(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has overturned a lower court ruling on the Iowa law that gives farm owners immunity for accidents with animals. Janey Shafer was helping Frank Santana with his horse drawn sickle mower when the horses got spooked an ran over her in Madison County in 2021. Shafer was left paralyzed and sued Santana.
The district court ruled Santana has immunity under Iowa’s Domesticated Animal Activities Act, but the Court of Appeals ruled there could be a case that Santana was reckless. The Iowa Supreme Court ruling says the action was dangerous, but there’s no evidence that Santana was reckless. It says the legislature has made a policy choice to grant negligent owners of domesticated animals immunity for injuries that flow from their animal’s inherent unpredictability, and we are obliged to apply it.
Shafer says her medical expenses exceeded 700-thousand dollars and her lawsuit alleged damages of 18-point-two million dollars.
