The defendant in a workplace injury lawsuit was properly relieved from a default judgment against it despite the defense’s inexcusable neglect, a panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled. A dissenting judge, however, warned the majority’s decision could result in litigants performing “end runs” around excusable neglect rules.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has once again weighed in on the issue of whether commitment orders approved only summarily by a trial court judge are valid, finding Thursday that a civil commitment litigant waived her challenge of the allegedly defective order by not raising the issue in trial court. The appellate panel also found sufficient evidence to support a finding that the litigant was gravely disabled.
A man convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon after he allegedly tossed a pistol from his car during a police stop failed to convince the Indiana Court of Appeals that the evidence against him was insufficient.
The majority of an Indiana Court of Appeals panel reversed the resentencing of a burglar who was serving an out-of-state sentence, holding that a harsher sentence that was imposed on a prior remand was a manifest injustice. But a dissenting judge wrote that the offender’s victims would suffer a greater injustice if the sentence is reduced.
The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed a grant of summary judgment to a South Bend hospital after it upheld that res ipsa loquitur did not apply to facts in a hip-replacement related negligence claim.
A dispute between extended family members over who will become the special administrator of a Johnson County estate was resolved in favor of the guardians of the deceased’s children after the Indiana Court of Appeals determined that administrator appointments cannot be made based on who files a petition first.
A man twice convicted of attempted murder has failed to convince the Indiana Court of Appeals to again reverse and remand his conviction after filing three appellate challenges to his conviction within two years.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has reaffirmed a March decision that overturned summary judgment for a national motor company after granting a petition for rehearing to address the allegedly common practice of parties simultaneously filing motions to correct error and notices of appeal.
A Vanderburgh County man convicted of beating his girlfriend to death has lost his bid for post-conviction relief from the Indiana Court of Appeals, which found he did not receive ineffective assistance of trial counsel.