Heather R. Smith, appellant/cross-appellee v. Jeffrey Michael Janssen, appellee/cross-appellant., 16-0018

Custody-exchange altercation (Oct 2015) between Heather Smith and Jeff Janssen; Heather entered Jeff’s vehicle trying to remove their older child; physical contact occurred between both adults.
Each party sought a domestic abuse protective order against the other; actions were consolidated and a 1.5-day hearing was held.
District court found both Heather and Jeff committed domestic-abuse assaults and issued protective orders in Dec. 2015.
Both parties appealed the domestic-assault findings and the denial of trial attorney fees; appeals were consolidated and transferred to the Court of Appeals.
Court of Appeals reviewed de novo (treated as an equitable proceeding) and gave weight to trial-court credibility findings while reassessing sufficiency of evidence that statutory assault elements were met.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Heather committed an assault by touching/poking Jeff after he said "Don't touch me"	Heather’s conduct was immature/taunting and not sufficiently offensive to violate a reasonable sense of personal dignity	Touching was unwanted but trivial and not offensive enough to constitute assault	Held: Heather’s repeated unwanted touches (shoulders, cheek) done to taunt were offensive and supported assault finding
Whether Heather committed assault by punching Jeff	Heather denied serious injury and argues punches were not established	District court found Heather punched Jeff two or three times	Held: Court did not need to resolve punches issue because offensive touching finding was sufficient
Whether Jeff committed an assault by putting hands on Heather while removing her from vehicle	Jeff claims he used reasonable force to protect children and himself—justified defense of others	Heather argues Jeff’s grabbing escalated situation and created risk; force was unnecessary and not justified	Held: Jeff’s use of force was not justified; his hands-on conduct escalated situation and supported assault finding
Whether trial and appellate attorney fees should be awarded	Each sought fees under Iowa Code §236.5(4) after prevailing on their own petitions	Trial court denied fees to both; both request appellate fees	Held: Trial court did not abuse discretion in denying trial fees; appellate court also denies appellate attorney fees

Wilker v. Wilker, 630 N.W.2d 590 (Iowa 2001) (de novo review of equitable domestic-abuse proceedings)
Knight v. Knight, 525 N.W.2d 841 (Iowa 1994) (equitable review standards)
Molo Oil Co. v. City of Dubuque, 692 N.W.2d 686 (Iowa 2005) (appellate review mirrors trial mode)
Bacon ex rel. Bacon v. Bacon, 567 N.W.2d 414 (Iowa 1997) (distinguishing law actions where review is for errors at law)
Passehl Estate v. Passehl, 712 N.W.2d 408 (Iowa 2006) (minor evidentiary rulings do not convert equitable trial to law action)
Sille v. Shaffer, 297 N.W.2d 379 (Iowa 1980) (de novo review despite evidentiary rulings)
Nelson v. Winnebago Indus., Inc., 619 N.W.2d 385 (Iowa 2000) (offensive contact judged by reasonable sense of personal dignity)
State v. Johnson, 291 N.W.2d 6 (Iowa 1980) (intent to offensively touch suffices for assault)
State v. Spears, 312 N.W.2d 79 (Iowa Ct. App. 1981) (unwanted touching without consent can be offensive)
State v. Redmon, 244 N.W.2d 792 (Iowa 1976) (unpermitted application of force in rude or insolent manner can be assault)
State v. Rubio, 602 N.W.2d 558 (Iowa 1999) (limits on justification defense for use of force)
Schaffer v. Frank Moyer Constr. Inc., 628 N.W.2d 11 (Iowa 2001) (statutory authority for trial fees can extend to appellate fees)
In re Marriage of Benson, 545 N.W.2d 252 (Iowa 1996) (attorney-fee awards are discretionary)