A driver who admitted rear-ending a truck near Des Moines owed the injured motorist nothing – because she chose surgery over recommended therapy.
That was the outcome of an August 19, 2026 ruling from the Court of Appeals of Iowa, which upheld a jury verdict that gave the injured driver no recovery despite the other driver admitting fault for the November 2019 crash. The deciding factor was a defense claims professionals know well – failure to mitigate.
The injured driver had struggled with her right hip for years. She was born with two underlying conditions and had three surgeries dating back to 2010, then went six years without hip treatment before the collision. She called the impact “severe.” The other driver called it “[m]inor. Airbags didn’t go off.”…