1. All accident reports filed by a driver of a vehicle involved in an accident as required under section 321.266 shall be in writing. The report shall be without prejudice to the individual so reporting and shall be for the confidential use of the department, except that upon the request of any person involved in the accident, the person’s insurance company or its agent, or the attorney for such person, the department shall disclose the identity and address of other persons involved in the accident and may disclose the name of the insurance companies with whom the other persons have liability insurance. The department, upon written request of the person making the report, shall provide the person with a copy of that person’s report. The written report filed with the department shall not be admissible in or used in evidence in any civil or criminal case arising out of the facts on which the report is based.
2. All written reports filed by a law enforcement officer as required under section 321.266 shall be made available to any party to an accident, the party’s insurance company or its agent, the party’s attorney, the federal motor carrier safety administration, or the attorney general, on written request to the department and the payment of a fee of four dollars for each copy. If a copy of an investigating officer’s report of a motor vehicle accident filed with the department is retained by the law enforcement agency of the officer who filed the report, a copy shall be made available to any party to the accident, the party’s insurance company or its agent, the party’s attorney, the federal motor carrier safety administration, other law enforcement agencies, or the attorney general, on written request and the payment of a fee. However, the attorney general and the federal motor carrier safety administration shall not be required by the department or the law enforcement agency to pay a fee for a copy of a report filed by a law enforcement or investigating officer.
3. Notwithstanding subsections 1 and 2, the date, time, specific location, and immediate facts and circumstances surrounding a crime or incident shall not be kept confidential under this section, except in those unusual circumstances where disclosure would plainly and seriously jeopardize an investigation or pose a clear and present danger to the safety of an individual. [C39, §5020.11; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §321.271; 81 Acts, ch 14, §25] 83 Acts, ch 72, §1; 90 Acts, ch 1054, §1, 2; 98 Acts, ch 1073, §7; 2001 Acts, ch 32, §18; 2003 Acts, ch 8, §16; 2023 Acts, ch 28, §1 Referred to in §321.228, 321.273, 321.517 \n
Notes of Decisions
Soreide v. Vilas & Co., 78 N.W.2d 41 (Iowa 1956).
· cites it 16× “It is well to avoid repetition in an instruction because the jury may attach undue importance thereto. VII. There is no merit to defendants' contention the testimony of Patrolman Soppeland as to his observations and measurements at the scene is rendered inadmissible by Code…”
State v. Flack, 101 N.W.2d 535 (Iowa 1960).
· cites it 19× “The question presented by the State’s appeal from this judgment of acquittal of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated (OMYI) is whether it was error to exclude as confidential under section 321.271, Code, 1958, testimony of a police officer as to defendant’s admissions…”
Pinckney v. Watkinson, 116 N.W.2d 258 (Iowa 1962).
· cites it 16× “354 and Section 321.271 of the Code 1958, I.C.A. We find the record would support a factual determination that plaintiff entered old Highway 30 some quarter of a mile or more east of the scene of this accident, that he proceeded west at about 50 or 55 miles per hour over a knoll…”
Shannon by Shannon v. Hansen, 469 N.W.2d 412 (Iowa 1991).
· cites it 12× “Iowa Code § 321.271 . Copies of the accident reports filed as required by section 321.”
Martin v. Cafer, 138 N.W.2d 71 (Iowa 1965).
· cites it 16× “Defendant's objections thereto on the grounds the report contained immaterial matter and section 321.271, Code, 1962, were sustained.”
Ferris v. Riley, 101 N.W.2d 176 (Iowa 1960).
· cites it 10× “266 of the Code, which requires reports of accidents, and section 321.271, which directs that all reports shall be in writing, shall be confidential, and shall not be admissible or used in evidence in the trial of any civil case arising out of the facts on which the report is…”
Baysinger v. Haney, 155 N.W.2d 496 (Iowa 1968).
· cites it 12× “We may say, however, that all written accident reports of an officer are without prejudice to the individual so reporting and are for the confidential use of the motor vehicle department.”
State v. Rullestad, 143 N.W.2d 278 (Iowa 1966).
· cites it 20× “He appeals, urging for reversal the instructions bearing on proximate cause were misleading and confusing and that a statement made by him to an investigating highway patrolman was inadmissible under section 321.271, Code, 1962, which provides in part, "the written report shall…”
Mitchell v. City of Cedar Rapids, 926 N.W.2d 222 (Iowa 2019).
· cites it 2× “, Iowa Code § 321.271 (discussing confidentiality of motor vehicle accident reports and access to those reports by the drivers and their attorneys); see also Shannon by Shannon v.”
Mathews v. Beyer, 116 N.W.2d 477 (Iowa 1962).
· cites it 4× “As illustrative of reading the purpose into a statute, we have repeatedly held that under section 321.271, Code of 1962 (and prior Codes), I.”
Sprague v. Brodus, 60 N.W.2d 850 (Iowa 1953).
· cites it 6× “This appeal by plaintiff is limited to questions relating to claims of error in the admission of testimony by a police officer with regard to statements made to him by Dunsay which it is alleged were confidential under section 321.271, Code, 1950. There is no appeal from the…”
Hamilton v. Becker, 86 N.W.2d 142 (Iowa 1957).
· cites it 10× “(2) The testimony relative to the taking of the blood test violated section 321.271, Code, 1954. (3) Said testimony is an invasion of the right of privacy and contrary to section 8, Article I, Constitution of Iowa, and to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.