RECOVERY ON BOND; LIABILITY OF WAREHOUSE OPERATOR.

(a) If no action on the bond or cash, certificate of deposit, or letter of credit deposited in lieu of a bond of a warehouse operator is begun before the 31st day after the date of a written demand to the department, a depositor has a right of action on the bond or cash, certificate of deposit, or letter of credit deposited in lieu of a bond for recovery of damages suffered by the depositor as a result of the failure of the warehouse operator to comply with any condition of the bond, or if cash, a certificate of deposit, or a letter of credit is deposited in lieu of a bond, failure to comply with any obligation of the warehouse operator under this chapter that would have been covered by a bond.

(b) Recovery on a bond shall be prorated if claims exceed liability on a bond, but a depositor suing on a bond is not required to join other depositors in a suit. The burden of establishing proration is on the surety as a matter of defense or is on the department as intervenor on behalf of other depositors.

(c) A warehouse operator is liable for damages for loss of or injury to grain caused by the warehouse operator's failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in regard to the grain under similar circumstances, but, unless otherwise agreed, a warehouse operator is not liable for damages to grain that could not have been avoided through the exercise of that care.

(d) A person who files an action on a bond under this section must serve notice of the suit on the department in the same manner and within the same period as for the defendant or surety who issued the bond.

(e) On authentication by the department, the court shall accept into evidence as a public record any report prepared by the department under this chapter that describes potential bond claims by other depositors, regardless of whether any of those depositors are joined in the suit.

(f) A person is prohibited from filing a claim on an invalid receipt.

(g) An action under this section must be brought not later than the second anniversary of the date of expiration of the public grain warehouse license in effect at the time the claim arose.

(h) The department by rule may set a limitations period for filing claims with the department on a bond filed with the department or cash, a certificate of deposit, or a letter of credit deposited with the department in lieu of a bond.