Des Moines and central Iowa built insurance, tires, and machines — the Firestone tire plant and the Delavan and Meredith works in the capital, the Iowa State research corridor at Ames, the Maytag appliance works at Newton, and the Fisher Controls valve and Lennox works at Marshalltown. Manufacturing of this kind reportedly relied on asbestos-containing materials, 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.