Deborah E. McFadden, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of Charles Walter McFadden, Jr. v. Department of Transportation, State of Iowa

HECHT, Justice.

After her husband Charles died in a motorcycle accident, Deborah McFadden presented a wrongful-death claim to the state appeal board. She alleged the Iowa Department of Transportation’s negligent maintenance of the highway caused Charles’s death. The appeal board took no action on the claim, so after waiting more than six months, she withdrew it and filed suit in the district court. The district court concluded McFadden had failed to exhaust administrative remedies because she had not properly presented the ■ estate’s claim to the appeal board and dismissed the suit. On further…