Charles Buel and Karen Buel
v.
Shane Schuler and Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Company
Appellant
Charles Buel and Karen Buel
Appellee
Shane Schuler and Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Company
Attorney for the Appellant
Channing L. Dutton
Attorneys for the Appellee
Stefanie J. Thomas-Nichols, for Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Company
Jon A. Vasey and Spencer Vasey Dirth, for appellee Shane Schuler
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Michael D. Huppert (dismissal) and Scott D. Rosenberg (summary judgment), Judges. AFFIRMED. Considered without oral argument by Ahlers, P.J., and Badding and Langholz, JJ. Opinion by Langholz, J. (11 pages)
Charles and Karen Buel appeal the district court’s dismissal of their negligence claims against Shane Schuler for untimely service and its grant of summary judgment on their underinsured-motorist claim against their insurer, Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Company, based on their inability to recover against Schuler. OPINION HOLDS: We agree that the Buels have not shown good cause for failing to serve Schuler by the ninety-day deadline. When resisting dismissal, the Buels offered only vague descriptions of efforts to serve Schuler, provided no concrete details about what investigative steps were taken or when, and could not explain significant gaps between attempts at service. The Buels failed to preserve error on their argument that the district court erred in granting summary judgment on their claim against Nationwide. None of their arguments on appeal were made to or considered by the district court. So we cannot consider them for the first time on appeal. We thus affirm the dismissal of the Buels’ suit.
