Frustrated with the parties involved in the litigation, the Indiana Court of Appeals April 17 reversed a trial court's ruling in a case involving public-access laws, fraud, and an insurer's duty to defend.In Allianz Insurance Company, et al. v. Guidant Corporation, et al., No. 49A05-0704-CV-216, Chief Judge John Baker wrote the unanimous opinion regarding the "monstrosity of a litigation that has crossed state lines" is a straightforward dispute about when and whether an insurer's duty to defend had been triggered. The judge cited the...

A former television journalist is the new public information officer for the Indiana Supreme Court. Kathryn Dolan, former morning news anchor at WLFI in Lafayette, was hired in an effort to continue promoting public awareness about the Supreme Court.Dolan will work to help better inform citizens about how the court works and the impact of its decisions, and will also encourage media coverage of the Supreme Court. Dolan, a New Mexico native, started in the position June 30.She takes over a...

The deadline for clerks to submit an Indiana Trial Rule 77(k) request to post court information on the Internet has been extended to Feb. 29. The original deadline was Feb. 15. A complete list of counties approved to post court records can be found on the state's judiciary Web site. Clerks, with the consent of the majority of the judges in the courts of record, may make certain court records available to the public through remote electronic access, such as the Internet....

An Indiana attorney convicted of sexual battery, criminal confinement and interference with reporting of a crime was sentenced March 6 in Porter Circuit Court. Michael Haughee had been found guilty of assaulting a woman in a wheelchair. Haughee received a concurrent sentence on all three counts of one year in jail and one year supervised probation. The Griffith attorney wasn't immediately taken into custody because Porter Circuit Judge Mary Harper agreed to consider whether to stay his jail sentence pending an appeal, said Porter...

"Homelessness in Indianapolis: Whose problem is it?" is the subject of the next First Wednesday event, presented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, at noon to 12:50 p.m., March 5, at the Indiana Historical Society, 450 W. Ohio St., Indianapolis (directions: http://www.indianahistory.org/visit/directions.html).The discussion will feature panelists Eric Howard, who in 1996 founded Outreach Inc. to serve homeless and at-risk youth in Indianapolis; Charles Haenlein, president and chief executive officer of the Indiana Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation; and Carter Wolf,...

Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner rushed to his downtown Franklin office on Saturday to save computers and files from floodwater.At first, water was about an inch high. Within an hour, the floodwater had creeped higher - he was being shocked while trying to salvage computers. The water suddenly reached 4 feet, making the prosecutor's office look more like an aquarium than an office. Rushing floodwater rose even higher, crushing doors shut, trapping him inside so that he couldn't even escape through...

To observe National Crime Victims' Rights Week, which kicked off April 13 and lasts through April 19, many communities in Indiana have organized events to recognize crime victims, survivors, and the service providers who come to their aid.Some events around the state include:Victim Assistance Candlelight Vigil, 5:30 p.m. today at the Allen County Courthouse, 715 S. Calhoun St., Fort Wayne. The event is sponsored by Fort Wayne Police Department Victim Assistance. Understanding & Investing in Children Trapped in Domestic Violence, 8...

State statute doesn't allow trial courts to order restitution to pay for installation of a security system in victims' homes, the Indiana Court of Appeals decided today.Ruling on Keith Elton Rich v. State of Indiana, No. 79A05-0712-CR-687, the appellate court reversed Tippecanoe Circuit Judge Thomas Busch's restitution order issued in October 2007. Rich had pleaded guilty to burglary and marijuana possession and received a 14-year sentence that was partially suspended to probation. As a condition of probation, he also was ordered to...

A group of about two dozen public administrators from Kazakhstan are in Indianapolis today learning about the state and local courts systems. The group visited the Marion County courts this afternoon.Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of Marion Superior Court welcomed them and gave an introduction about Marion County courts. She discussed the election process and the day-to-day work of a judge. After learning about our judicial system, the group toured several courtrooms and watched a jury trial, said Marion County Court Administrator Glenn...

The Indiana Supreme Court threw out a life-without-parole sentence for felony murder because there wasn't proof the killing was "intentional," as state law requires for that penalty.In Hobert Alan Pittman v. State of Indiana, No. 31S00-0610-CR-355, Hobert Alan Pittman appealed his convictions and sentence of two consecutive life sentences for murdering his father and stepgrandmother, as well as a 73-year sentence for convictions of attempted murder, theft, auto theft, and conspiracy to commit burglary. Pittman's stepmother, Linda, and stepgrandmother, Myrtle, were returning...

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld fines against two men convicted of defrauding investors, finding a reasonable jury would have found them guilty of scienter even though the defendants didn't take the stand. In Thursday's ruling in United States Securities and Exchange Commission v. Melvin R. Lyttle and Paul E. Knight, Nos. 07-2466, 07-2467, Melvin Lyttle and Paul Knight appealed the $110,000 fines each got following a grant of summary judgment in favor of the SEC on a variety of...

For the first time, the Indiana Supreme Court today affirmed a trial court's sentence of life without parole for a Lafayette mother who had pleaded guilty to torturing and killing her stepdaughter.In Michelle Gauvin v. State of Indiana, No. 79S00-0702-CR-65, the state's highest court ruled 4-1 in a direct appeal that Tippecanoe Superior Judge Thomas Busch correctly sentenced the Lafayette mother for murder, confinement, and neglect of her 4-year-old stepdaughter, Aiyana. The girl died from head trauma in March 2005 after months...

