2019 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Greene County, Kurt J. Stoebe, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., Bower, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Mullins, P.J.  (3 pages)

            Gregory and Beverly Swecker appeal the dismissal of their petition to vacate a judgment.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no abuse of discretion in the court’s ruling, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Jackson County, Henry W. Latham II, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Doyle and May, JJ.   Opinion by Potterfield, P.J.  (3 pages)

            Amy Ruchotzke appeals from the provision of the district court’s order for custody, child support, and visitation giving Shawn Gerardy physical care of the parties’ minor child, T.G.  Amy contends she should be given physical care of T.G., as she is better equipped to meet his needs.  Her appeal is based on the claim the district court got the facts wrong.  OPINION HOLDS: While our review is de novo, we agree with the district court’s recitation of pertinent facts and the determination that placing T.G. is Shawn’s physical care is in T.G.’s best interests.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Michael D. Huppert, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., Bower, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Mullins, P.J.  (8 pages)

            Steven Liening appeals the district court order denying his petition to modify the physical-care provisions of a dissolution-of-marriage decree.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the court’s denial of Steven’s petition for modification as he failed to prove a substantial and material change in circumstance occurred which justifies the modification of the children’s physical-care arrangement.  Steven also failed to prove he had a superior ability to meet the needs of the children.  We decline to award appellate attorney fees.  Costs on appeal are taxed one-half to each party.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Chickasaw County, Richard D. Stochl, Judge.  AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Bower, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (9 pages)

            Victoria Brincks appeals the district court’s order dissolving her marriage to William Brincks.  OPINION HOLDS: Upon our de novo review, we affirm the part of the district court’s order dissolving the marriage.  However, we do not believe that including the marital debts into the “pot” and dividing them equitably runs afoul of the Bankruptcy Code in the limited circumstances of this case, and we therefore reverse the part of the district court’s order declining to order William to pay his share of the marital debts in issue on appeal.  We remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Michael D. Huppert, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Doyle and Tabor, JJ.  Opinion by Potterfield, P.J.  (8 pages)

            Nurse Dawn Leach appeals from the district court’s dismissal of her petition for judicial review challenging the Iowa Board of Nursing’s conclusion she violated the confidentiality or privacy rights of a patient and imposition of a citation and warning.  Leach maintains the district court erred in dismissing her petition for judicial review because the Board’s conclusion is based upon an irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable application of law to fact that has clearly been vested by a provision of law in the discretion of the agency and is not supported by substantial evidence in the record before the court when that record is viewed as a whole.  OPINION HOLDS: We cannot say the Board’s determination is irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable when it found purposefully accessing confidential patient information that is not needed to perform one’s job duties—without further action—constitutes a violation of patient confidentiality rights.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Thomas A. Bitter, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Bower, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, J.  (8 pages)

            Nichole Webb appeals from the district court’s decree of paternity, custody, visitation, and support.  She asserts she should have been granted physical care of the parties’ child.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, David May, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., Bower, J., and Vogel, S.J.  May, J., takes no part.  Opinion by Bower, J.  (7 pages)

            Hedayat Khaldar Saghir appeals the district court’s and workers’ compensation commissioner’s rulings finding he did not establish permanent impairment attributable to his work injury or industrial disability.  OPINION HOLDS: Substantial evidence supports the district court’s ruling on judicial review, and we therefore affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Christine Dalton Ploof, District Associate Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and May, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (6 pages)

            The juvenile court concluded W.E. committed acts constituting theft in the second degree and carrying weapons.  The court adjudicated W.E. delinquent.  OPINION HOLDS: The evidence does not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that W.E. committed acts constituting theft in the second degree or carrying weapons.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for O’Brien County, Charles Borth, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and May, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (6 pages)

            Christopher Granstra appeals a decree establishing paternity, custody, visitation, and child support.  Granstra requests he have physical care of the parties’ child rather than the child’s mother, Shea Driesen.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm, concluding the district court acted equitably in granting Driesen rather than Granstra physical care of the child.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Fayette County, Richard D. Stochl, Judge.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and Mullins, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  Dissent by Mullins, J.  (6 pages)

            Megan Coulter appeals a district court decree awarding Stephen Schoonover physical care of their child.  OPINION HOLDS: On this record, we conclude Coulter should have been granted physical care, and we modify the physical-care determination to place physical care of the child with her.  DISSENT ASSERTS:  Based on the extremely limited trial record and ignoring the non-record facts asserted by Coulter in her brief on appeal, I would affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Joel Dalrymple, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and May, JJ.  Opinion by Mullins, J.  (6 pages)

            Bradley Williams appeals his civil commitment as a sexually violent predator under Iowa Code chapter 229A (2016).  He argues the court erred in concluding he was “a person presently confined” for a sexually violent offense within the meaning of Iowa Code section 229A.4(1) and the evidence was insufficient to support a conclusion he is a “sexually violent predator” as defined in section 229A.2(12).  OPINION HOLDS: We find substantial evidence supports the district court’s conclusions and affirm the district court order civilly committing Williams as a sexually violent predator.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, David May, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Bower and Greer, JJ.  May, J., takes no part.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (7 pages)

            Darren Sleister appeals the district court’s orders granting judgment notwithstanding the verdict to State Farm Fire and Casualty Company (State Farm) on his breach-of-contract claim and dismissing his bad-faith claim.  He argues the evidence is sufficient for the jury to conclude he complied with the conditions of the homeowner’s policy issued by State Farm.  OPINION HOLDS: We agree with the district court’s detailed and well-reasoned opinion on judgment notwithstanding the verdict as to the breach-of-contract claim, and we affirm without further opinion.  Based on this conclusion, we also affirm the grant of summary judgment on his bad-faith claim.