Attorneys for Jeff Goodwin have asked the Iowa Court of Appeals to reverse the dismissal of Goodwin’s lawsuit against the State of Iowa for therapist malpractice.
An 18-page brief submitted to the Iowa Court of Appeals last month claims Judge John Sandy’s dismissal of Goodwin’s lawsuit was “erroneously granted” on behalf of the state. Matt Boles and Adam Witosky of Des Moines claimed a Cherokee County jury can understand the claims Goodwin leveled against the state and the Cherokee Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders’ former clinical director, Shannon Sanders, without an expert that attests to a breach of a professional obligation.
Goodwin, a sexually violent predator who has been confined in the Cherokee Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders for decades, claimed Sanders initiated an emotional affair with him in 2019. The two would meet in clandestine meetings without video surveillance. They watched pornography together. They discussed their sexual histories. Goodwin would masturbate in front of her. And he touched her buttocks without objection, according to the lawsuit Judge Sandy dismissed. Sandy ruled Goodwin’s claims against the state and Sanders needed an expert’s signature because a judge or lay juror couldn’t discern whether Sanders crossed any lines with Goodwin.
Boles and Witosky argued that the jury doesn’t need an expert because Sanders obviously violated the civil commitment unit’s standard of care for the sex offenders that are committed there.
“Dr. Sanders engaged with sexual conduct with Jeffrey,” reads the brief filed by Goodwin’s lawyers with the Iowa Court of Appeals April 26. “That sexual conduct between a therapist and patient violates the standard of care is easily understood. (Goodwin)’s claims do not involve any complicated matters giving rise to the district court’s concern… No certificate of merit was needed.”
Goodwin’s lawyers haven’t explained why they never filed an expert’s signature in the first place.
But they argue that they don’t need one to substantiate Goodwin’s negligence claims against Sanders.
They claimed the meetings between Sanders and Goodwin were non-medical in nature. They violated CCUSOs policies “regardless of whether a clinical director, therapist or janitor committed it.” And they were arguably criminal in nature — Cherokee police investigated the alleged relationship, but declined to file sexual exploitation charges against Sanders.
Boles and Witosky claimed Judge Sandy’s basis for dismissal was “unrelated to the procedures at hand.” And they claimed there is a wealth of case law that supports negligence claims that don’t require a certificate of merit. Hence their brief argues that the judge should’ve focused on the “alleged sexual conduct Dr. Sanders engaged in.”
The state hasn’t responded to the brief, which requests oral argument in front of the court of appeals.
Judge Sandy dismissed Goodwin’s lawsuit in January because his lawyers didn’t file a certificate of merit.
A jury will be empaneled in late July to hear claims against a Cherokee man who was accused of striking and killing Phillip Watterson in December 2022.
Cherokee County District Court Judge Shayne Mayer scheduled a jury trial of unspecified length, beginning July 16, to hear claims that Casey Herwig was responsible for the traffic-related death of Phillip Watterson. Trial was supposed to begin next week. Both the Cherokee County Attorney’s Office and Herwig’s attorney, Justin Reininger of Ida Grove, agreed to delay proceedings because depositions aren’t complete.
Judge Mayer’s order marks the seventh time proceedings have been delayed.
Herwig, 30, was accused of leaving the scene of an accident in which he struck and killed Watterson in December 2022 with a Ram 1500 at the intersection of Fifth and Willow. Watterson was riding a bike with groceries he bought from the Cherokee Fareway store on West Bluff Street.
An attorney representing Joe Vannatta requested all evidence the State of Iowa intends to introduce at trial over her client’s alleged sexual exploitation of a student at Washington High School.
Jacklyn Fox requested 34 items of evidence the state collected through its prosecution of Joe Vannatta. In a filing in Cherokee County District Court last month, Fox asked for:
“All Cherokee Community School District materials used or referred to by school administrators related to building relationships with students from 2019-2023,” reads Fox’s filing, demanding discovery evidence in the state’s possession.
In response, Assistant Attorney General Ryan Baldridge wrote the state will “comply with the Iowa Rules of Criminal Procedure,” but it wouldn’t “act as defense counsel’s investigator in order to seek out information not otherwise within (the state’s) possession, custody or control.” Baldridge wrote the state was in possession of some of the items.
Judge Jeffrey Neary granted Fox’s motion, but allowed Baldridge to resist releasing specific items she requested.
“The state shall immediately preserve the evidence requested by (Vannatta) and provide (Vannatta) with what is requested no later than May 30,” Judge Neary’s order reads. “If the state resists any of the discovery requested by (Vannatta), the state shall file a resistance within seven days…”
A hearing will be held on Baldridge’s filing at a later date.
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