2019 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Peter A. Keller, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Bower, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Carr, S.J.  (4 pages)

            Ronald Dickey Mason appeals following a hearing on his restitution.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the sheriff’s charges for room and board were not made available to the court at the time of Mason’s sentencing, the district court properly ordered Mason to pay the charges in a supplemental order.  Mason is not entitled to a reduction in restitution because he has failed to demonstrate he lacks the reasonable ability to pay his current restitution installments.  Accordingly, we affirm the district court order denying Mason’s requested relief following the restitution hearing. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Wapello County, Joel D. Yates, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Vogel, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by McDonald, J.  Special Concurrence by Vaitheswaran, J.  (8 pages)

            Appellants, Kurt and Carol Anderson, and cross-appellants, Jeffrey, Larry, and Charlotte England, challenge the Iowa Department of Transportation’s cancellation of an auction for a parcel of land.  OPINION HOLDS: To the extent the parties challenge the validity of certain contracts, we conclude the department of transportation, as an agency, did not have the authority to determine the validity of the contracts.  We conclude the department of transportation’s decision to cancel the auction did not violate the Iowa Administrative Procedure Act.  SPECIAL CONCURRENCE ASSERTS: I disagree with the majority’s statement that the DOT lacks authority to adjudicate the existence of a contract.  I believe Iowa Code section 306.23 (2016) confers the necessary authority.  That said, I would conclude the agency did not err in interpreting and analyzing section 306.23.  Accordingly, I concur in the result.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Joel Dalrymple, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vogel, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Vogel, C.J.  (8 pages)

            Nortavis Nortez Sallis appeals his convictions and sentence for possessing cocaine as a habitual offender, possessing a firearm as a felon, and possessing marijuana as a habitual offender.  He argues the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress and abused its discretion when it admitted a photograph of a digital scale with an unknown white powder on it.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the district court properly denied Sallis’s motion to suppress, and the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting evidence of a digital scale.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Robert B. Hanson and Eliza J. Ovrom, Judges.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Heard by Tabor, P.J., Bower, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Carr, S.J.  (13 pages)

            GemCap Lending I, LLC (GemCap) appeals the district court’s grant of declaratory judgment in favor of Church Crop Insurance Services, Inc. (Church Crop).  The district court found Crop USA Insurance Agency, Inc. (Crop USA), as a debtor of GemCap, could not pledge as security funds representing commissions it owed to Church Crop.  The court ordered the release of the disputed funds to Church Crop.  OPINION HOLDS: Although we do not fault Church Crop for feeling proprietary about the funds, we think the relevant contracts and Article 9 jurisprudence compel a different result.  We find Crop USA had rights in the disputed funds and could legally pledge the funds as security.  Therefore, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Appanoose County, Joel D. Yates, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., Tabor, J., and Scott, S.J.  Opinion by Scott, S.J.  (4 pages)

            David Fisher appeals his conviction for burglary in the third degree.  OPINION HOLDS: We find Fisher’s claims of ineffective assistance of counsel should be preserved for possible postconviction-relief proceedings because the present record is not adequate to address these issues on direct appeal.  We affirm Fisher’s conviction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Scott D. Rosenberg, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.  Heard by Vogel, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by McDonald, J.  (12 pages)

            Lynch Livestock appeals a district court order affirming a final agency action in a workers’ compensation proceeding.  OPINION HOLDS: Kenneth Bursell failed to preserve the issue of whether substantial evidence supported the agency finding that Bursell’s unauthorized treatment was “reasonable and beneficial.”  The district court erred in concluding Lynch Livestock should bear responsibility for Bursell’s medical payments.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Patrick H. Tott, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., Doyle, J., and Blane, S.J.  Opinion by Potterfield, P.J.  (11 pages)

            Darius Wright appeals his convictions for robbery in the first degree and willful injury.  He argues neither conviction is supported by substantial evidence.  OPINION HOLDS: Because substantial evidence supports both of Wright’s convictions, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Joel A. Dalrymple, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., Doyle, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Carr, S.J.  (7 pages)

            Tony Eugene Doolin appeals the judgment and sentence entered following his convictions for intimidation with a dangerous weapon, assault while participating in a felony, and carrying weapons.  OPINION HOLDS: I. Because the record is incomplete as to why counsel did not object to the in-court identification and request a jury instruction on eyewitness identification, we decline to reach Doolin’s claims his trial counsel was ineffective in order to allow Doolin to raise them in a postconviction-relief action.  II. When viewed in the light most favorable to the State, there is sufficient evidence for a rational jury to find Doolin was under the influence based on a police officer’s testimony regarding his observation of Doolin and his belief that Doolin was impaired.  III. Because the evidence does not preponderate heavily against a finding that Doolin was the assailant, the district court did not abuse its discretion in overruling Doolin’s motion for a new trial. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, David P. Odekirk, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., Bower, J., and Scott, S.J.  Opinion by Scott, S.J. (9 pages)

            Donald Hutton appeals his conviction of assault causing bodily injury on sufficiency-of-the-evidence grounds.  He argues the trial court erred in denying his motions for judgment of acquittal because the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt he acted without justification.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude substantial evidence supports Hutton’s conviction of assault causing bodily injury.  We therefore affirm his conviction. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Washington County, Randy S. DeGeest, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vogel, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Vogel, C.J.  (2 pages)

            Michael Labarbera appeals his conviction for the manufacture, delivery, or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver marijuana.  He asserts his counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the prosecutor’s comments and witness’s testimony that he claims improperly inflamed the jury.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the conviction but preserve the ineffective-assistance claim for possible postconviction relief. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cedar County, Stuart P. Werling, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vogel, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by McDonald, J. (5 pages)

            Zachary Hayes appeals his convictions of multiple acts of child endangerment resulting in serious injury and neglect of a dependent person.  OPINION HOLDS: Hayes’s counsel did not provide ineffective assistance by failing to motion for judgment of acquittal on the charge of neglect of a dependent person.  Hayes’s counsel did not provide ineffective assistance by failing to challenge a jury instruction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Robert A. Hutchinson, David N. May and Arthur E. Gamble, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Tabor, P.J., Bower, J., and Carr, S.J.  Gamble, S.J., takes no part.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (12 pages)

            Bar owner Steven McFadden challenges the process approved by the district court for dissolving and liquidating two limited liability companies.  OPINION HOLDS: We find no failure by the district court to do equity; substantial evidence supports its rationale for not requiring the Baldwins to assign the Mickey’s Irish Pub lease to McFadden as part of the liquidation.  McFadden failed to preserve his claim alleging a breach of fiduciary duty in the Shotgun Betty’s dissolution.  Accordingly, we affirm.