New Iowa Court of Appeals Opinions

Anyone interested in finding out just how childish and idiotic some adults can be should read State v. Gallimore. On appeal it was affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded. Mr. Gallimore certainly has some valid arguments and deserves the reversal and remand, but who can blame a Court for punishing this guy?

For a case on that fun old real property doctrine of adverse possession, see Stewart v. Judy. Can we really assume that Mr. Stewart was farming the land under claim of right when there’s no evidence of that? Maybe he’s just a jerk.

There’s a new dog bite case at Crabtree v. Johnson. A poor dad trying to keep his grown son from killing himself harbors a dangerous dog. Again, the wonderful world of childish adults. “Dad, I love that dog that I left to die in the backyard of your apartment building when I went to jail. If you get rid of Cotton, I’ll kill myself.”

And finally comes a smackdown from the Court of Appeals in a Benton County contempt case. First, they sustain the writ of certiorari and say there was no contempt. The father of the child didn’t return the child at the end of his physical care period because he got information from the mothers old boyfriend that she was dringking and doing drugs. Second came the rebule from the COA for the sentence entered: “You may not change the physical care of a child without findings of fact showing that such a change is in the child’s best interests.” Can’t say I disagree, especially since there was no evidence presented concerning the physicial care arrangement.

Happy reading. And again, if we can’t have fun with the law, why do it?

Law Day

I had a chance to attend some of the Law Day festivities at the Johnson County courthouse today. I sat in on a discussion concerning the need for a new “justice center” in Johnson County. Some of the conversation centered on the fact that there’s a lot of public knowledge about the need for a new jail because it costs money to house inmates somewhere else. On the other hand, there’s very little public knowledge about the need for more courthouse space because relatively few members of the general population have a reason to go there.

The only way we can let people know about the problem and get public support for a solution is to tell people about it. So, I urge attorneys, law students, judges, litigants, jurors, court staff, county attorney’s office staff and anyone else who’s noticed that there’s a lack of space at the Johnson County Courthouse to let people know.

Now, that may not be the easiest thing to do. You’re sitting around with friends talking about the price of cheese and you launch into a diatribe about the need for more space at the Johnson County Courthouse. You might need to find different people to hang out with next weekend. But there has been, is and will be a lot of discussion about the need for more jail space; and there’s no reason that the need for courthouse space should be a separate discussion.

So I’m a little behind . . .

Since I don’t think there’s anyone who counts on me posting the Court schedules, I’m not going to apologize for missing a few days while I recovered from my wisdom teeth extraction. I’ll try to be better now that I’m back to work. The procedure went well, but I’m still a little swollen. It was all great fun. I am proud to say that I didn’t dig into the narcotics the oral surgeon provided. I did just fine with the big bad Ibuprofen. Now, since I don’t want to pollute the water supply any more than it already is, I’m not sure how to dispose of the Vicodin that I have in my home. Any suggestions (preferably legal)?

Now, my task is to catch up on work, which will be no small feat. I never should have told anyone that my workload was waning. When it rains, it pours.

Ouch

So, I’m having all four of my wisdom teeth pulled tomorrow afternoon. The procedure starts at 1:30 and I can’t eat for six hours beforehand. I like to tell the story about how the dentist told me when I was 15 or so that I should consider having them out. That was two days after my sister had her’s out and she was at home lying on the couch, still in agony. So, I put it off.

Fifteen years later, I’ve decided to do it. I scheduled it for a time that I didn’t have anything on my calendar for a couple of days, then I’d have the weekend, too. Of course, two things were scheduled for me on Friday and I’ve had to find people to cover for me. I had one person lined up to do everything, but she ended up getting something scheduled at the same time. Then I had a different person lined up, but he ended up with something scheduled during one of the times. So, now I have two different attorneys covering for me on Friday.

Besides that, I’ve been trying to get as caught up as possible before having the procedure. That doesn’t always work out, does it? Now I have a new felony client and I scheduled a bond review for tomorrow morning.

Medical appointments and procedures have basically become a necessity for humans. How do they fit in with the practice of law? The answer: They don’t. One of the partners in my firm had emergency back surgery last fall. He ended up rescheduling one trial from October until December, and another one until May of this year. Not real great or the client, but necessary.

So, I’ll have my laptop and a number of files with me at home the next few days. I’ll be checking my email and voicemail occasionally. And I’ll be trying to get things done. I just hope none of the work I need to do interferes with my recovery. I’ll have to be sure to make time to put down my work and watch Oprah or Days of Our Lives or other such ridiculous things, just so I don’t lose sight of what’s most important – my health.

If I post anytime between 3:00 and 6:00 tomorrow afternoon, please disregard it. It will most likely be gibberish induced by the drugs.

Calling Young Lawyers

Anyone interested in being involved in a young lawyers division of the Johnson County Bar should contact me. A small group met today and talked about the kinds of things we’d like to do. We’ll take whatever input anyone has, but we’re looking at lunch meetings for now, with speakers of interest to a broad base of attorneys (judges, court staff, etc).

Trial Recovery

It’s been a week since I had a full-day trial. I wasn’t exactly on the ball about getting ready for it, so I was scrambling at the end. That scrambling made me put off other things that I needed to get done. So, I was way behind when I got o the office on Friday morning.

Today, one week after the trial, I am finally feeling like I’m caught up. I’ve talked to one of the partners about being ahead of things in the practice of law. He doesn’t believe it’s possible. He says he’s always behind and when he started practicing he asked his dad, also a lawyer, how to deal. His dad’s response: “Get used to it.”

Moral of the story: If there’s a way to be on top of things in the practice of law, I have not found it.

Rule Changes

The Supreme Court today released changes to forms contained in the Iowa Court Rules. You can find the changes here. I haven’t taken the time to figure out what the changes are, but I’m sure they’re extremely important.

Things I learned today from the Iowa Supreme Court

Two new opinions from the Iowa Supreme Court, today. The first dealt again with a challenge to the 2000 foot living restriction for sex offenders. The second again covering what the Public Defender’s Office must pay court appointed attorneys. Here’s what I learned:

Wright v. Iowa Department of Corrections – It doesn’t pay to have or have had sex with children. The living restriction on sex offenders applies to all sex offenders who perped on children, regardless of whether they are required to register.

State Public Defender v. Iowa District Court for Plymouth County - The State Public Defender’s Office likes to quibble. The SPD denied a $125 attorney fee claim in a CINA case because the client – a member of the National Guard deployed in Afghanistan – didn’t include any family members on his application, which was not signed by him and was filled out by the Clerk’s Office with information he provided over the telephone from Afghanistan.

Of course, as any good journalist would do, I failed to give you the whole story. Only the stuff that I think makes for good reading. Did it work? Are you angry at the SPD? Read the opinion and then talk to me.

I’m Terrible at Evidence

So, I learned something today during my trial. I’m terrible at evidence. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but I had issues with a few items of evidence. Oh well. The trial went and I think we did OK, so I guess that’s what matters. Now comes the catching up on everything I put off over the last week. Fun.

Trial Preparation

You know, trial preparation is pretty tedious. I’m a seat-of-the-pants kind of guy and I have a hard time sitting and reviewing everything, deciding what I want to use, figuring out how to get it into the record… There’s no question that it helps to be organized, but I’ve never been an organizer and when I try to get organized, I just get more disorganized. The point is that I don’t like trial preparation. Someday, I’ll just have some underling do all the legwork for me. Right now, I’m the underling, so I get to do all of my own stuff, plus whatever anyone else tells me.