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After Iowa worker dies, owner avoids jail time for not having insurance
IowaGDELTGDELT event0% biasedFri, May 22, 2026, 12:00 AM
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After Iowa worker dies, owner avoids jail time for not having insurance.After Iowa worker dies, owner avoids jail time for not having insurance IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - Despite objections from the prosecutor, a business owner will avoid jail time for not having workers’ comp insurance when an employee died on the job.James Watts, 83 from Bettendorf, pled guilty to a class D felony charge of failure to maintain workers’ compensation insurance.Despite an objection from the Johnson County Attorney, the judge sentenced Watts to a deferred judgment, meaning he will avoid jail time and, if he completes a 3-year probation, the conviction will be wiped from his record.“Regardless of the sentence, holding the Defendant accountable shows that disregard for workers and the laws that protect them will not be tolerated,” Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmerman said in a news release.Watts owns several businesses in Iowa, including Hawkeye Waste Systems.In October 2024, Matthew Reusaat was working at Hawkeye Waste System’s Iowa City location and suffered a head injury.Reusaat died several days later.An investigation of the incident by OSHA revealed the company did not have woker’s compensation insurance as required by state law.Workers can check on their company’s insurance status at the Workers Compensation Verification Website.Copyright 2026 KCRG.All rights reserved.