North-central Iowa is cement-and-gypsum country — the Portland-cement works and quarries of Mason City (‘River City’ of legend), the gypsum industry of the Fort Dodge area, and the processing plants of Iowa Falls and Algona. Cement and gypsum manufacturing are high-heat, dust-heavy trades that reportedly relied on asbestos-containing insulation and materials for decades.
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.