Iowa Tort Laws

When you hear tort, you may immediately think of personal injury cases and multi-million dollar mass tort cases involving dangerous products. But tort is more than that. Iowa Code Section 670.1(4) defines a tort as a civil wrong that results in injury to a person, personal property, personal rights, or personal property rights, or that leads to a wrongful death. A civil wrong may be intentional or unintentional.

Based on this definition, a lot of actions can be considered tort, including assault, libel, fraud, trespassing, medical malpractice, and product liability. Tort does not only involve physical or emotional harm. An act of tort may negatively affect the career of a person — an artist, for instance — due to another party misrepresenting them to potential clients. 

This article seeks to explain the basic concepts of tort, including its types, damages that can be claimed, and deadlines for filing a lawsuit. It also discusses mass tort litigation and provides resources for individuals seeking free or low-cost legal aid. 

Basic Tort Categories in Iowa

Negligent Torts

A negligent tort arises from negligence, that is, failing to observe a reasonable standard of care, thereby creating injury risks for other people. 

For example, a doctor unintentionally left a surgical sponge inside a patient’s body. The doctor did not mean to harm the patient, but they are still at fault because they failed to uphold their professional duty of making sure no foreign object was left in a patient’s body. 

Some of the most common cases of negligent tort are auto accidents, premises liability, medical malpractice, and wrongful death.

Negligent torts have four key elements: 

1. The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care.

2. The defendant breached that duty of care.

3. That breach caused injury.

4. The plaintiff incurred losses or damages due to the injury. 

Intentional Torts

An intentional tort results from actions deliberately committed to cause harm or actions by an individual ignoring their civil duties. This type of tort includes fraud, defamation, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, malicious prosecution, and trespassing. 

While different in terms of intentionality of action, both negligent and intentional torts involve a defendant who is directly at fault for the harm.

Strict Liability Torts

This tort category does not involve direct fault by the defendant, unlike the two previous categories. The defendant also does not need to have committed a negligent or intentionally harmful act. In fact, in a strict liability tort, the defendant may have observed all standards of care and still be responsible for an injury. 

Strict liability tort cases typically involve a defendant having responsibility over an animal or a product, like in dog bite and defective product cases. 

Strict liability may also apply if a party engages in abnormally dangerous activities. These activities are those that may cause harm, no matter how much precaution is taken. Some examples include the storage of fireworks and the manufacturing of toxic substances. These activities inherently come with risks of harm. So the storage or manufacturing company will be strictly liable for any injury resulting from these events, whether or not they observed safety measures or intended to cause injuries. 

Other Tort Categories in Iowa

When a tort arises from a business transaction and only results in economic losses, it is commonly referred to as an economic tort. Examples of economic torts are misrepresentation, fraud, and interference with contractual relations. 

As mentioned earlier, a tort may be an act that harms an individual’s personal rights and personal property rights, including the right to comfortably enjoy one’s life or property. When an action infringes on these particular rights, it is called a nuisance tort. 

A nuisance tort may be public or private. An example of a public nuisance is a manufacturing facility releasing toxic fumes that affect the city’s air quality. The public is the affected party in this case, and the government usually files the case on its behalf. A private nuisance tort is one that affects a person's enjoyment of their private property. For example, a neighbor playing karaoke loudly every day after 11 p.m. for a whole week commits a private nuisance.  

Tort vs. Crime in Iowa

A crime is a wrongful act against society, which is why criminal charges usually read “The People vs. Defendant.” Criminal charges are filed by the government on behalf of the public. Guilty defendants are punished for their actions through fines and prison sentences, but the victims are not compensated. 

A tort, on the other hand, is a wrongful act against a private individual. Tort law seeks to make up for the damages and losses the victim individually suffered through financial compensation. 

In criminal cases, the prosecution needs to prove that the defendant had a specific motive for the wrongful act. Meanwhile, in tort cases, it must be proven that the plaintiff suffered an injury due to the wrongful act. 

A wrongful act can also be both a crime and a tort. This usually applies to crimes that result in physical injury, like assault, battery, and arson. Here, the defendant had a specific motive behind their action and intentionally caused harm; at the same time, the plaintiff suffered damages. In these cases, the defendant can be criminally charged by the government and civilly charged by the victim for compensation. 

