Cedar Rapids and its corridor run on grain and electronics — the Quaker Oats and Cargill and ADM processing plants, the Rockwell Collins avionics works, and the FMC and Penford operations. Grain processing and manufacturing of this kind reportedly relied on asbestos-containing insulation and materials for most of the century, and the region’s trades were reportedly exposed for full careers.
Iowa allows two years from a mesothelioma or asbestos-cancer diagnosis to file a personal-injury or wrongful-death claim (Iowa Code § 614.1(2)), with the clock running from diagnosis under the discovery rule of Iowa’s asbestos-claims act (Chapter 686B). Iowa also requires a sworn medical affidavit to be filed with the complaint (§ 686B.3). Cases are filed in the county District Court of proper venue; Iowa has no statewide asbestos MDL.