common law claim.

“Our decision in Doe controls the outcome here. The plaintiffs’ petition asserts claims for common law negligence and nuisance; it doesn’t assert a state constitutional tort or the violation of a specific statutory right,” Justice McDermott wrote. “The fact that the ‘duty’ element of a negligence claim derives from a duty imposed by statute or municipal code, as the plaintiffs’ claims against the City defendants generally do here, doesn’t mean that the claim is based on a ‘right, privilege, or immunity secured by law’ triggering immunities under [Section] 670.4A.”

Tags: Iowa Supreme Court 2025-26