Iowa Supreme Court ruling favors county in derelict vehicle case

Feb. 7—DES MOINES — The Iowa Supreme Court ruled last week that Wapello County was reasonable to remove vehicles from a rural property in 2019.

The ruling reverses a decision by the Iowa Appeals Court last year and effectively reinstates a district court decision to dismiss the case.

Landowners Rita McNeal and Cliff McNeal sued Wapello County over the removal of 16 vehicles and other items, including a pole barn kit, trailers, fuel tanks, motors, a steel shed, a dog pen and other items.

The landowners were operating a vehicle repair and salvage business at the time and used their residential property for storage. Wapello County had notified then of its plans to clean up an alleged nuisance in 2019. The parties entered into a settlement agreement that gave the McNeals 90 days to remove derelict vehicles from the property to the satisfaction of the county.

The word "derelict" was never defined in the agreement. After 90 days was up, the same 16 vehicles had remained on the property. So, the county arranged to have them towed away and gave the landowners the ability to reclaim them so long as they were not taken back to the same property.

Court records say none of the vehicles had displayed a current license and many were not operable. The landowners sued, challenging the vehicles were not derelict.

The Iowa Supreme Court, in a majority opinion authored by Justice Edward Mansfield, said they did not need to define derelict. While finding the county didn't have "unfettered discretion to classify vehicles as derelict," justices reviewed the case as though to determine whether a reasonable person in the county's position would be satisfied with the cleanup.

"The agreement, unquestionably, contains substantive requirements, and a couple of those steps involve some degree of county discretion," Mansfield wrote.

Ultimately, the Iowa Supreme Court found the county had authority until the settlement agreement to act reasonably, and that the McNeals had the opportunity to litigate any disagreements.

Iowa Supreme Court Justice Matthew McDermott wrote in a separate concurring opinion that the settlement agreement clearly showed the county believed there to be at least one derelict vehicle on the McNeal's property.

"And since the McNeals had reason to know that the county considered at least one vehicle on their property derelict, their argument that none were derelict requires us to read the settlement agreement against common sense," McDermott wrote.

Kyle Ocker is the editor of the Ottumwa Courier and the Oskaloosa Herald. He can be reached at kocker@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kyle_Ocker.