2018 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Carroll County, Gary L. McMinimee, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Danilson, C.J., and Potterfield and Doyle, JJ.  Opinion by Potterfield, J.  (11 pages)

            The six named appellants are siblings and beneficiaries of their deceased mother’s trust—the Teresa Kasparbauer Revocable Living Trust.  In a previous action, three of Teresa Kasparbauer’s grandchildren—the children of a seventh sibling, Shirley Kerber—sued the six siblings for a 1/7 share of the trust.  The district court awarded them the share, and we affirmed.  Here, the trust and siblings argue: (1) the trust’s due process rights were violated because the trust was not a named party and did not have notice of the first action, (2) the statute of limitations in Iowa Code section 633A.3108 (2017) prevents the grandchildren from bringing the second action, (3) the district court violated the constitutional rights of the trust when it granted the grandchildren’s motion for partial summary judgment, and (4) the doctrine of collateral estoppel and res judicata prevents the grandchildren from raising claims against the trust that they initially raised against the siblings in the first action.  OPINION HOLDS: Having considered each of the trust and sibling’s claims insofar as we could ascertain they were properly preserved for our review and supported by legal authority, we find no error with the district court’s ruling granting the grandchildren’s motion for partial summary judgment and denying the sibling’s motion for summary judgment.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Monona County, Patrick H. Tott, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Vogel and Tabor, JJ.  Opinion by Vogel, J.  (7 pages)

            Alan Hergenrader appeals his conviction and sentence for the crime of operating while intoxicated, first offense.  First, Hergenrader argues his booking video should have been admitted in its entirety with sound, citing Iowa Rule of Evidence 5.106.  Second, Hergenrader argues the video, The Truth is in the Eyes, should not have been admitted as a demonstrative exhibit because the State did not lay a proper foundation and it was irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the district court did not abuse its discretion in playing the entire booking video without audio and admitting the demonstrative video.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Christopher L. Bruns, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Mullins, J.J.  Opinion by Mullins, J.  (13 pages)

            Phillip Barns challenges the economic provisions of the decree dissolving his marriage to Kimberly Barns.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the award of spousal support and the court’s use of appreciation during the marriage of premarital assets equitable given the circumstances of the case.  We award Kimberly $7500.00 in appellate attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clinton County, Mark R. Lawson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Bower, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Bower, J.  (5 pages)

            Steve Armsted appeals his conviction for willful injury causing serious injury.  OPINION HOLDS:  We find the present record is not adequate for us to address Armsted’s claim of ineffective assistance of counsel regarding defense counsel’s failure to present expert testimony on the issue of eyewitness identification or request a jury instruction on eyewitness identification, and we determine the issue should be preserved for postconviction proceedings.  We affirm Armsted’s conviction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Odell G. McGhee II, District Associate Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR DISMISSAL.  Heard by Danilson, C.J., and Potterfield and Doyle, JJ.  Opinion by Potterfield, J.  (12 pages)

            Tammy Krambeck appeals from the default judgement entered by the small claims court evicting her from the home she rented from Linda Agan for more than three years.  Tammy maintains the small claims court had jurisdiction to set aside the default judgment and she had good cause for the judgment to be set aside.  Alternatively, she argues the district court should have set aside the judgment entered by the small claims court because the small claims court never had jurisdiction to enter the default in the first place, as the forcible entry and detainer (FED) notice was facially defective—it did not provide the required language about her right-to-cure the alleged clear and present danger—and in violation of her right to summon emergency assistance, found in Iowa Code section 562A.27B (2017).  OPINION HOLDS: Because the notice provided to Tammy failed to include the necessary right-to-cure language, the small claims court lacked jurisdiction to decide the FED action and the default judgment should not have been entered.  We reverse the entry of the default judgment and the writ of removal and possession and remand for dismissal of the underlying action.  As this issue is dispositive, we do not consider Tammy’s other arguments. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Nancy S. Tabor and John D. Telleen, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Vogel, P.J., and Vaitheswaran and McDonald, JJ.  Tabor, J., takes no part.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, J.  (9 pages)

            Isaiah Henderson appeals his convictions for two counts of delivery of crack cocaine and one count of interference with official acts inflicting bodily injury, raising claims relating to the restoration of competency following a finding of incompetency and his speedy trial rights.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude Henderson’s guilty plea amounted to a waiver of his right to raise challenges relating to the delay in competency-restoration treatment.  We conclude counsel did not breach an essential duty in waiving Henderson’s ninety-day speedy trial rights and Henderson’s one-year speedy trial right was not violated.  We affirm Henderson’s judgment and sentence.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clinton County, Mark J. Smith, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Vogel and Tabor, JJ.  Opinion by Danilson, C.J.  (3 pages)

