Harley Erbe To Speak At Construction Defect Seminar On July 26, 2012
May 25, 2012
Harley Erbe will be a speaker at a July 26, 2012 construction
defect, continuing education seminar in Johnston, Iowa for architects
and professional engineers. Harley's topics will include theories of
construction defect liability, potentially responsible parties, dispute
resolution mechanisms, remedies, defenses, and insurance coverage
issues.
Here's a copy of the seminar brochure.
Erbe Law Firm Files Suit Against City Of Des Moines On Behalf Of Falsely Accused Man
May 24, 2012
Erbe Law Firm has sued the City of Des Moines on behalf of Stuart
Wessels, who was falsely accused, charged, and investigated over the
November 6, 2011 beating of well-known Des Moines runner Forey
Jacobson. Despite available evidence that Mr. Wessels was not the
attacker, the Des Moines Police Department persisted in its
investigation of him for nearly three months until the Polk County
Attorney's Office admitted that the wrong person had been arrested and
dismissed all charges against Mr. Wessels. Erbe Law Firm's suit alleges
that the Des Moines Police Department violated Mr. Wessel's
constitutional rights to due process by pursuing charges and an
investigation against him in the face of considerable proof that Mr.
Wessels was innocent. Here are links to news stories about this case:
April
9, 2012
In an overtime case in which Erbe Law Firm earlier
successfully appealed and won a retrial, the Iowa District Court for
Polk County ordered the defendant employer to pay the full unpaid
overtime damages and overtime penalty damages requested on behalf of
Erbe Law Firm's client. The firm had worked on this client's overtime
case since October 2008, which included the original trial in October
2009 and a later appeal and reversal in the client's favor from the Iowa
Court of Appeals.
September 29, 2011 - ERBE LAW FIRM FILES BULLYING SUIT AGAINST PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT
Erbe Law Firm has filed a bullying and wrongful termination lawsuit against the Perry Community School District on behalf of an elementary school student, Taylor Patrick, and her mother, Janice Patrick.
For several years Taylor has been bullied and harassed, including threats and physical abuse, by another student. We claim that the Perry Community School District has violated its obligation to protect Taylor from the bullying.
Erbe Law Firm also filed suit on the Janice Taylor's behalf for wrongful termination. She worked for the school district. Janice asserts that she was fired after she learned of another incident between her daughter and the student and tried to take the student to school offices to complain about the conduct and seek discipline.
To learn more about this story, please visit:
http://www.whotv.com/news/who-story-perry-lawsuit-bullying-092811,0,4752180.story
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110929/NEWS/110929017/Girl-who-says-she-was-bullied-sues-Perry-schools-
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110929/NEWS/110929033/Perry-family-sues-school-district-over-alleged-bullying-incidents
http://qctimes.com/news/state-and-regional/iowa/girl-who-says-she-was-bullied-sues-iowa-district/article_2895ea3a-8994-5c93-b2d2-1b74eea61091.html
http://www.myabc5.com/category/190187/myabc5com-video?clipId=6304028&topVideoCatNo=165457&autoStart=true
This lawsuit is currently pending in the Iowa District Court for Dallas County.
September 7, 2011 - ERBE LAW FIRM PUSHES CASES INVOLVING DEPUTY SHERIFFS
Erbe
Law Firm has been involved in two cases that center on the conduct of deputy
sheriffs. In
one case from Muscatine County, Erbe Law Firm is actively representing
Muscatine County Deputy Sheriff Michael Wade after Deputy Wade was accused of
using excessive force and fired by the sheriff's office. In February 2011 Erbe Law Firm successfully
argued that Deputy Wade should keep his badge.
Deputy Wade's case is now on appeal in a further effort to completely
clear his name. For more information,
please visit this link to the Muscatine Journal's coverage of the proceedings:
http://muscatinejournal.com/news/local/article_016a9a42-3b18-11e0-81c5-001cc4c002e0.html
In
another matter, Erbe Law Firm has assumed representation of Luis Loza. On August 27, 2011 Mr. Loza was involved in a
road rage incident with an off-duty Polk County Deputy Sheriff, Shawn
Vanhoozer. Deputy Vanhoozer hit Mr. Loza
on the head with a gun during that encounter, causing a gash on Mr. Loza's head
that needed to be closed with staples.
Erbe Law Firm is assisting Mr. Loza with an internal sheriff's office
complaint against Deputy Vanhoozer. For
more information, please click on the following links to the Des Moines
Register and WHO-TV 13 Des Moines:
http://www.whotv.com/news/who-story-deputy-complaint-20110906,0,5829297.story
http://www.whotv.com/news/who-story-road-rage-deputy-083111,0,1268188.story
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110907/NEWS/309070058/Polk-County-sheriff-urged-to-probe-clash-involving-deputy
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110831/NEWS/308310054/Off-duty-deputy-was-aggressor-3-men-say
http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/08/29/deputy-three-in-truck-trade-road-rage-accusations/
January 20, 2011.The Iowa Court of Appeals ruled in favor of an Erbe Law Firm client in an overtime case. Erbe Law Firm was hired by an individual who believed that her employer should have paid her overtime. We filed suit on the employee's behalf. The employer refused to pay what we believed was a fair amount for the client's unpaid overtime, so we took the case to trial. The trial court ruled that our client was an "exempt" employee and thus not entitled to overtime. We disagreed with the trial judge's decision and appealed it. The Iowa Court of Appeals sided with Erbe Law Firm and our client, concluded that the client was not an exempt worker and should have been paid overtime, and sent the case back to the trial court for a determination of our client's damages, including unpaid overtime.
February 26, 2010. Following a bench trial, a Polk County judge ordered a local employer to pay damages, including attorney fees and litigation expenses, to an Erbe Law Firm client in a wage violation case. The employee argued that she had accrued vacation that, per her employer's policy, should have been paid out to her after she quit her employment. She made several demands of her employer requesting that it pay her in accordance with its policy. She hired Erbe Law Firm to represent her after the employer ignored her requests. The Polk County court rejected the employer's argument that the former employee had used all of her vacation time before she quit and was thus entitled to nothing.
February 1, 2008. The Iowa Supreme Court reversed the Iowa Court of Appeals and the Iowa District Court for Polk County in Speight v. Walters Development Company. The Speights were the third owners of a home that they allege was defectively constructed. Their case was rejected by two lower courts before the Iowa Supreme Court agreed with Harley and, for the first time, held that later owners of a home have rights against builders in construction defect cases.
September 28, 2007. A Wapello County judge entered a $40,000 judgment in favor of Harley's clients after a trial to the court in a breach of contract case. The court rejected the defendant's argument that Harley's clients lost their right to be paid for their work as drywallers because they did not submit the proper paperwork and had otherwise breached their obligations to the defendants.
September 18, 2007. A Jefferson County judge granted Harley's pretrial motion for summary judgment on behalf of a client in an employment case concerning Iowa's employee drug and alcohol testing statute. Harley sued for wrongful termination after the employee was fired for allegedly failing an alcohol test. The court agreed with Harley that the the results of the employee's alcohol tests did not allow the employer to legally fire the client. The case will now go to trial on the issue of money damages only.
May 22, 2007. A Polk County jury returned a $65,000 verdict for Harley's clients in a construction defect case against their homebuilder. The jury awarded the builder $0 on its counterclaim for breach of contract