The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a group of former Mount Union residents in their cross-appeal to avoid paying over $100,000 to a former mayor and city clerk.
The recent Supreme Court judgment backs the ruling made in Henry County District Court that the residents did not have to pay the judgment to Dan and Linda Johnson, the former mayor and city clerk respectively. The Johnsons had won a defamation suit against the city which was filed in 2016, but the judgment and damages in the case were awarded after Mount Union became unincorporated in March of 2017 following a vote by city residents.
A group of more than 20 residents led by John C. Marek, the mayor when the city disbanded, appealed the damage judgment claiming Mount Union taxpayers didn’t have to pay the Johnsons because the city was no more. The Henry County District Court agreed and Johnsons’ counter appeal was denied by the state Supreme Court.