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Court: Iowa had no duty to monitor predator at nursing home

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March 23rd, 2016 by Ric Hanson

POMEROY, Iowa (AP) – A court says Iowa authorities had no duty to protect residents of a nursing home from a sexual predator who assaulted a 95-year-old woman after being placed there by court order. The Iowa Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the state had no duty to supervise William Cubbage once he was discharged from its treatment program for dangerous sex offenders in 2010.

The court says state officials didn’t have to develop a safety plan for Cubbage once he was at the Pomeroy Care Center. Willis Hamilton is a lawyer representing the estate of the victim, who has since died. He says he can’t understand how state officials can argue Cubbage was too dangerous to be released but “put him in a nursing home with little old ladies” with no protections.