2024 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Michael Motto, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, C.J., and Chicchelly and Sandy, JJ.  Opinion by Sandy, J.  (11 pages)

            A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights, arguing (1) there was not clear and convincing evidence that her parental rights should be terminated pursuant to section 232.116(1)(f) (2024); and (2) there was not clear and convincing evidence that termination of the mother’s parental rights was in the best interest of the children pursuant to section 232.116(2).  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the juvenile court’s termination of the mother’s parental rights.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Carrie K. Bryner, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, C.J., and Badding and Sandy, JJ.  Opinion Per Curiam.  (7 pages)

            A father appeals the termination of his parental rights.  OPINION HOLDS: The father only challenges whether clear and convincing evidence supports the juvenile court decision to terminate his rights.  After reviewing the record, we find that it does and affirm the juvenile court’s decision. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Jones County, Fae Hoover Grinde, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Ahlers, P.J., Badding, J., and Danilson, S.J.   Opinion by Danilson, S.J.  Dissent by Ahlers, P.J. (11 pages)

            Michael Dutcher requests we grant him a delayed appeal and address is claim that the district court failed to comply with Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 2.23 at sentencing.  OPINION HOLDS: We grant Dutcher a delayed appeal.  We bypass the State’s error-preservation challenge and determine the district court substantially complied with rule 2.23.  DISSENT ASSERTS: Because there is no record evidence supporting Dutcher’s claims to justify granting a delayed appeal, I would not grant a delayed appeal and dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeanie Vaudt, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Tabor, C.J., and Chicchelly and Sandy, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, C.J.  (16 pages)

            Daniel Jackson appeals his convictions for murder, robbery, and burglary, all in the first degree.  He contends there is insufficient evidence to support the verdicts and the district court abused its discretion in evidentiary rulings.  OPINION HOLDS: We find substantial evidence supports the verdicts and the district court did not abuse its discretion when it admitted police officer body camera video depicting the victim near death on the scene and a Snapchat video of Jackson holding a pellet gun.  So, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Sarah Crane, Judge.  AFFIRMED ON APPEAL AND CROSS-APPEAL AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.  Heard by Schumacher, P.J., Langholz, J., and Doyle, S.J.  Opinion by Langholz, J.  (24 pages)

            Bradshaw Renovations, LLC, a construction contractor hired by Barry and Jacklynn Graham to renovate their home, appeals an adverse jury verdict on the Grahams’ consumer-fraud claims and the district court’s judgment on its unjust-enrichment and quantum-meruit claims.  The Grahams cross-appeal the amount of their attorney-fee award.  OPINION HOLDS: Given the considerable deference owed to the jury, we hold that substantial evidence supports the consumer-fraud verdict.  We also agree that the district court correctly dismissed Bradshaw Renovations’ unjust-enrichment and quantum-meruit claims because they sought damages for matters covered by the parties’ written contract.  And we affirm on the Grahams’ cross-appeal because they failed to raise their claimed error in the district court and thus failed to preserve it for our review.  We agree that the Grahams are entitled to appellate attorney fees for the defense of the consumer-fraud verdict and remand to the district court to determine the reasonable amount.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Monica Ackley, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Heard by Schumacher, P.J., and Badding and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, P.J.  (13 pages)

            Goosmann Law Firm, P.L.C. appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Hirschbach Motor Lines, Inc. and GR Equipment Leasing, Inc. on an attorney fee dispute.  OPINION HOLDS: We determine there are genuine issues of material fact about the meaning of the contingency fee provision in the parties’ attorney fee contract.  We reverse the district court court’s decision and remand for further proceedings.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Monica Zrinyi Ackley, Judge.  AFFIRMED ON BOTH APPEALS AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS ON THE APPEAL OF THE DISSOLUTION DECREE.  Heard by Schumacher, P.J., and Buller and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Langholz, J.  (13 pages)

            Rosanne Samuels appeals the district court’s denial of her petition to vacate a decree dissolving her marriage with one man and its issuance of a decree dissolving another marriage with Mustapha El Khayat rather than granting an annulment.  OPINION HOLDS: Samuels correctly argues that a petition to vacate a decree as void for improper service need not be made within one year.  But even so, she is judicially estopped from making such a challenge to her first dissolution decree because it was issued at her request and based on her position in that proceeding that she made proper service.  The district court thus correctly denied her petition to vacate that first decree and her request for an annulment rather than a dissolution of the second marriage.  We award appellate attorney fees to El Khayat, deny Samuels’s request for fees, and remand with directions for the district court to decide the reasonable amount of fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Marshall County, John J. Haney, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Schumacher, P.J., Langholz, J., and Bower, S.J.  Opinion by Langholz, J.  (7 pages)

            Joseph and Bambi Schmidt appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment on their breach-of-contract claim challenging an insurance appraisal award that decided the amount of loss to their property from the 2020 derecho.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court correctly granted summary judgment.  The Schmidts do not argue that the appraisal process was infected with fraud, mistake, or misfeasance—the only grounds on which we could ignore the otherwise binding determination of the Schmidts’ loss under their insurance policy.  And the arguments that they do make merely seek to improperly revisit that award.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Henry W. Latham II, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Ahlers, P.J., Badding, J., and Gamble, S.J.  Opinion by Gamble, S.J.  (11 pages)

            A postconviction-relief applicant appeals the dismissal of his claim of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the applicant did not establish prejudice, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Benton County, Chad Kepros, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Greer, P.J., and Ahlers and Badding, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, P.J.  Special Concurrence by Ahlers, J.  (12 pages)

            Tacoa Talley was tried by jury and convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Jodie Bevans.  Talley appeals three decisions made by the district court: the admission of “enhanced” audio from a Snapchat video, the transcript of the social media video, and the submission of disputed language in a jury instruction.  OPINION HOLDS: We find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the challenged evidence and did not err in submitting the pertinent jury instruction.  As a result, this court affirms Talley’s conviction.  SPECIAL CONCURRENCE ASSERTS: While I agree with the majority that the challenged jury instruction is a correct statement of the law, I write separately to suggest some improvement could be made to the stock instruction to provide more clarity.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Webster County, Angela L. Doyle and Christopher C. Polking, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Tabor, C.J., and Chicchelly and Sandy, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, C.J. (22 pages)           

            Jordan Webb appeals his convictions for second-degree sexual abuse, incest, and child endangerment.  He contends there is insufficient evidence to support the verdicts and the district court erred in admitting hearsay statements made by the child victim, denying his motion for mistrial based on prosecutorial misconduct, and denying his motion for new trial based on his challenge to the weight of the evidence.  OPINION HOLDS: We find substantial evidence supports the verdicts.  The district court committed harmless error when it admitted the child’s hearsay statements, and it did not abuse its discretion in admitting the statements over Webb’s rule 5.403 objection or denying Webb’s motion for new trial.  Webb failed to preserve error on his prosecutorial misconduct claim.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Mark T. Hostager, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Chicchelly, P.J., Buller, J., and Doyle, S.J.  Opinion by Doyle, S.J.  (11 pages)

            Dale Lyons Jr. appeals his conviction of indecent exposure claiming there was insufficient evidence to convict him, he was not competent to stand trial, and his right to a speedy trial was violated.  OPINION HOLDS: We find there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict.  Lyons failed to meet his burden to prove incompetency.  Lyons failed to preserve error on the speedy trial issue.  We affirm his conviction and sentence.