Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 703.5 (2026)

Liability of corporations, partnerships and voluntary associations

✓ current as of July 2026
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1. A public or private corporation, partnership, or other voluntary association shall have the same level of culpability as an individual committing the crime when any of the following is true:

a. The conduct constituting the offense consists of an omission to discharge a specific duty or an affirmative performance imposed on the accused by law.

b. The conduct or act constituting the offense is committed by an agent, officer, director, or employee of the accused while acting within the scope of the authority of the agent, officer, director or employee and in behalf of the accused and when said act or conduct is authorized, requested, or tolerated by the board of directors or by a high managerial agent.

2. “High managerial agent” means an officer of the corporation, partner, or other agent in a position of comparable authority with respect to the formulation of policy or the supervision in a managerial capacity of subordinate employees. [C79, 81, §703.5] 2013 Acts, ch 30, §261\n\nTue Dec 09 21:56:47 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 703 (18, 0) \n

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1980–2000 · leading case: State v. Casey's Gen. Stores, Inc., 587 N.W.2d 599 (Iowa 1998).
State v. Casey's Gen. Stores, Inc., 587 N.W.2d 599 (Iowa 1998). · cites it 28× “Iowa Code § 703.5 (emphasis added). We think the first subsection of this statute addresses crimes of omission, ones in which the criminal statute imposes an obligation on the corporation to do something, as opposed to criminal statutes prohibiting certain conduct.”
State v. Barnholtz, 613 N.W.2d 218 (Iowa 2000). · cites it 4× “Iowa Code section 703.5 pertinently provides: A public or private corporation .”
Grace v. Thomason Nissan, 76 F. Supp. 2d 1083 (D. Or. 1999). “§ 5/5-4(2); Iowa Code Ann. § 703.5 (2); Ky.Rev.Slat.Ann.”
Bewley v. Villisca, Iowa Cmty. Sch. Dist., 299 N.W.2d 904 (Iowa 1980). · cites it 2× “43; our rule, now embodied in section 703.5, The Code, is that public corporations may be subjected to criminal liability in the same manner as private corporations.”
— Iowa Code § 703.5(1) — 1 case
State v. Casey's Gen. Stores, Inc., 587 N.W.2d 599 (Iowa 1998). “Iowa Code § 703.5 (emphasis added). We think the first subsection of this statute addresses crimes of omission, ones in which the criminal statute imposes an obligation on the corporation to do something, as opposed to criminal statutes prohibiting certain conduct.”
— Iowa Code § 703.5(2) — 1 case
State v. Casey's Gen. Stores, Inc., 587 N.W.2d 599 (Iowa 1998). “Iowa Code § 703.5 (emphasis added). We think the first subsection of this statute addresses crimes of omission, ones in which the criminal statute imposes an obligation on the corporation to do something, as opposed to criminal statutes prohibiting certain conduct.”
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.