Davenport Building Collapse Lawsuit: Immunity Ruling, Trial, and Wold

The lawsuit over the Davenport building collapse is a consolidated civil case in Scott County District Court, and after more than a year on hold, it is now moving toward a first trial scheduled to begin August 2, 2027.1Our Quad Cities. Dates Determined in Partial Collapse Lawsuits Against Wold, City of Davenport, Others The case was unblocked in November 2025, when the Iowa Supreme Court dismissed the City of Davenport’s attempt to use the state’s qualified immunity statute to knock out the claims against it before discovery even began.2FindLaw. In re Davenport Hotel Building Collapse

The suit arises from the May 28, 2023 partial collapse of a six-story apartment building at 324 Main Street in downtown Davenport, Iowa. Three residents were killed and dozens were displaced. Survivor Quanishia “Peach” Berry lost a leg in the rescue.3KWQC. Thursday Marks 3 Years Since Deadly Davenport Apartment Building Collapse

Who Is Being Sued

Lawsuits began filing within days of the collapse. Resident Dayna Feuerbach filed the first petition. A class action followed on June 2, 2023, brought by Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman and Shindler, Anderson, Goplerud and Weese on behalf of two proposed classes: everyone in or near the building at the time of the collapse, and neighbors whose properties were damaged.4Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman. Harrington v. Davenport Hotel Petition Peach Berry filed a separate $50 million action.5KWQC. Building Collapse Victim Seeks $50 Million Wrongful death claims were brought by the estates of the three men killed: Branden Colvin Sr., 42; Ryan Hitchcock, 51; and Daniel Prien, 60.6CNN. Davenport Iowa Building Collapse All of the cases were consolidated. In May 2025, nearly 40 additional short-form petitions were added on behalf of residents, visitors, and nearby business operators.7KWQC. What Is the Status of Building Collapse Lawsuits

The defendants fall into several groups. The building’s owner, Andrew Wold, is sued individually along with Davenport Hotel LLC, Andrew Wold Investments LLC, Alliance Contracting LLC, and related holding companies. The City of Davenport is a defendant, as are two city employees: inspector Trishna Pradhan and Richard Oswald, the Director of Development and Neighborhood Services. Engineering and construction defendants include Select Structural Engineering, Bi-State Masonry, and CT Engineering (doing business as Townsend Engineering). Four additional masonry contractors were added in May 2025: Levi’s Construction, Family Lopez Construction, Fuessel Masonry, and R.A. Masonry. Prior owner Waukee Investments I and former property manager Parkwild Properties are also named.7KWQC. What Is the Status of Building Collapse Lawsuits

The claims sound in negligence, gross negligence, and reckless conduct.8Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman. Feuerbach v. Wold Petition Against the engineering firm and licensed engineer David Valliere, plaintiffs allege they observed conditions they described as imminently dangerous but never warned tenants or notified public officials. Against Oswald, plaintiffs allege he acted in a “willful and wanton manner” by failing to order an evacuation, and that Iowa law required city officials to serve notice and post an order to vacate a building they had determined was unsafe.9Iowa Public Radio. Iowa Supreme Court Case: Davenport Apartment Collapse

The Iowa Supreme Court Immunity Ruling

The City, Pradhan, and Oswald tried to end the case against them before filing an answer. They moved to dismiss on qualified immunity grounds under Iowa Code Section 670.4A, a provision of the Iowa Municipal Tort Claims Act enacted in 2021. The district court denied the motion. The municipal defendants appealed, and the appeal froze the entire case for over a year.10Iowa Courts. In re Davenport Hotel Building Collapse, Case No. 24-0727

On November 7, 2025, the Iowa Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. Writing for a unanimous panel of participating justices, Justice Matthew McDermott held that Section 670.4A applies only to constitutional or statutory tort claims, not to the common-law negligence and nuisance claims the plaintiffs brought. The court read the statute’s phrase “right, privilege, or immunity secured by law” as a legal term of art borrowed from the federal civil rights statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and relied on its recent decision in Doe v. Western Dubuque Community School District. The legislature, the court concluded, did not intend the provision to wipe out most negligence claims against government actors. A negligence duty grounded in a municipal code does not transform an ordinary negligence claim into a statutory-rights claim.2FindLaw. In re Davenport Hotel Building Collapse11Iowa Appeals Blog. Lawsuit by Victims of Davenport Apartment Collapse Not Barred by Iowa Qualified Immunity Statute

The practical effect: the City and its two employees remain in the case, and discovery can proceed against every defendant.

