Iowa summary judgment: file 60 days before trial, and the resistance is due in 15
Iowa procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026
Iowa calls the opposition a resistance, and rule 1.981(3) tells you what has to be in it. It also sets three separate numbers — 60 days, 15 days and 20 days — that work in different directions: one backwards from trial, one forwards from service, one forwards from filing.
Who may move, and when
A claimant — rule 1.981(1) may move
at any time after the appearance day or after the filing of a motion for summary judgment by the adverse party
"Appearance day" is the Iowa term, and it is the trigger rather than a count of days from service. As in most states, a claimant served with the other side's summary-judgment motion need not wait.
A defending party — rule 1.981(2) may move "at any time."
Three numbers
Rule 1.981(3) carries them all:
The motion shall be filed not less than 60 days prior to the date the case is set for trial, unless otherwise ordered by the court. Any party resisting the motion shall file a resistance within 15 days, unless otherwise ordered by the court, from the time when a copy of the motion has been served.
and then, for the hearing:
Notwithstanding the provisions of rules 1.431 and 1.435, the time fixed for hearing or nonoral submission shall be not less than 20 days after the filing of the motion, unless a shorter time is ordered by the court.
| Step | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Motion | at least 60 days before the trial date |
| Resistance | 15 days from service of the motion |
| Hearing or nonoral submission | not less than 20 days after the motion is filed |
Each carries "unless otherwise ordered by the court," so a scheduling order controls. But note that the 20-day hearing floor is expressed as an override — it applies "[n]otwithstanding the provisions of rules 1.431 and 1.435," the general motion rules. Summary judgment gets a longer runway to hearing than an ordinary motion.
What a resistance must contain
This is the part that distinguishes Iowa practice, and it is easy to under-comply with:
The resistance shall include a statement of disputed facts, if any, and a memorandum of authorities supporting the resistance. If affidavits supporting the resistance are filed, they must be filed with the resistance.
Three obligations in two sentences:
- A statement of disputed facts — a separate component of the resistance, not something folded into the brief. The qualifier "if any" acknowledges that some resistances are purely legal.
- A memorandum of authorities. A resistance that disputes the facts but cites nothing is incomplete on the face of the rule.
- Affidavits filed with the resistance. Not afterwards. Iowa does not contemplate supplementing the factual record between the resistance and the hearing as of right.
Iowa does not require the movant to file a separately annotated statement of undisputed facts the way Nebraska or South Dakota do. The obligation that is spelled out here runs to the party resisting.
The standard
The remainder of rule 1.981(3) states the test in the traditional form:
The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.
Partial judgment is available on the usual terms: "A summary judgment, interlocutory in character, may be rendered on the issue of liability alone although there is a genuine issue as to the amount of damages."
Where the motion does not end the case
Rule 1.981(4) has the court narrow what remains. If judgment is not rendered on the whole case, the court — "by examining the pleadings and the evidence before it and by interrogating counsel" — "shall if practicable ascertain what material facts exist without substantial controversy and what material facts are actually and in good faith controverted." It then makes an order specifying the facts that appear without substantial controversy, "including the extent to which the amount of damages or other relief is not in controversy," and directs such further proceedings as are just.
A neighbouring rule that is not summary judgment
Iowa's rules place two provisions immediately after 1.981 that are easy to mistake for part of the summary-judgment scheme. They are not.
Rule 1.982 governs judgment on motion in a defined set of relationships — "on motion by sureties against principals or cosureties for money due because paid by them as such; by clients against attorneys, by plaintiffs in execution against sheriffs or other officers for money or property collected by them; and in all other cases specially authorized by statute" — plus contribution judgments based on comparative fault.
Rule 1.983 then supplies the procedure for a 1.982 motion, and this is where the overlap arises: "If a motion under rule 1.982 is filed in an action already pending, the procedure shall be as in rule 1.981." Otherwise the motion is served with notice of hearing, and "[s]ervice shall be made at least ten days before the date set for hearing."
So a rule 1.982 motion brought inside a pending case borrows rule 1.981's timetable — the 60/15/20 sequence above — while a standalone one runs on ten days' notice. If you are moving under 1.982, work out first which of those two tracks you are on.