Free Iowa Casualty practice questions

Answer: C. Picking up a pedestrian who flags the driver down from the curb after a ride ends

Iowa bars a transportation network company driver from soliciting or accepting riders who hail the driver from the street, so picking up a pedestrian who flags the car down is prohibited. Accepting a rider's request through the company's digital network after receiving the company's written disclosures is how the statute contemplates a driver accepting rides. Using a vehicle that meets applicable equipment requirements is something the company must require of its drivers, and notifying a lienholder before using a financed vehicle is a duty the company's disclosure form tells the driver about.

Answer: B. Order either or both insurers to pay all or part of the benefits due to the worker

Under Sec. 85.21(1), when the alleged carriers or employers agree, or the commissioner finds after an evidentiary hearing, that one or more of them is liable but they cannot agree which, the commissioner may order any number or combination of them to pay all or part of the benefits. Under Sec. 85.21(3), the commissioner may determine liability, and once it is finally determined the liable parties are ordered to reimburse those that paid but were not liable. Suspending benefits to await a court ruling is not what the section provides: it lets the commissioner order payment and decide liability. The section does not direct the second injury fund to pay, and it does not make the worker elect one insurer or release the other.

Answer: A. Conclusively presumed wholly dependent, even without actual support

Under Iowa Code Sec. 85.42(2), a child under eighteen is conclusively presumed to be wholly dependent on the deceased employee, whether or not the child was actually dependent on the parent for support at the time of death. Because the presumption is conclusive, the absence of support does not defeat it: the child does not have to prove support, is not reduced to partial dependency, and is not excluded.

Answer: D. Promptly from state treasury money not otherwise appropriated

Iowa Code Sec. 85.59(4) directs that payments under the inmate benefits section be made promptly from appropriations made for that purpose, and that any amount the appropriation cannot cover promptly be paid promptly from money in the state treasury that has not otherwise been appropriated. The section names the state treasury as the backstop, not the second injury fund or a commercial insurer, and it requires prompt payment rather than a wait for a new appropriation.

Answer: A. Six years after the date the ride was provided

Iowa requires a transportation network company seeking its permit to show record retention guidelines under which a record of a prearranged ride is kept for at least six years after the ride was provided. The two-year figure applies only when the company has been told the record is material to a judicial proceeding, and it runs from final disposition of that proceeding, not from the ride. Three years and seven years are not the retention periods the statute sets for ride records.

Answer: A. The insurer may apply the exclusion to both the uninsured motorist and collision claims

Notwithstanding any other law, an Iowa auto insurer may exclude coverage under a personal policy for a loss that happens while the insured is on a ride-sharing company's digital network or giving a prearranged ride, and that right may reach any coverage in the policy. The statute expressly names uninsured motorist and collision coverage among those that may be excluded, along with liability, personal injury protection, underinsured motorist, medical payments and comprehensive. The exclusion is therefore not limited to liability and does not have to spare uninsured motorist benefits. It is not void either: Chapter 321N states that it does not require an insurer to cover an individual while logged on or engaged in a prearranged ride.

Answer: C. The length of time compensation is payable can be definitely determined

Iowa Code Sec. 85.45(1) allows future compensation to be commuted to a present-worth lump sum only on a party's application to the commissioner and with the written consent of all parties, and one of the listed conditions is that the period during which compensation is payable can be definitely determined. Consent from the employee alone is not enough, because every party must consent in writing. The commissioner cannot act without an application from a party. The section contains no exception to the written-consent requirement for an employee who has a lawyer.

Answer: A. Within thirty days after the responsible authority receives notice or knowledge of the injury

Sec. 85.59(5) requires an acknowledgment of compensability to be filed with the commissioner within thirty days of when the responsible authority receives notice or knowledge of a qualifying inmate injury, even though weekly benefit payments have not begun. Release is when payment of benefits for an institutional work injury begins under Sec. 85.59(3)(b), not the trigger for this filing, so waiting for weekly payments or counting thirty days from release is wrong. The one-year period after release in Sec. 85.59(6) is for commencing an action to determine the extent of disability when a dispute arises, not for the acknowledgment.

Answer: B. Within the seven-day period before she first uses the car for ride-sharing

Before letting someone drive on its digital network, an Iowa transportation network company must obtain a signed disclosure form telling the driver that, if a lien exists on the vehicle, the driver must notify the lienholder within the seven-day period before using the vehicle to provide rides. The notice comes before the vehicle's first use for this purpose, so notice after the first ride or thirty days after activation is too late, and the duty is not tied to any loan renewal or lender review. Failing to give the notice results in a civil penalty against the driver.

Answer: D. Before the driver may accept a rider's request on the company's digital network

Iowa requires a transportation network company to give each driver written disclosures before the driver may accept a ride request on the company's digital network. One required disclosure is that the driver's own auto policy, depending on its terms, may not provide coverage while the driver is logged on and available for requests or is engaged in a prearranged ride. Because the statute ties the disclosure to the point before the driver can accept a request, waiting until after a first ride, until a claim is denied, or until a permit renewal does not satisfy it.