Current Schedule and Path to Trial

The discovery stay lifted effective December 30, 2025. A supplemental case management order followed on January 2, 2026. Key dates:

The Evidence the Suit Rests On

The building had been cited 19 times, with $4,500 in fines for failing heat, leaking ceilings, and trash. Broader inspections in August 2020 and May 2021 documented 74 violations, including deterioration of the exterior load-bearing wall that would later fail.12Iowa Starting Line. Davenport Building Collapse Andrew Wold13River Cities Reader. 324 Main Street: How Did the City of Davenport Allow This Disaster to Happen

Structural engineer David Valliere of Select Structural Engineering inspected the west wall three times in the months before the collapse. On February 2, 2023, he found cracked and crumbling brick and recommended shoring. On February 28, he reported a large void behind the façade and warned that a panel of brick would “soon” collapse. On May 24, 2023, four days before the failure, he reported brick appearing “ready to fall imminently” and discovered that old window openings had never been filled in behind the façade. He did not recommend evacuation or notify public officials.14ABC News. Structural Engineer Reported Issues Ahead of Iowa Building Collapse8Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman. Feuerbach v. Wold Petition

A cause-and-origin investigation by SOCOTEC Engineering and White Birch Group, released September 7, 2023, called the collapse preventable. It found the west wall could not carry loads once repair work removed critical structural material, and that temporary shoring installed by the masonry contractors was severely undersized, inadequately restrained, and spaced too far apart. The investigators concluded that Select Structural, Valliere, and the masonry contractors repeatedly treated the west wall as a non-structural veneer when it was in fact an integral load-bearing wall. Select Structural, the report said, violated the standard of care and never reviewed the building’s original construction drawings.15SOCOTEC Engineering and White Birch Group. Preliminary Investigative Report, 324 N. Main Street16Our Quad Cities. Grossly Inadequate: Davenport Releases Report Detailing Causes of Building Collapse

As for the City, a report from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation released June 4, 2025, found that inspector Trishna Pradhan altered her inspection records after the collapse, changing a pre-collapse “Passed” status to “Incomplete.” Oswald told investigators he intended to fire her; she had resigned on May 31, 2023, three days after the building fell.17Iowa Public Radio. Deadly Davenport Apartment Building Collapse Report Released

No One Faces Criminal Charges

Anyone following the lawsuit should know that the criminal side is closed. In February 2025, Scott County Attorney Kelly Cunningham announced no one would be charged, describing the event as a “structural failure of a building” and saying the state could not prove involuntary manslaughter. She noted that Wold had been “actively trying to get the building fixed” and drew a distinction between civil negligence, which she called “a civil concept, not a criminal one,” and criminal liability.18Radio Iowa. County Attorney: Evidence Not There for Charges in Fatal Davenport Building Collapse The civil case is the only route to a finding of legal responsibility.

Where Andrew Wold Is Now

The City of Davenport fined Wold $300 plus $95 in court costs for failing to keep the building in a safe and structurally sound condition.19WQAD. Andrew Wold Fined by City of Davenport According to Sarasota County, Florida, court records, Wold moved to Florida on May 1, 2024. On January 13, 2025, a judge approved his petition to legally change his name to Andrew Langel. As of late 2024, he was working as a realtor in Venice, Florida, while selling off millions of dollars in Quad Cities property.20Our Quad Cities. Andrew Wold Has New Life in Florida, Court Records Show He remains a defendant in the consolidated litigation, which seeks tens of millions of dollars in damages.12Iowa Starting Line. Davenport Building Collapse Andrew Wold