2025 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Coleman McAllister, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Tabor, C.J., and Ahlers and Sandy, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (6 pages)

            Plaintiffs appeal the district court’s decisions to exclude their expert witness from testifying and to deny their motion for new trial based on the exclusion of the expert in this legal malpractice case.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court did not abuse its discretion when it excluded the expert witness’s testimony and denied the motion for new trial.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Madison County, Stacie Ritchie, Judge.  AFFIRMED AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.  Considered without oral argument by Schumacher, P.J., and Badding and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (6 pages)

            The ME-DE Irrevocable Land Trust, through its trustee Michael Erwin, appeals from the district court’s determination that it breached a real estate auction contract.  OPINION HOLDS: We find that substantial evidence supports the district court’s determination that the land trust repudiated the contract.  We affirm and remand for a determination of reasonable appellate attorney fees. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, John M. Sandy, Judge.  AFFIRMED AND REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.  Considered without oral argument by Greer, P.J., and Ahlers and Badding, JJ. Sandy, J., takes no part.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (11 pages)

            Billy Oyadare appeals from the district court’s property distribution award in the decree dissolving his marriage to Sarah Oyadare.  OPINION HOLDS: We find that the district court’s property division is equitable, there was no dissipation of marital assets, and the court did not abuse its discretion in awarding Sarah trial attorney fees.  We award Sarah appellate attorney fees and remand to the district court to determine the amount that should be awarded. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Roger L. Sailer, Tod Deck, and Jeffrey A. Neary, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Ahlers, P.J., and Badding and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, P.J.  (9 pages)

            A defendant appeals his convictions following conditional guilty pleas in two separate cases contending his charges should have been dismissed for failing to meet the speedy-trial requirements of Iowa’s Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act (IADA).  OPINION HOLDS: The defendant failed to preserve error in one of his cases.  In the other case, the defendant failed to comply with the notice requirements of the IADA to trigger the IADA’s 180-day disposition deadline, so the district court correctly denied his motion.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Samantha Gronewald, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Badding, P.J., and Langholz and Sandy, JJ.  Opinion by Langholz, J.  (10 pages)

            Monique Rodriguez-Flores and Jaymes Flores appeal the dismissal of their tort lawsuit against the City of Des Moines arising from Rodriguez-Flores’s slip and fall while walking on a road in a city cemetery after a snowfall.  They argue that the district court improperly granted summary judgment to the City based on the immunity in Iowa Code section 668.10(1)(b) (2021) because a material fact dispute existed about whether the City was following its snow-and-ice-removal policy for roads.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court correctly granted summary judgment because it is undisputed that the city began its snow and ice removal in the cemetery within twelve hours of the snowfall’s end as required by its policy.  The other potential factual disputes argued on appeal are not material to compliance with this policy or not preserved because they were not decided by the district court.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, David Odekirk, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Tabor, P.J., and Schumacher and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (10 pages)

            A defendant appeals his convictions for attempted murder and willful injury causing serious injury.  On appeal, he challenges two of the trial court’s evidentiary rulings and asserts that insufficient evidence exists to support the convictions.  OPINION HOLDS: We discern no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s evidentiary rulings.  And this record contains sufficient evidence to support the convictions challenged on appeal.  Accordingly, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Paul D. Scott, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Schumacher, P.J., and Badding and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Chicchelly, J.  (7 pages)

            Jason and Teresa Zilk appeal the dismissal of their appeal to the district court of the compensation commission’s appraisement of damages awarded in a condemnation proceeding.  OPINION HOLDS: Because substantial evidence supports the district court’s finding that the Zilks failed to substantially comply with the statutory notice provisions or show good cause for failing to do so, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Christopher Kemp, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Schumacher, P.J., and Badding and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Chicchelly, J.  (5 pages)

            Tyrone Bryson appeals the dismissal of his application for postconviction relief from his 1999 convictions and the sanctions imposed by the court.  OPINION HOLDS: Substantial evidence supports the district court’s determination that Bryson’s claim is frivolous, and the court did not abuse its discretion in imposing a penalty for loss of thirty days earned time credit.  Bryson failed to preserve error on his claim that the district court improperly took judicial notice of outside pleadings.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Samantha Gronewald, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Tabor, C.J., and Ahlers and Sandy, JJ.  Opinion by Sandy, J.  (12 pages)

            Shelly Sholley appeals the district court’s ruling dismissing her petition to vacate an in rem judgment received by Newrez LLC—doing business as Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing (Shellpoint).  On appeal, she argues the district court improperly dismissed her petition to vacate due to her failure to serve Shellpoint with original notice—signed by the clerk and under the seal of the court—in a timely manner.  OPINION HOLDS: Because we find the district court did not err by dismissing Sholley’s petition to vacate for failure to serve original notice within the timeframe prescribed by our rules of civil procedure, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Christopher Kemp, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Tabor, C.J., and Greer and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (16 pages)

            John Mordini appeals the decree dissolving his marriage to Nichole (Nikki) Miras Mordini.  He argues (1) he should have been awarded traditional spousal support because the parties were married more than twenty years and have a large discrepancy in annual income; (2) he should be awarded half the value of Nikki’s retirement accounts; (3) debts he incurred in the lead-up to the dissolution trial should have been considered marital and divided between the two parties; and (4) “errors of law at trial and bias by the [district court] evidenced in the . . . decree of dissolution of marriage violated his due process rights and prevented him from receiving an equitable proceeding.”  Nikki asks that we affirm the dissolution decree and award her $15,000 in appellate attorney fees.  OPINION HOLDS: First, we deny Nikki’s motion to strike portions of John’s appellate brief.  Following our review of the dissolution proceedings, we affirm the district court’s decree and decline award appellate attorneys.

    Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clinton County, Kimberly K. Shepherd, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Tabor, C.J., and Schumacher and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, C.J. (4 pages)

    After pleading guilty to possession of marijuana, third offense, Billy Bishop asked the district court to suspend his indeterminate five-year prison sentence.  The court declined, finding that incarceration was the “appropriate rehabilitative plan” for Bishop and the better choice to protect the public.  On appeal, Bishop contends that sentence was an abuse of discretion.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding the district court properly weighed its sentencing options, we affirm.
 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Paul D. Miller, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Ahlers, P.J., and Badding and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Buller, J.  (4 pages)

            A criminal defendant appeals his discretionary sentence following a guilty plea.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no abuse of discretion by the sentencing court, we affirm.