State Of Iowa Legal Settlements Hit Five-year High

DES MOINES — Settlements involving medical malfeasance, discrimination and other missteps or mistakes by state employees or agencies drove fiscal 2020 victim payouts approved by the State Appeal Board to the highest level in five years.While settlements and judgments paid by the state approached $15 million, board officials note that more than a third of the total — $5.3 million — was due to a reconciliation with the University of Iowa Physicians group to pay back money it was owed by the state in splitting medical malpractice costs under a cooperative agreement.Otherwise, Joseph Barry, the state’s risk manager within the Iowa Department of Management who tracks settlements and judgments for the State Appeal Board, said a significant share of the payouts in the 12-month period ending in June were cases for past years that all got resolved in fiscal 2020.“We had a few big ones hit right in a row — boom, boom, boom,” said Barry.