Michele M. Pitts v. Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company and Donald Schiffer

I respectfully dissent. For the reasons stated herein, I would affirm the well-reasoned decision of the court of appeals.

I. The Majority Incorrectly Eliminates the Previous Legal Requirement that the Plaintiffs Status as Intended Beneficiary of the Asset Had to Appear in the Decedent’s Written Documentation.

The majority’s opinion is an unwarranted expansion, not an application, of existing Iowa law. In Schreiner v. Scoville, we held that an attorney who drafted a will leaving an interest in property to a beneficiary could be liable in negligence for failing to take additional steps to protect…