Terry K. Jones and Christine Jones v. The Glenwood Golf Corporation, 956 N.W.2d 138

Terry Jones (passenger) was severely injured when a golf cart driven by his son Jeff (with permission) struck a bridge at Glenwood Golf Course; the cart is owned by Glenwood Golf Corporation.
Terry and his wife settled with Jeff and his insurer (Liberty Mutual) for payments including an $817,500 cash component and a structured annuity; the written release discharged claims against Jeff but expressly preserved claims against Glenwood.
Plaintiffs sued Glenwood for (1) vicarious owner liability under Iowa Code §321.493 and (2) premises liability for the bridge condition.
The district court denied Glenwood’s summary-judgment motion that the release barred §321.493 liability; at trial the jury found Glenwood not negligent on premises, found Jeff 100% at fault, and awarded $500,000 (including $20,000 past medical).
After applying the prior settlement credit, the court entered judgment for $0; plaintiffs moved for a new trial on damages (evidence showed past medical bills ≈ $295,463), and the court granted a new trial on damages only. Glenwood appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Glenwood preserved the §321.493/release issue for appellate review despite not moving for a directed verdict at trial	Jones argued the district court already ruled on the legal issue at summary judgment and preserved it	Glenwood conceded it did not renew by directed verdict but asked the Court to decide the legal issue now to avoid a needless retrial	Court exercised discretion to decide the legal issue on appeal despite the lack of a directed-verdict motion because deciding it would avoid pointless remand
Whether a plaintiff’s settlement/release of the driver (Jeff) extinguishes the vehicle owner’s vicarious liability under Iowa Code §321.493, even when the release expressly reserves claims against the owner	Jones argued the express reservation in the release preserved their §321.493 claim against Glenwood	Glenwood argued the release of the primary tortfeasor (Jeff) extinguished the owner’s vicarious liability under §321.493 when read with Iowa’s Comparative Fault Act (chapter 668) and precedent	Court held the release extinguished Glenwood’s vicarious liability for the damages caused by Jeff; reversed the new-trial order and remanded for dismissal

Beganovic v. Muxfeldt, 775 N.W.2d 313 (Iowa 2009) (describing purpose and vicarious nature of owners’ responsibility statute)
Smith v. CRST Int’l, Inc., 553 N.W.2d 890 (Iowa 1996) (distinguishing owner liability for alleged negligence from driver’s defenses; liability is imposed by statute)
Estate of Dean v. Air Exec, Inc., 534 N.W.2d 103 (Iowa 1995) (similar treatment under aircraft-owner liability statute)
Universal Underwriters Ins. v. Am. Fam. Ins. Grp., 587 N.W.2d 224 (Iowa 1998) (owner entitled to indemnity from operator when owner’s liability is vicarious)
Biddle v. Sartori Mem’l Hosp., 518 N.W.2d 795 (Iowa 1994) (release of agent/physician extinguished hospital’s vicarious liability under Comparative Fault Act)
Estes v. Progressive Classic Ins., 809 N.W.2d 111 (Iowa 2012) (procedural rule on reviewability of denied summary-judgment orders and preservation)
Thomas v. Solberg, 442 N.W.2d 73 (Iowa 1989) (treating vicariously liable parties as a single party under Iowa Code chapter 668)
Hook v. Trevino, 839 N.W.2d 434 (Iowa 2013) (discussing limits of immunity and harmonizing prior vicarious-liability cases)