Lawyers face scooter liability confusion; bill seeks regulations
As scooter accidents mount, liability has become a significant issue for lawyers representing clients involved in crashes, and at least one lawmaker has proposed statewide regulations.
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As scooter accidents mount, liability has become a significant issue for lawyers representing clients involved in crashes, and at least one lawmaker has proposed statewide regulations.
Among the biggest issues the 2019 General Assembly will have to contend with is the Department of Child Services, which is still reeling after a tumultuous year that saw a leader abruptly resign and a national group identify several shortcomings in the department’s operations. Gov. Eric Holcomb is calling on lawmakers to devote significant financial resources to the struggling department, and all four legislative leaders say their caucuses plan to make DCS a top priority.
At any time during the week, members of the public, pro se litigants and attorneys find their way into the Evansville public law library and quickly turn a quiet day into a busy one.
The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission addressed such questionable relationships in an advisory opinion that cautions Hoosier attorneys against “license rental” partnerships with out-of-state law firms or non-lawyer service groups. Through these partnerships, Hoosier attorneys lend their services to the out-of-state firm or non-lawyer group in exchange for a fee paid for limited client representation in Indiana.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Roderick Vandrell Lewis v. State of Indiana,
18A-PC-767
Post-conviction. Affirms denial of post-conviction relief petition. While agreeing with Roderick Lewis that his attorney’s performance at sentencing was deficient, concludes Lewis’s 130-year sentence for his conviction of felony murder would not have been different if counsel had offered the mitigating circumstances raised at the post-conviction hearing. Finds the post-conviction court correctly determined that Lewis was required to establish prejudice under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 688, 694 (1984) rather than U.S. v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648 (1984). Also holds appellate counsel was not ineffective.
A man convicted of murder as a teen unsuccessfully argued before the Indiana Court of Appeals that evidence in his case was erroneously admitted, with the appellate court instead finding the trial court did not abuse its discretion.
An immigrant woman who waited 12 years to seek relief from a forgery conviction has lost the appeal of the denial of her post-conviction relief petition, with the Indiana Court of Appeals finding the woman did not provide a credible explanation for the delay.
Although the Indiana Court of Appeals agreed the relationship had broken between a Fort Wayne criminal defense attorney and his client, it did not find that the 130-year sentence handed down would have been significantly less if defense counsel had offered mitigating circumstances.
A Putnam County farmer will only be partially compensated for grain he deposited with a failed grain elevator after a divided panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals rejected his reading of the relevant compensation statute.
The Indiana Supreme Court is seeking comment on proposed changes to trial rules that govern what happens if a trial judge fails to timely rule on a motion and that would remove Supreme Court involvement in the appointment of a special judge. The court’s Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure is considering amendments to Indiana Trial Rules 53.1 and 53.2.
The Indiana Judicial Conference Board of Directors and Court Alcohol and Drug Program Advisory Committee are seeking public comment on proposed amendments to rules for court-administered alcohol and drug programs. Amendments have been proposed for sections 19, 22, 27, 30 and 31 to the rules, and the creation of a new section concerning chemical testing has also been proposed.
Indiana students in third grade and up are invited to participate in an essay contest in recognition of National Law Day on May 1. Entrants in each category must pen a 100-word essay in response to this year’s question, “Should there be limits to free speech? Why or why not?”
Indiana lawyers who are members of Congress, senators or vice president no longer have to worry about meeting continuing legal education requirements under a rule adopted this week by the Indiana Supreme Court. The new rule also decreases CLE credits required for state lawmakers who are attorneys.
Competency evaluations will be reviewed for a man charged in the fatal shootings of a woman whose body was found in an abandoned rural central Indiana farmhouse and a man found slain at a nature preserve in Anderson.
Be it rosary beads for a Catholic, a meeting with a rabbi, a prayer mat for Ramadan or a Bible for someone who’s never held one, whatever the religious need, it’s met by the chaplain and staff at the Monroe County Jail.
An Evansville man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for the death of a neighbor who was killed when a bullet traveled through an apartment wall.
Indiana Court of Appeals
City of Gary, Indiana and Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority v. Auto-Owners Insurance Company
18A-CT-68
Civil tort. Affirms the Lake Superior Court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Auto-Owners Insurance Company, a liability insurer for one of the defendants in a lawsuit seeking payment for cleaning up contaminated property. Finds the city’s complaint focused solely on the operation of Western Scrap and did not allege facts that might fall under the Auto-Owners policies that covered Recycle West. Also rules Auto-Owners designated sufficient evidence to make a prima facie showing that negated the airport’s separate contamination lawsuit.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit Wednesday against two as yet unidentified Indianapolis police officers, alleging they unlawfully seized and destroyed the belongings of five homeless individuals who had been living under a railroad bridge.
The city of Gary’s lawsuit seeking payment for cleaning up contaminated property near the Gary/Chicago International Airport has stalled after the Indiana Court of Appeals found the business owner’s insurer had no duty to indemnify.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court’s division of a divorced couple’s marital property, finding the wife’s survivor benefit from her ex-husband’s pension could not be excluded from the marital assets.