Horak v. Argosy Gaming Co.

NEUMAN, Justice.

This is an appeal of the jury’s verdict for the plaintiffs in an action brought under our state’s dram shop act, Iowa Code section 123.92 (1999). Because the dram shop at issue is a riverboat casino, the principal question on appeal is whether the district court erred when it refused to apply federal admiralty law instead of Iowa statutory law. We conclude that because there is no federal maritime dram shop law, federal preemption principles do not apply and the district court properly instructed the jury to consider the casino’s civil liability in accordance with section…