Iowa Code » Chapter 217 — DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 217.31 (2026)

Action for damages

✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section IA-LEGlegis.iowa.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

1. Any person may institute a civil action for damages under chapter 669 or to restrain the dissemination of confidential records set out in section 217.30, subsection 2, paragraph “b”, “c”, or “d”, in violation of that section, and any person, agency or governmental body proven to have disseminated or to have requested and received confidential records in violation of section 217.30, subsection 2, paragraph “b”, “c”, or “d”, shall be liable for actual damages and exemplary damages for each violation and shall be liable for court costs, expenses, and reasonable attorney fees incurred by the party bringing the action. In no case shall the award for damages be less than one hundred dollars.

2. Any reasonable grounds that a public employee has violated any provision of section 217.30 shall be grounds for immediate removal from access of any kind to confidential records or suspension from duty without pay. [C75, 77, 79, 81, §217.31] 2013 Acts, ch 90, §44; 2019 Acts, ch 125, §2 \n

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 2016–2016 · leading case: Elyse De Stefano v. Apts. Downtown, Inc., 879 N.W.2d 155 (Iowa 2016).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Elyse De Stefano v. Apts. Downtown, Inc., 879 N.W.2d 155 (Iowa 2016). · cites it 2× “§ 217.31 (providing that any entity that disseminates confidential records is liable for “court costs, expenses, and reasonable attorney fees”); id.”
Elyse De Stefano v. Apts. Downtown, Inc. (Iowa 2016). “§ 217.31 (providing that any entity that disseminates confidential records is liable for “court costs, expenses, and reasonable attorney fees”); id.”
Amended July 26, 2016 Elyse De Stefano v. Apts. Downtown, Inc. (Iowa 2016). “§ 217.31 (providing that any entity that disseminates confidential records is liable for “court costs, expenses, and reasonable attorney fees”); id.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.