When you are injured in a car accident, a legal “clock” starts ticking even if you do not realize it. That clock is Iowa’s statute of limitations. By law, there is a deadline to properly file and serve a personal injury lawsuit on the people who caused your accident. In most cases, Iowa’s statute of limitations is two years from the date of your accident.
Two years may sound like a lot of time. But there are a number of tasks that must be completed before a personal injury lawsuit is ready for filing. For example, there is often an extended process of negotiating a potential settlement with the negligent driver’s insurance company. That is why it is important to work with an experienced Des Moines car accident lawyer who can walk you through each stage of the process and help ensure you do not miss any important deadlines like Iowa’s statute of limitations.
The Importance of Service in an Iowa Car Accident Lawsuit
One task that can eat into the two-year deadline is actually identifying and locating the defendant–i.e., the person you are suing. Now, in most cases this really is not a problem. Indeed, following any Des Moines car accident, both drivers normally stop and exchange contact and insurance information. So you will know the other driver’s address.
Of course, the other driver may have moved to a different address by the time you are ready to proceed with your personal injury lawsuit. Or they may have seemingly disappeared without a trace. How do you proceed with your lawsuit in that scenario?
Keep in mind, filing your lawsuit with the court is just one step in the process. You must also “serve” the defendant. Service is the formal process of notifying the defendant of your lawsuit. There are a few ways to accomplish service in Iowa. One is to have the local sheriff or a process server personally serve the defendant. In some cases, it is also possible to serve the defendant through a restricted certified mailing.
Service is a mandatory part of the process of filing a personal injury lawsuit. This means that normally, you need to both file your lawsuit and serve all of the named defendants within Iowa’s two-year deadline. If you fail to complete service, the court will dismiss your case outright. The judge may, however, extend the time to serve if you have made an honest effort to serve the defendant but cannot find them.
Iowa Supreme Court Allows Accident Victim to Proceed with Lawsuit Against Homeless Defendant
The Iowa Supreme Court recently addressed such a situation. This case, Lucas v. Warhol, arose from a rear-end car accident that occurred on January 12, 2021. The plaintiff’s lawsuit alleges that she was driving her vehicle on I-80 in Des Moines when the defendant rear-ended her. The defendant apparently left the scene of the accident without stopping.
Given the date of the accident, the plaintiff had until January 12, 2023, to file and serve her personal injury lawsuit. The plaintiff filed her lawsuit the day before the deadline expired. She named both the driver who rear-ended her as well as her own insurance company as defendants. (The plaintiff had underinsured motorist coverage under her own auto insurance policy, which is why she had to name her insurer as a co-defendant.)
Unfortunately, the plaintiff was unable to locate the defendant before filing her lawsuit. She therefore asked the court for an extension until March 2023. In making her request, the plaintiff detailed numerous efforts to locate and serve the defendant. For example, she paid a sheriff in Minnesota to attempt service at a Minnesota address listed for the defendant on the police report for her accident. That proved unsuccessful. The plaintiff even hired a local private investigator in Des Moines to find the defendant, who was reported as being homeless at one point.
While the court gave the plaintiff until June 12, 2023, to serve the defendant, this new deadline came and went without any evidence the defendant ever received notice of the lawsuit. About a week later, however, an attorney retained by the defendant’s auto insurance company entered an appearance and filed a motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s lawsuit due to lack of timely service.
To make a long story short, after nearly a year passed, the trial judge denied the motion to dismiss and allowed the plaintiff to “vicariously” serve the defendant through the attorney hired by the insurance company. The insurance company attorney then filed an appeal. While that appeal was pending before the Iowa Supreme Court, however, the defendant finally appeared and acknowledged receiving notice of the lawsuit.
Here is how the Supreme Court ultimately sorted this all out. First, it held that the “plaintiff’s efforts to achieve service—plus the difficulty of serving a defendant with no known address—combine to provide good cause to extend the time for service.” So the district court did not have to dismiss the case. Second, the trial court should not have allowed “vicarious” service through the insurance company attorney, as there was “no evidence that the attorney has had actual contact with the defendant.” Finally, since the plaintiff managed to serve the defendant while the appeal was pending, the Supreme Court said that was effectively “timely service,” provided the plaintiff files the necessary paperwork with the trial court.
Contact a Des Moines Car Accident Lawyer Today
Although serving a personal injury lawsuit following a car accident is generally not as complex as the case above illustrates, it is nevertheless a critical part of the process of seeking financial compensation. And the last thing you want is for a court to dismiss your claim because you failed to meet an important deadline. That is why you should work with a qualified Des Moines car accident lawyer who can handle your case from start to finish.
Contact Ball, Kirk & Holm, P.C., today at 319-419-4279 to schedule a free consultation. We have offices in Waterloo and Iowa City. We are available 24/7 and can travel to meet our clients when circumstances require.