The Indiana Court of Appeals travels to Hammond April 7 to hear arguments in a case involving a dispute after the sale of real estate. Arguments begin at 10 a.m. CST in the Lake Superior Court, Civil Division No. 1 Courtroom, 232 Russell St., Hammond. In the case, Gladys E. Tobias v. Margaret and Thomas Mannella, No. 45A03-0708-CV-373, on appeal from Lake Superior Court, Judges Patricia Riley, James Kirsch, and Margret Robb are asked to decide whether the trial court erred...

The Marion County prosecutor's radio show, "Crime Beat," Sunday will address the current concern about whether Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, who took office earlier this month, or Sheriff Frank Anderson should directly manage the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.Anderson has overseen the IMPD since the merger of the Marion County Sheriff's Department and the Indianapolis Police Department Jan. 1, 2007, following an ordinance of the city-county council. Ballard has expressed the possibility of management of the police department going to the mayor...

The Heartland Pro Bono Council, which serves Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Marion, Morgan, and Shelby counties in central Indiana, received a cy pres award of more than $65,000 late last year and the organization is looking to distribute the money in the upcoming months. That amount, along with other funds the HPBC has received in cy pres monies in recent years - totaling $90,000 - will be given in one grant or multiple grants sometime after June 5, 2008.Heartland is...

In the week ahead, an Evansville judge could be the first Hoosier jurist to hand down a death sentence since state law changed in 2002. Vanderburgh Circuit Judge Carl Heldt is scheduled to conduct a sentencing hearing Friday morning for Daniel Ray Wilkes, who jurors convicted last month on three counts of murder for the April 2006 slayings of an Evansville mother and her two daughters, ages 13 and 8.While they agreed on the guilt phase of the trial, jurors came...

A recent graduate of Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington has been given the first Terry and Judy Albright Pro Bono and Public Interest Award. The law firm Baker & Daniels has sponsored the award in honor of the couple. Alex Kornya received the award for the significant work he's done in pro bono and public interest areas. Kornya served as a student advisor and co-director of the Protective Order Project and worked with other anti-domestic violence organizations. He also...

The Indiana Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the statute of limitations on a claim for contribution toward cleanup costs doesn't begin until the owner is ordered to clean up the property, regardless of whether the owner should have known about the contamination earlier. The issue in Richard U. Pflanz and Delores J. Pflanz v. Merrill Foster, individually, Merrill Foster d/b/a/ Friendly Foster's Service, and Sunoco Inc. (R&M),  No. 36S01-0710-CV-425, is when the 10-year statute of limitations began on a claim for...

An Indianapolis attorney is getting one last warning from the Indiana Supreme Court before being suspended indefinitely from practicing law.Attorney Wilburn G. Lowry of Marion County received an additional 90 days on his suspension handed down nearly a year ago, with the court specifically noting in its Jan. 11, 2008, order that "any future suspension for failure to meet CLE or dues requirements shall result in an indefinite suspension."In the order In the Matter of Contempt of the Supreme Court of...

The earthquake that devastated so much of southwestern China this month hit close to home for Baker & Daniels attorney Calvin Ding. Ding, who focuses on international law, has a 9-year-old cousin who was in a school leveled by the 8.0-magnitude quake. The school was in Dujiangyan, a city near the epicenter in Sichuan province. Ding got a call last week to inform him that, aside from scrapes and bruises, the girl was OK. Yin Ding managed to crawl out of...

An Indiana case goes up to the U.S. Supreme Court in the final week of March to determine whether a man who's been found competent to stand trial is competent to represent himself in those court proceedings.Before that happens, though, the defense team representing the Indianapolis man is at the University of Illinois College of Law in Chicago getting a test run today in a mock argument of Indiana v. Ahmad Edwards, No. 07-208, which will go before the nation's highest court...

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Thursday morning on whether a federal magistrate in Indianapolis should be elevated to district judge for the Southern District of Indiana.A nomination vote for Magistrate William Lawrence is on the committee's agenda for the 10 a.m. meeting. The Indianapolis magistrate, who's been on the bench since 2002, went before the Senate committee in early May for his confirmation hearing. The president had selected him in February for the seat.If affirmed by the...

An Indianapolis law firm has been holding its breath for two years. Ever since getting hit with a potentially devastating $17.9 million jury verdict on a legal malpractice claim in state court, the 45-year-old law firm Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Towe hasn't been able to put the focus on its daily client business without acknowledging that dark storm cloud hovering overhead. Now, the storm cloud has dissolved. In what may be the state's largest-ever liquidation return of its kind, the Indiana...

The Indiana Senate's Energy and Environmental Affairs Committee Wednesday unanimously approved Senate Bill 45, which endorses Indiana's involvement with the Great Lakes Compact.The compact would help determine across-the-board regulations of the use and security of valuable waterways that make up 20 percent of the world's fresh water sources. It would include eight states that border the Great Lakes: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Currently, each state has its own regulations.The waterways were...

For the first time in 70 years, the U.S. Supreme Court is testing the scope of the Second Amendment and could decide what "the right to keep and bear arms" means for the 21st century.Justices will consider the question Tuesday morning in District of Columbia v. Heller, 07-290, which involves a citizen's challenge to a Washington, D.C., law banning him from keeping a handgun in his home.At issue is to what extent the gun rights amendment to the Constitution applies to...