2026-09-10 · Iowa · Courts

The contractor who offers to handle your association's insurance claim and then do the roof is describing something Iowa law forbids. On August 12, 2026 the Eighth Circuit held that the two Iowa statutes creating that prohibition are facially constitutional, rejecting a vagueness and First Amendment challenge from an Iowa roofing company.¹

The case

Shamrock Hills, LLC, trading as Shamrock Roofing and Construction, is an Iowa residential contractor. It received warning notices from the Iowa Insurance Division for conduct the Division treated as unlicensed public adjusting, and sued the State of Iowa, the Division, Commissioner Doug Ommen, and Assistant Bureau Chief David Sullivan.

Its argument was that two provisions are facially void for vagueness and violate the First Amendment: Iowa Code § 522C.2(18), which defines “public adjuster,” and Iowa Code § 103A.71, which bars a residential contractor from acting as a public adjuster on the same property.

The Southern District of Iowa dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6). The Eighth Circuit — Judges Kelly, Grasz and Kobes, opinion by Judge Grasz — affirmed in part and reversed in part. Both statutes survive facial attack: they are not unconstitutionally vague, and the facial First Amendment challenge fails.

The reversal is narrow but real. The panel held the district court did not properly evaluate Shamrock Hills's as-applied First Amendment challenge, and remanded for that purpose. The case was submitted April 16, 2026 and decided August 12, 2026; the Iowa Attorney General announced the result on August 14.²

What this is not

It is not a ruling about homeowners associations, and no association was a party. It is a ruling that keeps a statute enforceable — and that statute governs a transaction Iowa boards are offered routinely.

1. Shamrock Hills, LLC v. State of Iowa, No. 25-2991 (8th Cir. Aug. 12, 2026), slip opinion (PDF) ↩
2. Iowa Attorney General, announcement of the Eighth Circuit decision, Aug. 14, 2026 ↩