SF1 • 2026

A bill for an act relating to comparative fault of railway corporations.

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor: SHIPLEY
Last action: 2025-01-22
Official status: Subcommittee recommends indefinite postponement. [].
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

A bill for an act relating to comparative fault of railway corporations.

What This Bill Does

A bill for an act relating to comparative fault of railway corporations.

Limits and Unknowns

This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

2025-01-22 Iowa Legislature
Subcommittee recommends indefinite postponement. [].
2025-01-16 Iowa Legislature
Subcommittee Meeting: 01/22/2025 2:10PM Room 217 Conference Room.
2025-01-14 Iowa Legislature
Subcommittee: Shipley, Pike, and Winckler. S.J. 71 .
2025-01-13 Iowa Legislature
Introduced, referred to Transportation. S.J. 35 .

Official Summary Text

A bill for an act relating to comparative fault of railway corporations.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

Senate

File

1

-

Introduced

SENATE

FILE

1

BY

SHIPLEY

A

BILL

FOR

An

Act

relating

to

comparative

fault

of

railway

corporations.

1

BE

IT

ENACTED

BY

THE

GENERAL

ASSEMBLY

OF

THE

STATE

OF

IOWA:

2

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1

Section

1.

NEW

SECTION

.

327D.16A

Comparative

fault

——

1

limitation

of

application.

2

Notwithstanding

sections

327D.188

and

668.3,

in

any

actions

3

brought

against

any

railway

corporation

to

recover

damages

for

4

property

damage,

personal

injury,

or

death

in

any

crash

or

5

collision

in

which

the

freight

or

work

railroad

train

exceeded

6

seven

thousand

feet

and

the

jury

finds

that

the

length

of

the

7

freight

or

work

railroad

train

caused,

in

whole

or

in

part,

8

the

property

damage,

personal

injury,

or

death

in

the

crash

or

9

collision,

the

recovery

by

the

claimant

or

other

party

shall

10

not

be

diminished

due

to

the

comparative

fault

of

the

claimant

11

or

other

party.

12

EXPLANATION

13

The

inclusion

of

this

explanation

does

not

constitute

agreement

with

14

the

explanation’s

substance

by

the

members

of

the

general

assembly.

15

This

bill

relates

to

comparative

fault

of

railway

16

corporations.

The

bill

provides

that

when

a

train

is

7,000

17

feet

or

longer

and

the

jury

determines

that

the

length

of

the

18

train

contributed

to

the

accident,

the

railway

corporation

19

shall

not

be

eligible

to

seek

a

reduction

in

damages

under

the

20

theory

of

comparative

fault.

21

Under

current

law,

any

damages

for

fault

resulting

in

22

injury

are

diminished

in

proportion

to

the

amount

of

fault

23

attributable

to

the

claimant.

Such

comparative

fault

24

considerations

do

not

apply

to

the

bill.

25

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