2019 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, Timothy J. Finn and Steven J. Oeth, Judges.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and May, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (9 pages)

            A former wife appeals the dissolution decree refusing to divide a substantial inheritance of the former husband and challenges the spousal support award.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court properly refused to divide the former husband’s inheritance, and achieved equity in the spousal support award.  We affirm all aspects of the decree except for a minor calculation error pointed out by the former husband.  We modify the decree only to correct this aspect of the equalization payment. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Fremont County, Mark J. Eveloff and Kathleen A. Kilnoski, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., May, J., and Blane, S.J.  Opinion by Blane, S.J.  (9 pages)

            Robert Bruce appeals from a district court ruling excluding evidence that a passenger was not wearing a seatbelt when he drove his truck into a ditch while intoxicated, resulting in her serious injury.  He contends, under the “but-for” test, the jury should have heard the evidence and been able to determine whether the passenger’s conduct was a “but-for” cause of her injuries.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court did not abuse its discretion in ruling such evidence was not relevant.  Accordingly, we affirm the ruling and conviction. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Karen A. Romano, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, P.J.  (9 pages)

            The State of Iowa appeals the order entering judgment for Dorothy Hollinger on her claim of employment discrimination based on disability.  OPINION HOLDS: Our decision in a prior appeal of this case determined that squatting and kneeling are major life activities under the Iowa Civil Rights Act.  Because that decision is the law of the case, the district court relied on it in finding Hollinger is substantially limited in those major life activities and thus is a person with a disability under the statute. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Robert A. Hutchison, Judge.  AFFIRMED ON APPEAL; AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED ON CROSS-APPEAL.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Mullins and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (13 pages)

            Slashfrog, LLC appeals and Ethan and Jordan Quick cross-appeal from the rulings of the district court related to the contract terms and resulting breaches.  On appeal, Slashfrog argues the court erred in finding it breached the contract and in excluding most of its damages evidence as speculative.  On cross-appeal, Quicks contend the court erred in finding the contract was not unconscionable and in finding they also breached the contract.  OPINION HOLDS: We find no error in granting summary judgment for Slashfrog on Quicks’ unconscionability claim and in finding Slashfrog breached the contract.  However, we find Quicks substantially performed their obligations under the contract and award them the earnest money.  Because of its cancellation of the contract, we do not reach Slashfrog’s arguments about its damages.  We thus affirm the rulings of the district court with some modification.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Scott J. Beattie, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (5 pages)

            T.M. appeals the district court order finding him to be seriously mentally impaired.  OPINION HOLDS: We find there is sufficient evidence to conclude T.M. (1) is mentally ill, (2) lacks sufficient judgment to make responsible decisions with respect to his treatment, and (3) is likely to physically injure himself or others if allowed to remain at liberty without treatment, is likely to inflict serious emotional injury on a designated class of persons, and is unable to satisfy his need for nourishment, clothing, essential medical care, or shelter so that it is likely that he will suffer physical injury, physical debilitation, or death.  We affirm the decision of the district court.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Des Moines County, John M. Wright, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Doyle, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (10 pages)

            Derek Goble appeals from the district court’s ruling denying his application to modify the physical care provisions of his decree dissolving his marriage to Danielle Goble, now known as Danielle Fenton.  OPINION HOLDS: On our de novo review, we conclude Derek has established a substantial change of circumstances which warrant the modification of the physical care provisions of the decree dissolving his marriage to Danielle.  We therefore reverse and remand for entry of a modified decree.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Andrew B. Chappell, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and May, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (11 pages)

            Bart Ruba appeals the district court’s ruling dissolving his marriage with Andrea Ruba.  Bart disputes the physical care of his son and daughter granted to Andrea.  Bart also contests the income the district court imputed to calculate his monthly child support.  Finally, Bart disputes an equalization payment of $60,000 to Andrea.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the approximation of care before the divorce favors placing physical care with Andrea, we affirm the custody provisions of the decree.  Next, we affirm the district court’s child support calculation because the district court’s imputation of income to each parent was reasonable given the evidence presented.  Finally, because we cannot trace the equity in Bart’s pre-marital house to his sole efforts we affirm the district court’s calculation of the equalization payment.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clinton County, Mark D. Cleve, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (5 pages)

            James Shepard appeals following the denial of his second application for postconviction relief.  Shepard argues the postconviction court erred in finding he was not prejudiced by trial counsel’s and first postconviction counsel’s ineffective assistance.  He also argues his second postconviction counsel was ineffective in not raising an equal protection challenge.  OPINION HOLDS: We agree with the district court that Shepard has not proved the requisite prejudice.  Because the ineffective assistance of second postconviction counsel was not raised below, we do not address it here. We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dallas County, Randy V. Hefner, Judge.  AFFIRMED IN PART, MODIFIED IN PART, AND REMANDED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (12 pages)

            Cassie Semarad, now Cassie Jordan, appeals from the order modifying the decree dissolving her marriage to Austin Semerad.  Cassie argues the court’s ruling, which modified not only the visitation provisions of the decree but also the child-support and legal-custody provisions, went beyond the relief requested by either party.  She also challenges the visitation graduated timeline and the amount of child support ordered.  OPINION HOLDS: We strike the provision concerning legal custody, affirm the court’s graduated visitation ruling, and remand for necessary child support findings.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Winneshiek County, John J. Bauercamper, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (7 pages)

            Plaintiff appeals from the district court order that entered judgment for attorney fees against him in favor of his the defendants, who are his sons, in the amount of $32,000, plus interest.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no abuse of discretion, we affirm the trial court.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Scott D. Rosenberg, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Doyle, JJ.  May, J., takes no part.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (6 pages)

            Marvin Mitchell appeals the denial of his motion to vacate the order granting summary judgment for the defendants.  OPINION HOLDS: Because Mitchell presented no newly discovered evidence, the district court properly exercised its discretion in denying Mitchell’s motion to vacate the summary judgment ruling. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Mitchell E. Turner, Judge.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (7 pages)

            Heidi Kirsch challenges provisions of a dissolution decree awarding spousal support to William and the set-aside as an inheritance of an investment account.  OPINION HOLDS: We modify the inheritance set-aside and affirm the spousal support award.