            Darrell Lamar Thomas appeals from the denial of his application for postconviction relief (PCR).  Thomas raises a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel not presented to the PCR court.  OPINION HOLDS: The new ineffective-assistance claim is not properly preserved for our review.  And Thomas has failed to establish PCR counsel was ineffective.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Linda M. Fangman, Judge.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.  Heard by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Bower, JJ.  Opinion by Mullins, J.  (16 pages)

            Christine Freudenberg appeals, and Mark Freudenberg cross-appeals, from the spousal-support and property-distribution provisions of a dissolution decree.  Christine challenges the spousal-support award and property-distribution provisions as inequitable.  Mark argues that if this court modifies any of the economic provisions of the dissolution decree, the court must then reevaluate and adjust the entire decree.  Christine seeks an award of appellate attorney fees.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the dissolution decree but modify it with respect to the distribution of the parties’ retirement accounts.  We modify the decree to divide Mark’s John Deere pension using the Benson formula and to divide the increases in the values of Christine’s retirement funds which accrued during the marriage equally between the parties.  We award the values of Christine’s retirement accounts at the time of marriage to Christine.  We decline Christine’s request to require Mark to select a joint and survivor annuity option on his pension and name her as beneficiary.  We affirm the court’s award of spousal support.  We award Christine $1500 in appellate attorney fees.  Costs on appeal are assessed equally between the parties.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Pottawattamie County, James S. Heckerman, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Bower and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Potterfield, P.J. (10 pages)

            Chuck and Megan Steeve appeal from the district court’s summary dismissal of their lawsuit against IMT Insurance Company for breach of their insurance contract and coverage based on the doctrine of reasonable expectations.  Under their breach-of-contract-claim, the Steeves argue the phrase “human force” is ambiguous and thus must be construed against IMT; there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether the plumbing failure was caused by “human forces”; and because there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding causation, this issue is not appropriate for summary judgment.  Additionally, the Steeves maintain the district court erred in its refusal to apply the doctrine of reasonable expectations to their loss.  OPINION HOLDS: Because it is undisputed that the damages to the Steeves’ home were the result of earth movement, the earth-movement exclusion applies and IMT did not breach the insurance contract.  Additionally, IMT is entitled to judgment as matter of law on the claim of reasonable expectations.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Thomas G. Reidel, Judge.  CONVICTION AFFIRMED, SENTENCE VACATED IN PART, and remanded.  Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Potterfield and Doyle, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (8 pages)

            William Crawford appeals the judgment and sentence imposed following his second-degree-murder conviction.  OPINION HOLDS: I. The district court acted within its discretion in denying Crawford’s motion to continue the trial.  The record shows the issue was not a matter of counsel’s lack of preparation but one of surprise based on unfavorable deposition testimony given by a witness that Crawford believed would help him at trial, and Crawford failed to make a sufficiently specific statement as to why a continuance was necessary.  II. Even assuming statements made in a video of Crawford’s police interview were inadmissible, Crawford has failed to establish he was prejudiced by the statements when the evidence was cumulative and the court’s instruction limited the purposes for which the jury could consider the statements.  III. We vacate the portion of the sentencing order requiring that Crawford affirmatively request a hearing on his ability to pay appellate attorney fees and remand for entry of a corrected sentencing order.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Patrick R. Grady, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Bower, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, J.  (14 pages)

            Romoke Olutunde appeals the district court decision affirming the ruling of the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) finding she committed dependent adult abuse.  OPINION HOLDS:  We find DHS properly interpreted the term “caretaker” and concluded Olutunde was a caretaker of the patient in question during the relevant period of time.  We also find there is substantial evidence in the record to show staff trained by Olutunde were not consistent in providing medication to the patient in a timely manner, or at the very least, were not consistent in providing documentation to show whether or not the patient was receiving her medication as prescribed.  We affirm the district court’s decision, affirming the decision of DHS finding Olutunde committed dependent adult abuse.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeffrey D. Farrell, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vogel, P.J., and Vaitheswaran and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Vogel, P.J.  (8 pages)

            Brandon Brown appeals his conviction for stalking while in possession of a dangerous weapon.  He argues the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the evidence sufficient to prove he engaged in an unlawful course of conduct and affirm.