February 2021 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Mark D. Cleve, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, P.J.  (4 pages)

            Gina Fox appeals the order modifying the child custody and support provisions of the decree dissolving her marriage to Jeremy Fox.  OPINION HOLDS: Gina admits the parties are unable to co-parent, which establishes a substantial change in circumstances.  Because the evidence shows Jeremy is more mature, stable, and better positioned to act in the child’s best interests as her physical caretaker, we affirm the order modifying the decree to place the child in Jeremy’s physical care.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Warren County, Terry R. Rickers, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, J.  (11 pages)

            Jeremiah Duke appeals the district court’s dissolution decree contending the court erred in (1) granting Julie Ritter, formerly Julie Duke, sole legal custody and physical care of the children, subject to supervised visitation with Duke; (2) ordering Duke to pay Ritter child support of $906.90 per month; (3) awarding Duke his businesses and transferring an F-250 truck to Ritter; and (4) granting Ritter trial attorney fees.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the district court’s decision and order Duke pay $2000 toward Ritter’s appellate attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Jasper County, Steven J. Holwerda, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J.  (4 pages)

            Lance McIver appeals his prison sentence resulting from pleading guilty to domestic-abuse assault and going armed with intent.  McIver seeks to have his prison term vacated and replaced with a probationary sentence.  McIver claims that his prison sentence was an abuse of discretion.  OPINION HOLDS: The court articulates several factors that it considered in reaching its sentencing decision.  We find no abuse of discretion.  Thus, we affirm the sentence imposed.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cerro Gordo County, Chris Foy, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J.  (10 pages)

                Davin McLeod appeals a district court decision granting partial summary judgment to Ford Motor Credit Company, LLC in its suit over a defaulted car loan and declining to stay the proceeding pending resolution of his girlfriend bankruptcy case in federal court.  Ford did not file a brief.  OPINION HOLDS: Because his girlfriend’s bankruptcy filing does not automatically stay debt proceedings against McLeod, we affirm the district court’s denial of his motion to stay.  Ford proved on the undisputed facts and as a matter of law that it is entitled to judgment.  So we also affirm the summary judgment ruling ordering McLeod to pay the balance on the loan.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Sarah Crane, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (6 pages)

            Brandon Dinovo appeals the sentences imposed for multiple crimes, asserting the district court abused its discretion in not granting him deferred judgments.  OPINION HOLDS: We find no abuse of the district court’s sentencing discretion.  The district court properly considered multiple factors beyond the nature of the offenses in rejecting Dinovo’s request for deferred judgments.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hardin County, Andrea Miller, Magistrate, and Steven J. Oeth, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ.  Opinion by Mullins, J. (8 pages)

            Steven Palmateer appeals his criminal conviction, challenging the denial of his motion to suppress.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no cause for reversal on the issues presented for our review, we affirm Palmateer’s conviction.

             Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Floyd County, Rustin T. Davenport, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, J.  (7 pages)

            Jacob L. Grillo appeals the district court’s order splitting physical care of the parties’ children. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the district court’s split physical care decision. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Marshall County, Kim M. Riley, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., and May and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (3 pages)

            Justin Deal appeals his prison sentence.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court provided adequate reasoning for imposing consecutive sentences.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Kellyann M. Lekar, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ.  Opinion by Mullins, J.  (6 pages)

            Jack Good appeals the denial of his application for postconviction relief.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no cause for reversal on the issues properly presented for our review, we affirm the denial of Good’s application for postconviction relief.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Kevin McKeever, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J.  (12 pages)

            The taxpayer, Lowe’s Home Centers, LLC, appeals a district court order affirming the Property Assessment Appeal Board’s (PAAB) valuation of its Coralville property at $10,940,000.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no merit in Lowe’s contentions that the PAAB’s consideration of the property’s “current use” violated Iowa law and that a fee simple assessment must value a property as vacant, we affirm the district court’s judicial review.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cass County, Jennifer A. Benson, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., and May and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (10 pages)

            A mother appeals the private termination of her parental rights to three of her children.  OPINION HOLDS: The mother waived her challenge to the father’s failure to comply with Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 1.500(3)(b).  The juvenile court properly took judicial notice of child-in-need-of-assistance proceedings involving the family.  The mother abandoned the children pursuant to Iowa Code section 600A.8(3)(b) (2019), and termination is in the children’s best interests.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Pottawattamie County, Charles D. Fagan, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., and May and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (9 pages)

            A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights in this private termination proceeding.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude the delay of forty-three days between service of the notice of appeal and the date the appeal was filed in the district court was not unreasonable under the instant procedural facts and, therefore, we have jurisdiction to consider the appeal.  We find there is sufficient evidence in the record to support termination of the mother’s parental rights and termination is in the child’s best interests.  We affirm the decision of the district court.