March 2022 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Stuart P. Werling, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Schumacher, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Blane, S.J.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (12 pages)

            Brett Diercks appeals from the decree modifying the parties’ parenting schedule.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court properly granted the mother extended parenting time during the summer and properly required the parents to utilize a shared calendar for the children’s extracurricular activities without assigning priority to those activities on the calendar.  Further, the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the father’s presentation of additional witnesses.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Paul D. Miller, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Schumacher, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Scott, S.J.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (11 pages)

            The mother appeals the district court’s grant of physical care to the child’s father.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court properly determined it is in the child’s best interests to be placed in the physical care of the father.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Kevin McKeever, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., May, J., and Danilson, S.J.  Opinion by Danilson, S.J.  (8 pages)

            Kyle Mahoney appeals a temporary child support order, contending the district court erred in “adopting Tamara [Mahoney]’s calculations” regarding the amount of his income “without any written findings or explanation as to how this amount was appropriate or necessary to do justice between the parties.”  OPINION HOLDS: We reverse and remand for the court to consider whether it is appropriate to find the guidelines amount would be “unjust or inappropriate” under the child support guidelines set forth in Iowa Court Rule 9.11.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Fremont County, Margaret Reyes, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, J.  (7 pages)

            Kenneth Brown appeals the district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of Cavalry SPV I, LLC, a debt collector.  Brown argues the district court erred in (1) “finding that there was a binding agreement” with Citibank, N.A. “because there is no signed agreement or evidence of an oral or implied agreement” and (2) “awarding compensation for the claims in an amount that was not determinable.”  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude Brown did not generate an issue of material fact precluding entry of summary judgment and the district court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of Cavalry.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hardin County, Bethany J. Currie, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and May, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J.  (8 pages)

            Jacob Manship appeals the economic terms of the dissolution decree.  OPINION HOLDS:  The spousal support and attorney fee awards were equitable.  But given Jacob’s capacity to pay, we deny fees on appeal.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Michael D. Huppert, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (12 pages)

            Santenio Ackiss appeals the denial of his application for postconviction relief (PCR) following his conviction for one count of child endangerment and one count of child endangerment causing bodily injury.  He argues he received ineffective assistance from trial counsel when trial counsel failed to make hearsay, Turecek, or Confrontation Clause objections to body camera footage allowed into evidence.  He also argues his counsel was ineffective in guiding him to waive his right to a jury trial.  OPINION HOLDS: Ackiss’s trial counsel breached no essential duty by not making meritless objections at trial.  Ackiss has failed to prove he suffered prejudice in having a bench trial rather than a jury trial.  We affirm the district court’s denial of his application for PCR.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Alan Heavens, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by May, P.J., and Schumacher and Badding, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (11 pages)

            Sara McCusker appeals the physical care provisions of the decree dissolving her marriage to Adam McCusker.  Sara argues the court erred in denying her request for joint physical care of the parties’ two children and instead awarding Adam physical care.  In the alternative, she asserts the children should have been placed in her physical care.  Adam requests an award of appellate attorney fees.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the district court’s physical care decision and deny Adam’s request for appellate attorney fees.  Costs on appeal are taxed to Sara.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, David Porter, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (4 pages)

            Kenneth Adams appeals his sentence, arguing he should have received probation.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court weighed all relevant sentencing factors and did not abuse its discretion by imposing a four-year term of incarceration.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Bremer County, Chris Foy, Judge.  AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and May, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (8 pages)

            A father appeals from the order modifying a custodial decree, which placed physical care of the child at issue with the mother and modified legal custody to give the mother the sole right and responsibility to make certain decisions regarding the child.  OPINION HOLDS: The mother established a material and substantial change in circumstances warranting modification of physical care, and she established she could provide the child with superior care.  So we affirm the placement of physical care with the mother.  However, because legal custody was not properly before the court, so we vacate the district court’s modification of the legal custody provision.  And we remand to the district court for entry of a corrected decree.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Madison County, Thomas P. Murphy, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by May, P.J., and Schumacher and Badding, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (4 pages)

            Kyle Redmond appeals the sentence imposed upon his conviction for serious injury by vehicle, arguing the sentencing court improperly failed “to sufficiently articulate reasons for the imposed sentence” and sentenced him “to prison without due consideration of mitigating factors.”  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no abuse of discretion, we affirm the sentence imposed.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Kimberly Ayotte, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Vogel, S.J.  (6 pages)

            A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights.  OPINION HOLDS: A statutory ground for termination was established, an extension of time is not warranted, and termination is in the best interests of the child.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Michael D. Huppert, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by May, P.J., and Schumacher and Badding, JJ.  Opinion by May, P.J.  (8 pages)

            A father appeals the private termination of his parental rights.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm because the mother proved abandonment by clear and convincing evidence, the father did not financially contribute to support the children as ordered in his dissolution decree, and termination is in the best interests of the children.