We have written detailed reviews of Iowa law impacting agricultural producers and landowners. Access these reviews by clicking on the tiles below. You can also review Iowa cases on a particular subject by searching our list of Iowa case law reviews at the bottom of this page.
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A recent case from the Iowa Court of Appeals illustrates how redemption works after a farm foreclosure and warns debtors that they must strictly follow the letter of the law to redeem their land.
Despite the recess for COVID-19, the Iowa Legislature passed many laws this term, many of them effective July 1, 2020. Below is summary of the new Iowa laws impacting agricultural producers and rural landowners.
On July 22, 2020, the Iowa Court of Appeals issued an opinion in a case seeking to set aside fraudulent transfers of a farm and three parcels of real estate. The court affirmed the district court’s order setting aside the transfer of the three parcels of land, but reversed the decision to set aside the transfer of the farm. The court ruled that the statute of limitations prevented the court from setting aside the otherwise fraudulent transfer of the farm.
On July 22, 2020, the Iowa Court of Appeals issued an opinion regarding a petition to foreclose a mechanic’s lien and claim for breach of contract. After a working relationship soured, a contractor attempted to foreclose a mechanic’s lien and claimed he was still owed compensation for services performed. Because there was no written contract or accounting of payments, the court relied on the district court’s findings and affirmed the ruling dismissing the mechanic’s lien and finding that the homeowners reasonably compensated the contractor for his services.
Update: On February 26, 2021, the Iowa Supreme Court reveresed the Court of Appeal's decision. Because the homeowners did not present sufficient evidence of an unnecessary hardship, the Court ruled that the board illegally granted the request for the variance.
On July 22, 2020, the Iowa Court of Appeals issued an opinion affirming a Board of Adjustment’s grant of an area variance. The Board properly considered all evidence and accurately applied Iowa law when granting a variance to prevent unnecessary hardship.
On July 22, 2020, the Iowa Court of Appeals issued an opinion regarding a trustee’s request for fees and expenses incurred in administering a trust. The court affirmed the lower court’s ruling finding that the trustee was only entitled to a small portion of the claimed fees and expenses because she had not fulfilled her obligations to the trust or the beneficiary—likely in order to preserve trust assets for herself.
Called the 2020 Omnibus Bill, HF 2641 makes a number of changes to Iowa tax law. Signed into law by the Governor on June 29, 2020, the primary intent of the bill was to streamline the administration of Iowa’s tax laws and coordinate their interaction with federal law.
On July 22, 2020, the Iowa Court of Appeals issued an opinion reversing a district court decision interpreting a family trust. The district court had ruled that the income beneficiary was entitled to a distribution of the gross income of the trust, but her children argued that she was only entitled to the net income. The court agreed, ruling that a settlement agreement and the Iowa Uniform Principal and Income Act required a net income distribution.
On June 10, 2020, Governor Reynolds signed SF 2413 into law. The law went into effect immediately. Among other things,[i] the bill added new Iowa Code § 716.7A to prohibit “food operation trespass”:
A person commits food operation trespass by entering or remaining on the property of a food operation without the consent of a person who has real or apparent authority to allow the person to enter or remain on the property.
On June 12, 2020, the Iowa Supreme Court issued an opinion concerning the right of first refusal to purchase farmland. The plaintiffs did not seek specific performance, but instead sought monetary damages for an alleged breach of contract. The Court found that the statute of limitations for real estate transactions did not apply and no other grounds warranted granting summary judgment on the issue.
On May 13, 2020, the Iowa Court of Appeals issued an opinion concerning the award of attorney fees in a farm lease dispute. The court found the contractual attorney-fee clause of a farm lease allowed attorney fees to be awarded to the prevailing party, but this amount did not include the fees incurred after a settlement offer.
On April 29, 2020, the Iowa Court of Appeals issued an opinion concerning an insurance company’s alleged breach of contract with a hog farmer. The court concluded that the farmer’s equipment was damaged by a power surge, but that the electrical system for the buildings was not harmed by a power surge. The court also modified the loss-of-income award to be within policy limits.
On April 29, 2020, the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s ruling finding a classification of property to be residential rather than agricultural. The court found the primary use of the property was not agricultural and the property owner did not have a genuine intention to profit.
The Iowa Supreme Court recently issued a decision in a key case involving competing claims by a secured lender and a grain elevator over the costs of storing and drying the grain. The April 17, 2020, case--MidWestOne Bank v. Heartland Co-op, No. 19-1302 (Iowa 2020)--has caused grain warehouses and lenders to take a closer look at their business practices.