A federal inmate was assaulted and injured by a fellow inmate while in the Polk County jail. Muscatine County officials had just transported both inmates together from the Muscatine County jail. The inmate alleges that his injuries occurred because Muscatine County officials disregarded a “Keep Separate” designation for the two inmates, because Polk County officials ignored similar warnings, and because Polk County officials were slow in responding to the altercation. The injured inmate brought claims in state court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Iowa common law, and article I, section 17 of the Iowa Constitution. The defendants removed the case to federal court.
Following removal, on October 13, 2022, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa certified the following questions of state law to us:
i. Does a direct cause of action exist under Article I, § 17 of the Iowa Constitution for an alleged failure to protect an inmate from assault by another inmate?
ii. Can municipal officers be sued in their individual capacities for a claimed violation of Article I, § 17 of the Iowa Constitution?
iii. Is qualified immunity or “all due care” immunity applicable to alleged violations of Article I, § 17 of the Iowa Constitution for individual officers?
iv. Is qualified immunity or “all due care” immunity applicable to alleged violations of Article I, § 17 of the Iowa Constitution for municipalities?
Iowa Code section 684A.1 (2022) governs our power to answer certified questions. It provides,
The supreme court may answer questions of law certified to it by the supreme court of the United States, a court of appeals of the United States, a United States district court or the highest appellate court or the intermediate appellate court of another state, when requested by the certifying court, if there are involved in a proceeding before it questions of law of this state which may be determinative of the cause then pending in the certifying court and as to which it appears to the certifying court there is no controlling precedent in the decisions of the appellate courts of this state.
Id.
These criteria were met when the district court certified the foregoing questions to us. However, on May 5, 2023, our court decided Burnett v. Smith, 990 N.W.2d 289 (Iowa 2023). Overruling Godfrey v. State, 898 N.W.2d 844 (Iowa 2017), overruled by Burnett, 990 N.W.2d 289, we held that “we no longer recognize a standalone cause of action for money damages under the Iowa Constitution unless authorized by the common law, an Iowa statute, or the express terms of a provision of the Iowa Constitution.” Burnett, 990 N.W.2d 289. Article I, section 17 of the Iowa Constitution does not expressly provide a cause of action. Therefore, we conclude that the answer to the first certified question is “no.”
In light of our answer to the first certified question, the remaining certified questions are no longer applicable.
CERTIFIED QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
This opinion shall not be published.
PER CURIAM.