Mass Torts in Iowa

A mass tort starts as individual tort cases, usually involving personal injury. If there are enough cases with similar injuries/damages against the same defendant, the court groups these cases together into a mass tort.

A mass tort is characterized by the following:

• There are multiple plaintiffs.

• The plaintiffs’ injuries are caused by one product or service.

• The plaintiffs suffered similar injuries/illnesses.

• It may have more than one defendant, but usually just one. 

Mass tort cases commonly involve: 

• Defective medical products, like Phillips CPAP.

• Dangerous drugs, like Zantac.

• Large-scale catastrophes, like the BP oil spill.

• Toxic exposures, like Camp Lejeune Toxic Water. 

For mass-scale cases, “multidistrict litigation,” or MDL, is implemented. This is an easier way to litigate mass torts at the federal level since plaintiffs are usually numerous. The cases are transferred to one federal court and judge during the pretrial, the discovery phase, and the bellwether trials. This simplifies the judicial process and usually speeds up case resolution. 

Plaintiffs tend to join mass tort litigation as it gives them the following benefits: 

• Litigation expenses and timeline are reduced due to the streamlined process. 

• The plaintiffs’ attorneys can share evidence and information among them. One plaintiff can use the other plaintiffs’ evidence to bolster their individual case. 

• Multiple plaintiffs coming together have better chances of getting compensation than a lone plaintiff suing a large company.

• Plaintiffs usually receive higher compensation. 

Mass Torts vs. Class Actions

Class action is another federal procedure through which multiple similar tort cases can be resolved. Like a mass tort, a class action involves multiple plaintiffs with similar injuries suing the same defendant or group of defendants.

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedures Rule 23 lists the following requirements for tort cases to be considered for a class action: 

• The number of similar cases is too large, making individual lawsuits impractical.

• All the cases have common legal circumstances, or “questions of law or fact.”

• All the cases share common claims and defenses.

• A plaintiff or group of plaintiffs can adequately represent the interests of all the cases.

On the other hand, there are specific differences between a mass tort and a class action: 

The Mass Tort Process

A mass tort generally follows the steps below.

1. Filing of individual tort case - The plaintiff’s attorney files the individual case in local court.

2. Review of uniformity - The case is reviewed for circumstances that may match other cases. 

3. Consolidation of cases - This is when multidistrict litigation starts. Similar cases are combined and assigned to a single federal court. 

4. Discovery phase - The attorneys gather information and evidence and share them with each other. 

5. Bellwether trials - Several cases are selected to undergo trials. They are basically test cases to see how the existing claims and evidence hold up in court. The results of the bellwether trials are not a guarantee of how the other cases will fare, but they help the attorneys gauge which claims will have advantageous results and which will likely get dismissed. The plaintiffs can then decide if it is worth it to pursue litigation or to negotiate a settlement instead. 

6. Settlement phase - After the bellwether trials give the plaintiffs and the defendant a benchmark of which injuries will get how much compensation, a settlement phase follows. Most plaintiffs are willing to settle, as mass torts typically involve injury cases that take years and a lot of money to litigate. 

7. Trial - Cases that did not settle are assigned back to their original courts to be individually tried. A losing plaintiff can appeal the results. Similarly, a defendant can appeal against a case that they lost in the trial.

Iowa Tort Liability Insurance Requirements

Iowa requires businesses that use motor vehicles or serve alcohol to carry liability insurance with the minimum coverage limits below. Tort liability insurance helps businesses pay for legal fees and damages should the business be found responsible for injuries.

Some businesses are required by Iowa law to carry workers’ compensation insurance. There is no mandated minimum coverage, but the amount will depend on several factors, including the type of business. 

The Statute of Limitations for Tort Cases in Iowa

The statute of limitations is the deadline for the plaintiff to file a lawsuit in court. Missing this deadline may result in case dismissal. Iowa Code Section 614.1 prescribes several statutes of limitations depending on the tort type, as shown in the table below:

These are general statutes of limitations. There may be other filing requirements for certain cases. It is important to consult a local litigation attorney to ensure that your case is filed on time. 

Exemptions

In addition to the two-year basic statute of limitations, personal injury plaintiffs must take note of the following scenarios: 

• Defendant left the state - The period of time the defendant was out of state is not counted toward the two-year limit. 

