Filed May 01, 2019
View Opinion No. 18-0298
View Summary for Case No. 18-0298
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Allamakee County, John J. Bauercamper, Judge. REVERSED AND REMANDED ON APPEAL; AFFIRMED on CROSS-APPEAL. Heard by Potterfield, P.J., and Mullins and Bower, JJ. Opinion by Mullins, J. (13 pages)
Roxanne Johanningmeier appeals, and Travis Johanningmeier cross-appeals, the district court order denying both parties’ petitions to modify a dissolution-of-marriage decree. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the court’s denial of Travis’s petition to modify the physical-care provisions of the dissolution decree as he failed to prove that a material change in circumstances occurred since the dissolution decree. We reverse the court’s denial of Roxanne’s petition to modify the child-support provisions of the decree and remand for a calculation of child support and medical support based on the district court’s findings of Roxanne’s annual income of $37,000.00 and Travis’s monthly income of $25,000.00 under the current guidelines. The modified support orders shall be retroactive to February 2018. We award Roxanne $5000.00 in appellate attorney fees.
Filed May 01, 2019
View Opinion No. 18-0354
View Summary for Case No. 18-0354
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Des Moines County, Emily S. Dean, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Tabor and Bower, JJ. Opinion by Tabor, J. (10 pages)
A defendant appeals his conviction for being absent from custody. He challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and claims his trial counsel was deficient in several respects. OPINION HOLDS: Substantial evidence supported the defendant’s conviction, and he suffered no prejudice from the alleged deficiencies in his counsel’s representation.
Filed May 01, 2019
View Opinion No. 18-0369
View Summary for Case No. 18-0369
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, William P. Kelly, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Tabor and Bower, JJ. Opinion by Bower, J. (7 pages)
Bryant Ayala appeals the property division provisions in the district court’s decree dissolving his marriage with Laura Ayala. He claims the court should have set aside additional amounts to him for premarital assets and erred in its valuation of some property. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the court’s decree.
Filed May 01, 2019
View Opinion No. 18-0371
View Summary for Case No. 18-0371
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dickinson County, David A. Lester, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ. Opinion by Doyle, J. (7 pages)
Woodruff Construction, LLC (Woodruff) appeals the district court order entering judgment in favor of Steven P. Christensen and Christensen Construction Company (Christensen) on its breach-of-contract counterclaim. Woodruff challenges the district court’s finding that it breached its contract with Christensen and its damage calculation. OPINION HOLDS: The bulk of Woodruff’s claims concern its defense that it could not perform under the deadlines of the contract based on circumstances beyond its control. Because it was not objectively impossible for Woodruff to perform, its failure to do so is not excused. Substantial evidence supports the finding that Woodruff breached the contract with Christensen, and there is sufficient evidence to support the district court’s award of damages.
Filed May 01, 2019
View Opinion No. 18-0429
View Summary for Case No. 18-0429
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, William P. Kelly, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Tabor and Bower, JJ. Opinion by Bower, J. (7 pages)
Bryant Ayala appeals the property division provisions in the district court’s decree dissolving his marriage with Laura Ayala. He claims the court should have set aside additional amounts to him for premarital assets and erred in its valuation of some property. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the court’s decree.
Filed May 01, 2019
View Opinion No. 18-0483
View Summary for Case No. 18-0483
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Boone County, Paul G. Crawford (motion to suppress) and Stephen A. Owen (trial), District Associate Judges. AFFIRMED. Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ. Opinion by Mullins, J. (11 pages)
Kari Fogg appeals her conviction of operating while intoxicated (OWI), first offense. She contends the district court erred in denying her motion to suppress evidence on the basis of an allegedly unreasonable seizure. She also argues her counsel rendered ineffective assistance in failing to object to alleged prosecutorial error in the State’s closing argument. OPINION HOLDS: Having found the district court correctly denied Fogg’s motion to suppress and counsel was not ineffective as alleged, we affirm Fogg’s conviction of OWI, first offense.
