March 2021 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Wapello County, Gregory G. Milani, Judge.  REVERSED, MODIFIED, AND REMANDED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J.  (12 pages)

            Kurtis Glenn appeals an order denying his request to modify the physical-care provisions of the decree concerning his son and granting the mother’s request to modify visitation.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the mother failed to show a substantial change in circumstances warranting modification of custody to a fifty-fifty shared-care arrangement, we reverse the district court’s modification order.  We also modify the parties’ decree to award physical care to Kurtis as that would be in the child’s best interests.  We remand for the district court to calculate Kristin’s child support obligation.      

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Lawrence P. McLellan, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, J.  (6 pages)

            Tracey Norman appeals the property and spousal support provisions of the district court’s dissolution decree.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the district court’s award of the original deposits and appreciation of the Roth IRA and award of $750 in traditional spousal support to Tedd.  We decline to award Tedd appellate attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Steven J. Andreasen, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J. (4 pages)

            John Goldsmith appeals his conviction for first-degree theft, asserting there is insufficient evidence he knew at the time he wrote the check that it would not be paid by the bank.  OPINION HOLDS: Because there is substantial evidence supporting the court’s findings and conclusions, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Mark D. Cleve, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (5 pages)

Evan Wooten appeals the sentence imposed upon his criminal conviction.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no cause for reversal on the issues and matters properly presented for our review, we affirm the sentence imposed by the district court.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Tamra Roberts, Judge.  AFFIRMED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, P.J.  (5 pages)

            Derek James Charles appeals the denial of his petition to modify child custody.  OPINION HOLDS: Because Derek failed to show a substantial change in circumstances has occurred since the entry of the decree to warrant modifying custody, we affirm the denial of his petition.  We also affirm the court’s award of attorney fees to Rachel Houseal based on the disparity in the parties’ earnings.  We remand to the district court to determine the amount of Rachel’s appellate attorney fee award.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Wapello County, William Owens, Associate Juvenile Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., Greer, J., and Blane, S.J.  Opinion by Blane, S.J.  (6 pages)

            A mother and father separately appeal termination of their parental rights to a daughter.  They argue the court should have given them more time to work toward reunification and termination was not in the child’s best interests.  OPINION HOLDS: The parents’ contentions have no merit.  On our de novo review, the lack of progress in reunification goals and the best interests of the child compel us to affirm the juvenile court’s order terminating parental rights. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Jasper County, Steven J. Holwerda, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by May, P.J., and Greer and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by May, P.J.  (5 pages)

            A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights.  OPINION HOLDS: Termination is in the child’s best interest.  We decline to apply Iowa Code section 232.116(3)(a) (2020) to preclude termination.  And we do not grant the mother additional time to work toward reunification.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Webster County, Joseph L. Tofilon, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., Tabor, J., and Gamble, S.J.  Opinion by Gamble, S.J.  (6 pages)

            A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights.  OPINION HOLDS: We agree with the juvenile court that the mother should not be given additional time to work toward reunification.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Stephanie Forker Parry, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (7 pages)

            A guardian ad litem appeals a permanency order granting the parents six additional months to work toward reunification.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the district court’s grant of six additional months to work toward reunification. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Webster County, Joseph McCarville, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by May, P.J., and Greer and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (8 pages)

            A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to her three young daughters.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm termination of her parental rights on grounds not challenged on appeal, find the mother’s reasonable efforts argument to be unpreserved, and find an extension of time is not warranted.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Mark C. Cord III, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (12 pages)

            A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights.  OPINION HOLDS: We find reasonable efforts were made to reunite the family, clear and convincing evidence supports termination, and termination is in the children’s best interests.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Deborah Farmer Minot, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED ON BOTH APPEALS.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (5 pages)

            A mother and father separately appeal the juvenile court order terminating their parental rights to their minor children. On appeal, the mother and father each separately argue (1) the juvenile court erred by not granting additional time to work towards reunification and (2) the juvenile court erred by not declining to terminate the parents’ rights under section 232.116(3)(c) due to the closeness of the parents’ relationship with the children.  OPINION HOLDS: Based on their performance in the fifteen months since the children were originally removed, there is no indication that the reasons for removal will no longer exist after an additional six months.  As such, an extension is not warranted.  We decline to apply section 232.116(3)(c) to avoid terminating the parents’ parental rights.  We affirm on both appeals.