Iowa Court of Appeals · No. 25-1037

Kevin Lamont Howard v. Johnson County Attorney and Iowa Department of Revenue

Decided November 4, 2026 · appeal from Johnson County · Government

What the court decided

AI summary A person challenged a decision by the Iowa Department of Revenue to take money from them to pay an old debt owed for victim restitution. The court upheld the lower court's decision to dismiss the challenge. This means the state was allowed to keep the money to satisfy the unpaid debt.¹

Result: AFFIRMED

The court’s own summary

Kevin Howard appeals the dismissal of his petition challenging an allegedly unlawful setoff under Iowa Code chapter 421 (2025). The Iowa Department of Revenue took the setoff to recover an unpaid debt to a public agency in relation to a twenty-seven-year-old victim restitution order.

Holding: After reviewing the entire record and Howard’s contentions on appeal, we affirm by memorandum opinion. See Iowa Ct. R. 21.26(1)(a), (d), (e).

Read the opinion (PDF) · Case page on iowacourts.gov

Judges

Written by Chief Judge Mary Tabor
Considered without oral argument by Tabor, C.J., Buller, J., and Mullins, S.J.
Trial judge: Chad A. Kepros, Johnson County

Iowa Code it cites

§421.65

Each links to the bills that change that chapter. Read chapter 421