Speller v. State

HUITINK, Judge.

Herbert Speller appeals a district court order granting the State’s motion for summary judgment. We affirm.

Speller, an inmate at the Iowa State Penitentiary, filed a tort claim against the State seeking damages for injuries sustained while he was sleeping in his cell. Speller claimed he was attacked by an unknown person who threw scalding water on him on the morning of December 3, 1988. Speller claimed the State was negligent in failing to protect him from the assault.

The State filed a motion for summary judgment arguing there had been no showing *679that the State had actual or…