2022 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Delaware County, Thomas A. Bitter, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Schumacher, P.J., Badding, J., and Gamble, S.J.  Opinion by Gamble, S.J.  (16 pages)

            Todd Mullis appeals his conviction for first-degree murder.  He challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and the district court’s denial of his motion for new trial.  OPINION HOLDS: The State presented sufficient evidence of Mullis’s guilt.  And the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion for new trial.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Paul D. Scott, Judge.  REVERSED.  Heard by Schumacher, P.J., and Ahlers, J., and Mullins, S.J.  Opinion by Schumacher, P.J.  (13 pages)

            Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. (Nationwide) appeals the assessment for tax purposes of its property by the Polk County Board of Review (Board).  The district court affirmed the Board’s valuation.  OPINION HOLDS: Nationwide presented evidence from two disinterested witnesses to support its claim the actual value of the property was less than the assessed value and the burden then shifted to the Board to uphold the assessment.  The Board did not meet its burden because its experts did not rely on the sales approach to value the property.  Nationwide entered into a minimum assessment agreement that established the minimum actual value of the property and we determine this amount is the tax assessment value for the property.  We reverse the decision of the district court.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Emmet County, Carl J. Petersen, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Bower, C.J., Vaitheswaran, J., and Mullins, S.J.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, J.  Greer, J., takes no part.  (6 pages)

            Plaintiffs appeal the district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of defendants.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude the loss sustained by plaintiffs was outside the remaining defendants’ scope of liability as a matter of law.  Accordingly, the district court did not err in granting their summary judgment motions.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cherokee County, Nancy Whittenburg, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by May, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Vogel, S.J.  (3 pages)

            Thomas Ruthers appeals the dismissal of his petition for judicial review of the treatment decision of the Iowa Department of Human Services, Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders.  OPINION HOLDS: Ruthers did not preserve an argument regarding an annual review under Iowa Code section 229A.8 (2020).  Even if his argument were preserved, he did not file in the correct court for judicial review of an annual review.  Furthermore, in the record before us and the issues properly presented on appellate review, we find no due process violation.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Benton County, Chad A. Kepros, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by May, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Mullins, S.J.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (7 pages)

            Malea Merchant appeals the grant of summary judgment in favor of Garrett Wilson on the basis of defective service of original notice.  OPINION HOLDS: We find no genuine issue of material fact that the manner of service of original notice on Wilson was defective.  Serving Wilson’s mother at her residence at a time when Wilson did not live there is not effective substitute service.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Monica Zrinyi Wittig, Judge.  CONVICTIONS AFFIRMED, AMENDMENT TO SENTENCING ORDER VACATED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and May, JJ.  Opinion by May, J. (12 pages)

            Patrick Booker appeals his conviction for third-degree sexual assault and the district court’s amended sentence.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the verdict was supported by sufficient evidence and the district court did not err in evidentiary rulings or juror challenges, we affirm the conviction.  But because the district court did not have jurisdiction to amend Booker’s sentence, we vacate the sentencing amendment.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Melissa Anderson-Seeber, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Greer, P.J., Badding, J., and Potterfield, S.J.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (14 pages)

            Susan Erlandson appeals an adverse summary judgment ruling dismissing her petition to modify the property and spousal support provisions of the decree dissolving her marriage.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the district court correctly concluded it lacked authority to entertain the modification action, we affirm its summary judgment ruling. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Michael J. Shubatt, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.  Heard by Schumacher, P.J., and Badding, J., and Gamble, S.J.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (14 pages)

            A propane distributor appeals a district court ruling affirming the Dubuque County Board of Review’s determination that three above-ground fuel storage tanks on its commercial property were taxable under Iowa Code section 427A.1 (2020).  OPINION HOLDS: Because the record shows the tanks were not attached to the property under section 427A.1(3) and thus not taxable as real property, we reverse the district court’s ruling and remand with instructions. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Des Moines County, Mark Kruse, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and May, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (7 pages)

            Corina Shipp appeals the physical care provisions of her dissolution decree.  OPINION HOLDS: Like the district court, we conclude the father should have physical care of the parties’ child.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Roger L. Sailer, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Badding, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (10 pages)

            Matthew McGuire appeals following the district court’s grant of summary disposition on his fourth application for postconviction relief.  He argues he “is entitled to a hearing to determine if the life without parole sentence upon him is grossly disproportionate to the crime he committed and is, thus, cruel and unusual punishment under the Iowa Constitution thereby making his sentence illegal,” a claim he raises for the first time on appeal.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the entry of summary disposition on McGuire’s application for postconviction relief, and we reject his challenge to his sentence as illegal.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Butler County, Gregg R. Rosenbladt, Judge.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.  Heard by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and May, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, J.  (13 pages)

            Michele Oldenburger appeals the financial provisions of the decree dissolving her marriage to Keith Oldenburger.  OPINION HOLDS: We modify the dissolution decree to require Keith to pay Michele a total of $2,347,415.92 in five equal installments of $457,024.36 over a period of five years, with the first payment to be made 180 days after procedendo issues and each payment thereafter to be made one year following the previous payment.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dallas County, Virginia Cobb, District Associate Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (10 pages)

            A father appeals the district court order terminating his parental rights following a petition filed by the mother under Iowa Code chapter 232 (2019).  OPINION HOLDS: We find the district court did not have subject matter jurisdiction to consider the termination petition filed by the mother because she did not have standing to seek termination of the father’s parental rights under chapter 232.  We reverse the decision of the district court and remand with directions to dismiss the petition.