Filed May 01, 2019
View Opinion No. 18-0566
View Summary for Case No. 18-0566
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County, Stuart P. Werling, Judge. REVERSED AND REMANDED. Heard by Mullins, P.J., and Potterfield and Tabor, JJ. Opinion by Tabor, J. (13 pages)
Marsha Whitlow, plaintiff in a comparative-fault action against two defendants, appeals the denial of her motion for mistrial and motion for new trial. The verdict form wrongly instructed the jury to stop answering special interrogatories after it found for the first defendant, thus the jury did not render a verdict as to the second defendant. Whitlow alleges this constituted a hung jury or inconsistent verdicts warranting a new trial. Although the court did order new trial as to the second defendant, the plaintiff contends both defendants must be retried. OPINION HOLDS: We agree the incomplete verdict requires a new trial involving both defendants.
Filed May 01, 2019
View Opinion No. 18-0575
View Summary for Case No. 18-0575
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Scott D. Rosenberg, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Tabor and Bower, JJ. Opinion by Tabor, J. (7 pages)
Abraham Roberts appeals his conviction for first-degree murder, asserting the jury verdict is not supported by substantial evidence. OPINION HOLDS: Because a reasonable jury could find ample evidence in the record to support the conviction, we affirm.
Filed May 01, 2019
View Opinion No. 18-0611
View Summary for Case No. 18-0611
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Lee (North) County, Mark E. Kruse, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Tabor and Bower, JJ. Opinion by Bower, J. (7 pages)
DeAngelo Seay appeals the district court’s order modifying the dissolution decree dissolving his marriage to Dena Seay, claiming the court erred in modifying his summer visitation and denying his request to reduce his child support obligation. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the district court.
Filed May 01, 2019
View Opinion No. 18-0621
View Summary for Case No. 18-0621
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Monroe County, Lucy J. Gamon, Judge. AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED. Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Potterfield and Doyle, JJ. Opinion by Doyle, J. (10 pages)
Karen Pistek appeals the district court order establishing paternity, custody, visitation, and support of the child she shares with Dalton Karsjens. OPINION HOLDS: I. The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Karen’s request for additional testimony. II. Affording the district court’s findings the deference they are due, we agree with its determination that Dalton has shown he is better able to minister to O.K.K.’s long-term best interests and affirm the physical-care provision. III. Considering the child’s young age and the distance between the parties’ homes, we find the visitation schedule set forth in the court’s order is in the child’s best interests and affirm. IV. Because the record supports the parties’ earnings as found by the district court, we affirm the portion of the court’s order relating to child support. V. Because there is no common law or statutory right to such a subsidy for children born to unmarried parents, we modify the order to eliminate the postsecondary education subsidy. VI. We decline to award either party their appellate attorney fees.
Filed May 01, 2019
View Opinion No. 18-0622
View Summary for Case No. 18-0622
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, John J. Bauercamper, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Bower, JJ. Opinion by Bower, J. (7 pages)
Reicher Electric, Inc. (Reicher) appeals the district court’s verdict in favor of Shri Ganapati & Bajrangbali, Inc. (SGB). Reicher contends SGB was unjustly enriched by receiving the benefit of work when Reicher was not paid. OPINION HOLDS: We find Reicher did not establish a direct contract between Reicher and SGB and cannot support a claim of unjust enrichment.
Filed May 01, 2019
View Opinion No. 18-0644
View Summary for Case No. 18-0644
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Becky Goettsch, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Tabor and Bower, JJ. Opinion by Potterfield, P.J. (6 pages)
Mangok Kodok pled guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) in case number SRCR305546 and another count in case number SRCR308868. On appeal, he challenges the district court’s revocation of his deferred judgment in case SRCR305546 and argues there is not a factual basis to support his guilty plea in case SRCR308868. Additionally, he claims the court abused its discretion in sentencing him to jail time on the two convictions. OPINION HOLDS: Having found no error or abuse of discretion, we affirm.