Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 6B.4 (2026)

Commission to assess damages

✓ current as of July 2026

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1. Annually the board of supervisors of a county shall appoint not less than twenty-eight residents of the county and the names of such persons shall be placed on a list and they shall be eligible to serve as members of a compensation commission. One-fourth of the persons appointed shall be owner-operators of agricultural property, one-fourth of the persons appointed shall be owners of city property, one-fourth shall be licensed real estate salespersons or real estate brokers, and one-fourth shall be persons having knowledge of property values in the county by reason of their occupation, such as bankers, auctioneers, property managers, property appraisers, and persons responsible for making loans on property.

2. a. The chief judge of the judicial district or the chief judge’s designee shall select by lot six persons from the list, who shall constitute a compensation commission to assess the damages to all property to be taken by the applicant and located in the county, as follows:

(1) Two persons who are owner-operators of agricultural property when the property to be condemned is agricultural property.

(2) Two persons who are owners of city property when the property to be condemned is other than agricultural property.

(3) Two persons from each of the remaining two representative groups.

b. The chief judge or the judge’s designee shall name a chairperson from the persons selected and may appoint such alternate members and chairpersons to the commission as are deemed necessary and appropriate under the circumstances. A person shall not be selected as a member or alternate member of the compensation commission if the person possesses any interest in the proceeding which would cause the person to render a biased decision. The applicant shall mail a copy of the list of commissioners and alternates appointed by the chief judge by certified mail to the property owner at the owner’s last known address. The applicant shall also cause the list of commissioners and alternates to be published once in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, not less than four nor more than\n\nTue Dec 09 22:34:40 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 6B (41, 0) 7 PROCEDURE UNDER EMINENT DOMAIN, §6B.5\n\ntwenty days before the meeting of the compensation commission to assess the damages. Service of the list of commissioners and alternates by publication shall be deemed complete on the day of publication. In lieu of mailing and publishing the list of commissioners and alternates, the applicant may cause the list to be served upon the owner of the property in the manner provided by the Iowa rules of civil procedure for the personal service of original notice. The list of commissioners and alternates shall be mailed and published or served, as above provided, prior to or contemporaneously with service of the notice of assessment as provided in section 6B.8.

3. Written instructions for members of compensation commissions shall be prepared under the direction of the chief justice of the supreme court and distributed to the sheriff in each county. The sheriff shall transmit copies of the instructions to each member of a compensation commission, and such instructions shall be read aloud to each commission before it commences its duties. [R60, §1317, 1318; C73, §1244, 1245; C97, §1999, 2029; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §7825; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §472.4] C93, §6B.4 99 Acts, ch 171, §5, 6, 42; 2000 Acts, ch 1032, §1; 2000 Acts, ch 1179, §10, 11, 30; 2006 Acts, 1st Ex, ch 1001, §47, 49; 2014 Acts, ch 1092, §2 Referred to in §6B.3, 306.28, 331.321, 479.46, 479B.30\n\n 6B.4A Review of applications by compensation commission. Repealed by 2006 Acts, 1st Ex, ch 1001, §48, 49. \n

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 16 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1996–2024 · leading case: Owens v. Brownlie, 610 N.W.2d 860 (Iowa 2000).

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Owens v. Brownlie, 610 N.W.2d 860 (Iowa 2000). · cites it 4× “See Iowa Code § 6B.4. The condemnee is then given notice of the time the commission will view the land to assess the damages.”

Glawe v. Ohlendorf, 547 N.W.2d 839 (Iowa Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 12× “Under Iowa Code section 6B.4 (1993), the board of supervisors of a county are to appoint *841 not less than twenty-eight residents of the county, whose names are to be placed on a list, and they are then eligible to serve as members of a compensation commission.”

Johnson Propane, Heating & Cooling, Inc. v. the Iowa Dep't of Transp., 891 N.W.2d 220 (Iowa 2017). “§ 6B.4(2). The applicant then is required to give a thirty-day notice of assessment of the time the commission will meet to assess the damages.”

Green v. Wilderness Ridge, L.L.C., 777 N.W.2d 699 (Iowa 2010). · cites it 2× “Under Iowa Code section 6B.4, after an action for private condemnation has been granted, a compensation commission is established “to assess the damages to all property to be taken.”

Rex Realty Co. v. City of Cedar Rapids, State of Iowa, Intervenor, 322 F.3d 526 (8th Cir. 2003). “Prior to the amendment, see supra note 2, Iowa Code §§ 6B.4 and 6B.14 (1999) limited the Commission’s review to the assessment of damages.”

Castle Gate Homeowners' Ass'n v. K & L Props., LLC (Iowa Ct. App. 2023). · cites it 9× “” Iowa Code § 6B.4(2)(b). K & L concedes that it did not serve the Association with the list of commissioners and alternates when it served the Association with the notice of assessment.”

Middle River Farms, LLC v. Ladonna Antrim & Teresa Antrim (Iowa Ct. App. 2016). · cites it 2× “Considering land acquisition costs does not usurp the function of the compensation commission established in section 6B.4 “to assess the damages to all property to be taken” once an action for private condemnation has been granted.”

Jon D. Luckstead v. Iowa Dep't of Transp. (Iowa Ct. App. 2019). · cites it 2× “See Iowa Code § 6B.4(2). The compensation commission valued the damages from the takings based on a 2013 appraisal by Fred Lock of Iowa Appraisal and Research.”

Merle D. Brendeland, Janis Brendeland, Megan Russell, & Joseph Russell v. Iowa Dep't of Transp. (Iowa 2024). · cites it 2× “See Iowa Code § 6B.4. Following an evidentiary hearing, the district court denied relief.”

Edward A. Green, Melvin J. Green & Barbara Green Vs. Wilderness Ridge, L.l.c., Loras J. Faber, Sandra Faber, John H. Kivlahan, Doris E. Kivlahan & Dubuque Cnty., Iowa (Iowa 2010). · cites it 2× “Under Iowa Code section 6B.4, after an action for private condemnation has been granted, a compensation commission is established “to assess the damages to all property to be taken.”

Amended May 12, 2017 Johnson Propane, Heating & Cooling, Inc. v. The Iowa Dep't of Transp. (Iowa 2017). “§ 6B.4(2). The applicant then is required to give a thirty-day notice of assessment of the time the commission will meet to assess the damages.”

Show all 16 citing cases →

— Iowa Code § 6B.4(2) — 4 cases

Owens v. Brownlie, 610 N.W.2d 860 (Iowa 2000). “See Iowa Code § 6B.4. The condemnee is then given notice of the time the commission will view the land to assess the damages.”

Jon D. Luckstead v. Iowa Dep't of Transp. (Iowa Ct. App. 2019). “See Iowa Code § 6B.4(2). The compensation commission valued the damages from the takings based on a 2013 appraisal by Fred Lock of Iowa Appraisal and Research.”

— Iowa Code § 6B.4(2)(b) — 1 case

Castle Gate Homeowners' Ass'n v. K & L Props., LLC (Iowa Ct. App. 2023). “” Iowa Code § 6B.4(2)(b). K & L concedes that it did not serve the Association with the list of commissioners and alternates when it served the Association with the notice of assessment.”

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