Court of Appeals Opinions

New opinions from the Court of Appeals of Iowa. I didn’t find anything too earth-shattering, but the opinions are located here.

I did want to say congratulations to Court of Appeals Judge and former 6th District Judge Amanda Potterfield. I noticed her name as one of the considering judges in a few of the opinions. I also noticed that one of the orders from her previously life as a district court judge was affirmed by the court of appeals.

Finally, a good friend of mine from law school was on the losing end of an opinion filed today. It was her first appeal, which is more than I’ve done. She says that they are seeking further review. Interesting opinion and, according to her, there were multiple arguments made at trial concerning the propriety of the modification action. We’ll see what happens. Good luck, Erika.

Here’s the latest in Linn County

Here is the latest order concerning the flooding in Linn County. Mainly, Jones County is no longer accepting Linn County filings and there is no more faxing of signed orders. Appearently there are still some telephone issues for some of the offices.

I can’t believe I forgot…

We got our server out of our office on Tuesday and it’s been up and running since Wednesday afternoon/night. Our contact info is still the same, though our telephone system is still not really working and is just rolling to our Williamsburg office where staff is taking messages and emailing them to us.

We have temporary office space with John Maher at 4201 1st Avenue SE in Cedar Rapids. We’re still using our old snail mail address, though. This has all been a learning experience.

For more info about what’s going on with other flood-affected firms in CR, go to the Linn County Bar Association website.

New info about Linn County Court operations

See the newest release here. I guess we’re getting back in business.

FYI – COURTHOUSE CLOSINGS

This will come as no surprise to most of you. A call this afternoon to the Benton County Courthouse yeilded an automated message giving their normal business hours and telling people that they are currently closed and don’t know when they’ll return.

Also, I just received an email stating that the Linn County Courthouse will be closed Thursday and Friday.

I was supposed to have pretrial conferences at both places tomorrow. I wonder how they’ll deal with scheduling issues that arise from the unexpected closings.

If I hear of any more in the area, I’ll post them.

Great event for lawyers and law students…

The Honorable Judge Russell will be speaking at a Johnson County YLD event this Friday. His topic will be tips on trial practice and courtroom procedure. Lawyers and law students are welcome to attend. More info here. Please RSVP as asked in the flyer so we have enough food. This is the first of what we hope will be a successful series.

Iowa Court of Appeals

There were a number of new Court of Appeals opinions released today. I looked through the summaries and found so many that I thought might be interesting. I ended up needing to shave my list a little bit so I could get some work done.

There is one that touches on judicial recusal in an attorney malpractice case. Not really much there, though.

An unfortunate case concerning a mother’s need for her child to be sick.

Another child custody case that has a very interesting outcome. You have to read the dissent to find it that interesting, though.

A case about a gaming permit for the hallowed (see my last post) National Cattle Congress. Actually, it’s for the now defunct dog track in Waterloo, which is run by the Cattle Congress Board. This opinion, though, is now mysteriously missing from the page of recent decisions, though it still shows up in the summaries.

And a criminal case that I find remarkable only because I think I went to high school with the defendant.

Finally, my condolences to my office-mate Rockne Cole for the disposition of his post-conviction relief appeal.

Happy reading.

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.

New Iowa Supreme Court Justice

Congrats to the Honorable David Baker, currently a judge on the Iowa Court of Appeals, who has been appointed to be the next Iowa Supreme Court Justice. He has had somewhat a meteoric rise in the ranks of judges in Iowa. He was appointed to the District Bench in Linn County in 2005, then to the Court of appeals in 2006, now in 2008 to the Iowa Supreme Court. Score one for Corridor lawyers.