• Plaintiff is a minor or mentally incapacitated - Minor plaintiffs have up to their 19th birthday to file the case. Plaintiffs who were rendered mentally incompetent or with mental illness during the injury have one year after regaining mental competence to file the lawsuit. 

• Medical malpractice - The two-year deadline starts counting from the date the injury was discovered or should have been discovered, not the date the malpractice occurred. However, no case filing will be accepted more than six years after the alleged malpractice, except for cases of foreign objects left in the patient's body. This is called the “statute of repose,” or the maximum deadline to sue. So if the injury was discovered in 2027 and was caused by a surgeon’s error in 2020, the plaintiff can no longer sue. 

• Product liability - No case will be accepted more than 15 years after the product was bought, installed, or leased by the plaintiff. 

How Much Can Someone Sue in a Tort Case in Iowa?

Personal injury settlements in Iowa may range from $6,000 to $215,000 on average, although some cases could reach higher amounts. In 2022, one of the biggest settlements in the state was awarded for a medical malpractice case involving a birth injury. The plaintiff was awarded over $97 million by the jury. 

Plaintiffs can claim compensation for their economic and non-economic damages. In some cases, punitive damages may be awarded. 

Economic damages are the plaintiff’s current and future financial losses, including expenses for medical treatment, lost income, and property damage. With the help of a litigation attorney, these damages can be calculated from receipts and cost projections. Iowa imposes no cap on economic damages. 

Non-economic damages are incalculable damages like pain and suffering, loss of life enjoyment, and emotional distress. There is also no cap for non-economic damages, except in medical malpractice cases. House File 161 imposes a $1 million cap on non-economic damages involving independent clinics and individual doctors. It also puts a $2 million cap on cases involving hospitals. 

Punitive damages are not meant to compensate the plaintiff but to punish the defendant. Punitive damages are only awarded if the defendant acted with willful disregard for the safety of others and if the wrongful act was specifically directed at the plaintiff. 

Iowa’s Modified Comparative Fault System

For negligent tort cases where the plaintiff was partly at fault for their injury, the state uses the modified comparative fault system. This allows at-fault plaintiffs to obtain compensation as long as they are no more than 50% at fault. The plaintiff’s final compensation will be reduced in proportion to their fault. 

For example, a car accident victim was overspeeding while the defendant was driving through a red light, causing the collision. The plaintiff was found to be 25% at fault, as their injuries would have been less severe if they were not speeding. The plaintiff’s $250,000 award would be reduced by 25% to a total of $187,500. 

Other Legal Remedies in Tort Cases in Iowa

Injunctions

Injunctions are court orders that prevent a party from performing an act that would harm the petitioner. An injunction order may be temporary or permanent. One example is a restraining order against the defendant in an assault case. For an injunction to be granted, the petitioner must prove: 

• That there is a threatened invasion or existing invasion of a right.

• That the invasion will result in substantial damages.

• That there are currently no other legal remedies.

Restitution

While awards and settlements are meant to compensate the plaintiff's losses, restitution is meant to take away the gains that the defendant has acquired at the expense of the plaintiff/victim. These gains are also referred to as “unjust enrichment.” 

Requesting the criminal court for restitution is a way for victims to receive compensation without needing to file a separate tort case. An example of this is a 2022 case in which an Iowa financial adviser was convicted of fraud for a Ponzi scheme. The financial adviser was ordered to pay restitution to victims on top of his prison sentence. 

Legal Resources for Tort Victims in Iowa

Iowa Free Legal Answers

This online legal clinic provides free legal advice from licensed attorneys. Iowa residents can submit legal questions online via the website and then receive an email response from an attorney. The website serves as a resource for civil matters, such as torts.  

Iowa Legal Aid

This nonprofit caters to low-income residents, providing legal advice and representation from member attorneys. To apply for legal assistance, call 1-800-532-1275, or 1-800-992-8161 for senior residents. Online applications are also accepted. Iowa Legal Aid’s offices are usually open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Mesothelioma.Net

Mesothelioma.net is an online resource for victims of asbestos exposure. Its website contains free information regarding treatment options, trust funds that can provide financial aid to victims, and directories of doctors and tort attorneys in Iowa. Mesothelioma.net can also be reached at 1-800-692-8608.