Iowa judge resolved more than a dozen cases inappropriately, investigation finds

Danielle Gehr , Luke Nozicka | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Ghost-written court decisions trigger complaints, state action Judge Edward A. Jacobson has admitted that hundreds of his decisions were authored by the prevailing attorney in those cases. The admission has triggered at least two ethics investigations and an order to preserve Jacobson's emails.

A formal investigation into a retired Iowa judge who admitted that hundreds of his decisions were ghost-written by attorneys found that more than a dozen of his cases were resolved inappropriately.

On at least 13 occasions, former Plymouth County judge Edward Jacobson improperly used proposed orders from attorneys as the final order of the court without the knowledge of other parties in the case, according to a report released Friday.

Jacobson stressed he "never believed he was doing anything improper," saying his professional reputation has great importance to him.

He also said using ex parte, or one-sided, solicited rulings from attorneys, was common practice among other District 3 judges, though the investigation found this not to be the case.

In late March, State Court Administrator Todd Nucclo appointed Judge Robert Hutchison and former State Court Administrator David Boyd to conduct the independent review.

Jacobson testified he directed one of the counsels to write the final ruling in contested trials a couple hundred times.

But he said there were only a handful of cases in which he had solicited ex parte proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law from one attorney, and then adopted the proposed ruling as his own.

Asked if he always included both counsels in these communications, he said only if there was anything still to be heard.

"If I made a decision, and all I want is somebody to put it on paper, I don’t have any problem telling one counsel to do it without telling the other counsel I told them to do it," Jacobson said, according to court documents.

Editorial: Judge who asked attorneys to write his opinions tarnishes Iowa court system

Jacobson said he often directed lawyers to write up the ruling because of time constraints, trying to abide by the 60-day rule. He said he had tried about 2,000 divorce cases during his 16-year career.

The practice of ex parte solicitation of proposed findings and conclusions, Jacobson said, was common practice in South Dakota, where he practiced law before moving to Iowa, and in Iowa, both when he was a licensed attorney and judge.

Based on his personal knowledge and statements made to him by attorneys during his tenure, he believed all judges in District 3 utilized this practice.

But the investigation found no evidence of any other judge in District 3 who solicited proposed rulings from litigants in a one-sided manner. Those who did solicit proposed rulings either did so in an open court or by communication with both sides and only in complicated cases.

Jacobson said he only asked attorneys for solicitations after he had already decided on a case and that "no party gained any procedural or substantive advantage." If he did not like a particular item in the ruling, he would edit it himself and never ask the attorney to re-submit the ruling with changes.

The reviewers countered Jacobson's claim: "If the proposed ruling was ex parte, then not only was one party denied the opportunity to be heard, but the appellate courts have no reason to scrutinize the findings and conclusions of the trial court more carefully."

The independent reviewers took the depositions of Iowa attorney Elizabeth Rosenbaum and Jacobsen, reviewed nearly 10,000 emails and 140 employee questionnaires. Seven people, including Jacobsen's former court reporters, were interviewed.

The independent reviewers were not charged to determine if Jacobson violated any laws or court rules.

The judge’s actions have already triggered at least one ethics complaint and prompted the chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court to mandate additional training for all Iowa judges.

A formal investigation found 13 cases in which Judge Jacobsen acted improperly: