Terms Used In Iowa Code > Chapter 686 - Construction Defects -- Class Actions

• Action: means any civil action or arbitration proceeding for damages or indemnity asserting a claim for injury to property, real or personal, arising out of the unsafe or defective condition of an improvement to real property based on tort, breach of contract, or express or implied warranty. See Iowa Code 686.1
• Association: means an entity or homeowners association created for the purposes of managing the operations of a community as set forth in a declaration of covenants or declaration of submission of property to horizontal property regime filed of record in the county that the property is located. See Iowa Code 686.1
• Claimant: means a private owner, a subsequent private owner, or an association, who asserts a claim in a class action for damages against a general contractor or subcontractor concerning a construction defect. See Iowa Code 686.1
• Construction defect: means an alleged or actual unsafe or defective condition of an improvement to real property. See Iowa Code 686.1
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
• General contractor: means a person who does work or furnishes materials by contract, express or implied, with an owner. See Iowa Code 686.1
• Owner: means the legal or equitable titleholder of record to real property or the holder of a leasehold interest. See Iowa Code 686.1
• person: means individual, corporation, limited liability company, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• property: includes personal and real property. See Iowa Code 4.1
• real property: include lands, tenements, hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Iowa Code 651.1
• service: means delivery by certified mail with a United States postal service record of evidence of delivery or attempted delivery to the last known address of the addressee, by hand delivery with written evidence of delivery, or by delivery by any courier with written evidence of delivery. See Iowa Code 686.1
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subcontractor: means a person furnishing material or performing labor upon any building, erection, or other improvement to land, except those having contracts directly with the owner. See Iowa Code 686.1
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: includes all the states. See Iowa Code 4.1