November 2021 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Warren County, Mark F. Schlenker, District Associate Judge.  APPEAL DISMISSED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (3 pages)

            Charles Cephas challenges his guilty plea to an amended charge of operating while intoxicated, second offense.  OPINION HOLDS: Cephas failed to file a motion in arrest of judgment following his guilty plea.  Accordingly, Cephas cannot establish good cause to appeal his plea.  Furthermore, we cannot consider his appeal as an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Nancy A. Baumgartner, Judge.  APPEAL DISMISSED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Mullins, P.J.  (4 pages)

Following guilty pleas, Eric Bailey appeals the denials of his motions to dismiss in four criminal cases, arguing his due process rights were violated because no preliminary hearings were held.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the law is well settled on this issue and contrary to Bailey’s claim, we agree with the State that Bailey has not established good cause to appeal following his guilty pleas.  See Iowa Code § 814.6(1)(a)(3) (Supp. 2019).  We dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Brook K. Jacobsen, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Badding, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Carr, S.J.  (5 pages)

            DeShauna Culpepper appeals her convictions for possession of marijuana and assault of a peace officer.  OPINION HOLDS: Culpepper did not preserve error on her claim concerning the sufficiency of the evidence to support her conviction for assault on a peace officer.  She is unable to raise her claims of ineffective assistance of counsel in this direct appeal.  We affirm the trial court.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Joseph W. Seidlin, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Greer and Badding, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (7 pages)

            David Douglass challenges the denial of his application for postconviction relief (PCR) following his conviction for assault with intent to commit sexual abuse.  Douglass maintains he received ineffective assistance from trial counsel in a number of ways.  OPINION HOLDS: Under the record presented here, Douglass’s trial counsel performed within the standard of a reasonably competent attorney.  See State v. Coleman, 907 N.W.2d 124, 141 (Iowa 2018).  And because Douglass failed to show his trial counsel performed deficiently, we need not reach the prejudice prong.  We affirm the denial of the PCR application without further consideration. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Sarah Crane, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR NEW TRIAL.  Heard by Tabor, P.J., and Greer and Badding, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (45 pages)

            Dr. Kevin Birusingh and his employer, The Iowa Clinic, appeal from the judgment entered against them in a medical negligence case with claims of lack of informed consent and negligent communication.  They appeal the denial of their motion for judgment notwithstanding verdict or, alternatively, their motion for new trial.  The plaintiff, Zaw Zaw, asks that we affirm.  Third-party defendant, LANGUAGEtech, Inc., asks that it be excluded from any new trial because a jury already found it was zero percent at fault.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the negligent-communication claim should not have made it to the jury, we reverse the judgment against Dr. Birusingh and The Iowa Clinic.  Zaw’s informed-consent claim remains viable, so we remand for new trial with all the parties on that claim. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Appanoose County, Gregory G. Milani, Judge.  APPEAL DISMISSED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Greer and Badding, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (6 pages)

            Brian Lynn Guill pleaded guilty to burglary in the second degree.  He seeks to set aside his plea.  OPINION HOLDS: Because he did not move in arrest of judgment, Guill cannot show “good cause” to appeal.  Thus we lack authority to consider this case and dismiss.

            Appeals from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeffrey Farrell and Robert B. Hanson, Judges.  FIRST APPEAL AFFIRMED; SECOND APPEAL DISMISSED AS MOOT.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Greer and Badding, JJ.  May, J., takes no part.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (12 pages)

            In these consolidated appeals, Shawn Shelton, the son of the trust settlors challenges the grant of summary judgment to his sisters, the trustees, and the dismissal of his petition to vacate a judgment.  OPINION HOLDS: In the first appeal, we find no error in the challenged district court rulings and affirm.  In the second appeal, we find the issue raised is moot and dismiss. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Harrison County, Margaret Popp Reyes, Judge.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.  Heard by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Badding, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, J.  (13 pages)

            Teresa Czarnecki appeals the financial provisions of the decree dissolving her marriage to David Czarnecki.  OPINION HOLDS: We modify the dissolution decree to award Teresa $1500 per month in traditional spousal support until she turns sixty-five, dies, or remarries.  And we modify the property provisions of the dissolution decree, resulting in a reduction in the equalizing payment owing by Teresa to David.

            Appeals from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeffrey Farrell and Robert B. Hanson, Judges.  FIRST APPEAL AFFIRMED; SECOND APPEAL DISMISSED AS MOOT.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Greer and Badding, JJ.  May, J., takes no part.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (12 pages)

            In these consolidated appeals, Shawn Shelton, the son of the trust settlors challenges the grant of summary judgment to his sisters, the trustees, and the dismissal of his petition to vacate a judgment.  OPINION HOLDS: In the first appeal, we find no error in the challenged district court rulings and affirm.  In the second appeal, we find the issue raised is moot and dismiss. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Heather Lauber, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Greer, J., and Doyle, S.J.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (14 pages)

            On interlocutory appeal, the State of Iowa and the cities of West Des Moines and Waukee (Governmental Parties) challenge the district court’s ruling denying their motion for a judgment on the pleadings.  They argue the public-duty doctrine precludes them from liability on each of the claims made against them by the Farrell family.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding the public-duty doctrine applies to the claims against the Governmental Parties on all claims, we reverse the district court and remand for entry of judgment in favor of all Governmental Parties.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Mitchell E. Turner, Judge.  AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Schumacher, J., and Blane, S.J.  Opinion by Blane, S.J.  (19 pages)

            On interlocutory appeal, the city and other defendants challenge the discovery order requiring the city to turn over to former employee Plaintiff the full, unredacted investigation report prepared by an attorney at their request regarding allegations of sexual harassment and possible disparate treatment in the police department based on sex.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the district court abused its discretion in concluding a redacted portion of the investigation report was not privileged and ordering its production to Plaintiff.  We remand with instructions to order production of specific portions of the redacted report based upon the city raising the Faragher-Ellerth affirmative defense.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, David Nelmark, Judge.  AFFIRMED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (5 pages)

            Donald Antonio Vaughn appeals the summary dismissal of his fourth application for postconviction relief.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no error, we affirm.