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City of Donnellson, Iowa
v.
Julie Walljasper
Appellee
City of Donnellson, Iowa
Appellant
Julie Walljasper
Attorney for the Appellee
Steven C. Leidinger
Attorney for the Appellant
Ryan D. Gerling
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Lee (North) County, Joshua P. Schier, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Schumacher, P.J., and Ahlers and Langholz, JJ. Opinion by Langholz, J. (11 pages)
Julie Walljasper appeals from a judgment finding her residential building abandoned and awarding title to the city under Iowa Code section 657A.10B (2021). She challenges the abandonment finding, mainly arguing that she made enough improvements to avoid losing the property. And she challenges an evidentiary ruling about the scope of her cross-examination of the city’s main witness. OPINION HOLDS: On our de novo review, affording due weight to the district court’s factual findings, we agree that the evidence shows the house sits vacant, continues to deteriorate, and is unfit for human occupancy. Walljasper indeed made some improvements. But she only took meaningful steps after this petition was filed. And those eleventh-hour fixes were not enough to abate the house’s dilapidated condition. We thus find the house has been abandoned and the court properly awarded title to the city. As for the evidentiary ruling, the district court reasonably limited the scope of Walljasper’s cross-examination, and she did not try to raise the issue herself during her direct testimony. So we find no abuse of discretion.
