Michael W. Hoskins

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management was correct in interpreting a federal safe drinking water act to mean that a public water system can be composed of separate, unconnected wells serving a larger area together, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today.In IDEM v. Construction Management Associates L.L.C. and Hilltop Farms, No. 52A02-0711-CV-994, a three-judge panel reversed a Miami Circuit judge’s ruling that the state agency had incorrectly determined that separate, unconnected wells constituted a public water system and required the apartment…

A trial court should assume that when a divorcing couple divides part of their marital assets on its own, that division is done justly and reasonably and the court should divvy up the remainder of their estate as the entire balance.The Indiana Court of Appeals made that holding in today’s ruling on Thelma M. Nornes v. Raymond M. Nornes, No. 46A03-0712-CV-564, a divorce case out of LaPorte County. The two were married in 1998 and started the dissolution process in 2006.Prior…

The Indiana Supreme Court may be asked to determine whether an Evansville judge correctly decided to uphold a death sentence after a jury’s indecision regarding the penalty.Attorneys for death row inmate Daniel Ray Wilkes aren’t taking issue with how Vanderburgh Circuit Judge Carl Heldt applied the law but rather the nature and constitutionality of the statute itself.Judge Heldt in late January decided on the death sentence for Wilkes, who was convicted in December on three murder counts for the April 2006…

A federal lawsuit challenging Indiana’s rules prohibiting judicial candidates from responding to a survey about their views is picking up where a similar suit left off late last year.The nonprofit Indiana Right to Life Inc. filed a suit April 18 on behalf of Marion Superior Judge David Certo, who is running for the court for the first time after being appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels to fill a vacancy last year, and Torrey Bauer, a candidate for Kosciusko Superior Court. The…

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a northern Indiana judge’s order to protect certain information and trade secrets, holding the District Court judge didn’t adequately distinguish what shouldn’t be released in a copyright and trade secrets dispute between two competing modular home builders.A unanimous three-judge panel ruled today in Patriot Homes, Inc. and Patriot Manufacturing, Inc. v. Forest River Housing, Inc., d/b/a Sterling Homes, No. 06-3012.The case involved Patriot Homes and Forest River Housing, who’d been competing contentiously for years,…

Even if a marriage is questionable in another state, Indiana will recognize that marriage if it complies with Hoosier law.An Indiana Supreme Court ruling late Tuesday gave that answer in Emma McPeek, et al. v. Charles McCardle, No. 58S01-0708-CV-305, which hails from Ohio Circuit Court and involves a technical issue regarding a couple not having an official out-of-state marriage license when they wed in Ohio, even though they’d had one from Indiana.The plaintiff-appellants in this case sued following their mother’s death in…

The Indiana Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving whether a man’s request challenging his prison detainment should have been treated as post-conviction relief or a writ of habeas corpus.Justices granted transfer late last week in Floyd Tewell v. State of Indiana, No. 48A02-0701-PC-118, which comes after a Nov. 5, 2007, decision from the Court of Appeals that had affirmed a ruling from Madison Superior Judge Thomas Newman Jr.The appeal stems from the court’s denial of Tewell’s petition for writ…

A Lake County negligence and public nuisance suit against gun manufacturers and distributors is making its way to the Indiana Court of Appeals for the second time.On Monday morning, a panel of Judges John Sharpnack, Ezra Friedlander, and Patricia Riley will consider Smith and Wesson Corporation, et al. v. Town of Gary, et al., 45A05-0612-CV-754. The 10 a.m. arguments will be in the Indiana Supreme Court courtroom.Gary city officials sued in 1999 alleging that handgun manufacturers negligently designed and distributed the…

The Indiana Supreme Court will decide whether counsel can inspect police reports that are already used by the state to refresh the recollection of a witness at trial. Last week, the high court granted one transfer out of more than three dozen cases considered for review by the state’s high court. The case Thabit Gault v. State of Indiana , 27A02-0603-CR-224, involves a Grant County man’s appeal of his 2004 arrest relating to felony possession of cocaine with intent to deliver….

The other shoe has dropped in the Anderson school uniform legal challenge as a federal judge in Indianapolis has dismissed the suit.U.S. District Judge John D. Tinder granted summary judgment for the school district late Monday, denying a preliminary injunction request from pro se parent plaintiffs Laura and Scott Bell. The couple filed a suit in Madison Circuit Court July 17 against Anderson Community Schools, claiming that a policy set to start on the first day of school Aug. 20 would…

A Vigo County Schools superintendent is protected from liability for defamation relating to comments he made in 2001 about an unidentified gunman who’d fired a shotgun at him, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled.In a unanimous decision late Wednesday, the court followed what other states have done and adopted a public interest privilege for Indiana designed to protect certain communications for private citizens. The privilege ruling puts an end to the six-year defamation dispute involving comments Superintendent Daniel T. Tanoos made…