1. The public corporation, the principal contractor, any claimant for labor or material who
has filed a claim, or the surety on any bond given for the performance of the contract, may,
at any time after the expiration of thirty days, and not later than sixty days, following the
completion and final acceptance of said improvement, bring action in equity in the county
where the improvement is located to adjudicate all rights to said fund, or to enforce liability
on said bond.
2. Upon written demand of the contractor served, in the manner prescribed for original
notices, on the person filing a claim, requiring the claimant to commence action in court to
enforce the claim, an action shall be commenced within thirty days, otherwise the retained
and unpaid funds due the contractor shall be released. Unpaid funds shall be paid to the
contractor within twenty days of the receipt by the public corporation of the release as
determined pursuant to this section. Failure to make payment by that date shall cause
interest to accrue on the unpaid amount. Interest shall accrue during the period commencing
\n
Tue Dec 09 22:00:41 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 573 (24, 1)
7 LABOR AND MATERIAL ON PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS, §573.20\n\nthe twenty-first day after the date of release and ending on the date of the payment. The rate
of interest shall be determined pursuant to section 573.14. After an action is commenced,
upon the general contractor filing with the public corporation or person withholding the
funds, a surety bond in double the amount of the claim in controversy, conditioned to pay
any final judgment rendered for the claims so filed, the public corporation or person shall
pay to the contractor the amount of funds withheld.
[C97, §3103; S13, §1989-a58; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §10313; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75,
77, 79, 81, §573.16]
91 Acts, ch 148, §3
Referred to in §384.58, 573.14, 573.15A, 573.18
Action against surety, §616.15
Manner of service, R.C.P. 1.302 – 1.315
\n
Notes of Decisions
Accurate Controls, Inc. v. Cerro Gordo Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors, 627 F. Supp. 2d 976 (N.D. Iowa 2009).
· cites it 28× “16’s filing requirements and statute of limitations, so that the entire ease should be dismissed; (2) that Iowa Code § 573.16 deprives this court of the ability to grant Accurate’s requested relief and/or deprives this court of subject matter jurisdiction, so that the entire…”
Employers Mut. Cas. Co. v. City of Marion, 577 N.W.2d 657 (Iowa 1998).
· cites it 32× “Iowa Code § 573.16 . Thus, section 573.16 ties the limitation period for filing suit on the claims to completion and final acceptance of the improvement; it says nothing about cancellation of the contract.”
Nw. Limestone Co. v. State Dep't of Transp., 499 N.W.2d 8 (Iowa 1993).
· cites it 26× “Great American alleged that both of the appellees failed to commence the present action within the time required by Iowa Code section 573.16 (1991). The district court ruled that appel-lees’ action was not barred by the time limitation specified in section 573.”
Dobbs v. Knudson, Inc., 292 N.W.2d 692 (Iowa 1980).
· cites it 4× “The present action was initiated by Dobbs against Knudson, Universal, the trusts and other parties, pursuant to section 573.16, to determine the rights of the claimants to the retainage held by the Department in accordance with section 573.”
Sheer Constr., Inc. v. W. Hodgman & Sons, Inc., 326 N.W.2d 328 (Iowa 1982).
· cites it 2× “Sheer then filed this action, which was transferred to equity under the provisions of Iowa Code section 573.16. On the morning of trial, before the first witness was sworn, Hodgman’s counsel dictated into the record an “offer to confess judgment” for $3500, together with costs…”
Smith v. Iowa Ass'n of Cmty. Coll. Trs. (Iowa Ct. App. 2024).
· cites it 80× “In May, Graphite Construction provided DMACC with a “bond for release of contract funds—Iowa Code § 573.16” for $434,442.64 (double the amount of Metro Concrete’s claim) and asked DMACC to release the same amount from the retainage fund to Graphite Construction.”
Petit v. Ervin Clark Constr. Inc., 49 N.W.2d 508 (Iowa 1951).
· cites it 2× “The next day defendant County *121 moved to dismiss plaintiff’s petition claiming it had finally accepted the work before plaintiff filed his claim with the county auditor and that plaintiff had failed to bring suit within sixty days thereafter as required by section 573.16,…”
L & W Constr. Co. v. Kinser, 99 N.W.2d 276 (Iowa 1959).
· cites it 2× “10 and that it had not commenced an action on the bond within sixty days thereafter, as required by section 573.16, but alleged that the surety was estopped from relying on such failure (1) by its wrongful statements, actions and conduct preventing plaintiff from filing its…”
Grady v. SE Gustafson Constr. Co., 103 N.W.2d 737 (Iowa 1960).
· cites it 2× “Plaintiff, a subcontractor, brings this action in equity under the provisions of section 573.16, Code of Iowa, 1958, against the contractor, its surety and the Highway Commission.”
Lumberman's Wholesale Co. v. Ohio Farmers Ins. Co., 402 N.W.2d 413 (Iowa 1987).
· cites it 2× “2d 325 (1942), that, if at least one claim triggers a retainage of funds under chapter 573, other claimants can thereafter participate in a suit to recover against that retainage or the general contractor’s surety, even though the other claimants did not file their claims within…”
— Iowa Code § 573.16(1) — 3 cases
Smith v. Iowa Ass'n of Cmty. Coll. Trs. (Iowa Ct. App. 2024).
“In May, Graphite Construction provided DMACC with a “bond for release of contract funds—Iowa Code § 573.16” for $434,442.64 (double the amount of Metro Concrete’s claim) and asked DMACC to release the same amount from the retainage fund to Graphite Construction.”
— Iowa Code § 573.16(2) — 2 cases
Smith v. Iowa Ass'n of Cmty. Coll. Trs. (Iowa Ct. App. 2024).
“In May, Graphite Construction provided DMACC with a “bond for release of contract funds—Iowa Code § 573.16” for $434,442.64 (double the amount of Metro Concrete’s claim) and asked DMACC to release the same amount from the retainage fund to Graphite Construction.”
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.