Articles

Giving and taking: Landmark high court LGBTQ employment ruling clouded by ministerial exception expansion

Just as celebrations were starting over the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that Title VII protections cover transgender workers, another opinion from the nine justices shielded religious organizations from lawsuits by expanding the ministerial exception legal doctrine and injected more energy into potential religious liberty challenges to anti-discrimination laws.

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Smith: Indiana Court of Appeals upholds employer’s noncompete

The Indiana Court of Appeals recently published a decision that is instructive about noncompete agreements. It is one of the rare noncompete cases that does not contain the phrase: “Indiana courts are reluctant to enforce noncompete agreements because they constitute a restraint on trade.”

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Opinions Aug. 18, 2020

Indiana Court of Appeals
Victoria V. Arrowood v. State of Indiana
20A-CR-667
Criminal. Affirms the revocation of Victoria Arrowood’s placement in community corrections home detention and the order that she serve the remainder of her sentence in the Department of Correction. Finds that because the revocation of probation or placement in community corrections is civil, not criminal, in nature, Article 1, Section 13 of the Indiana Constitution is inapplicable. Also finds Arrowood was not denied her right to counsel.

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Opinions Aug. 17, 2020

Indiana Court of Appeals
Judy Vigus, as Administratrix of the Estate of Ruth C. Vigus and the Estate of Eugene Vigus v. Dinner Theater of Indiana, L.P.
19A-CT-1365
Civil tort. Affirms the Marion Superior Court’s judgment for Dinner Theater of Indiana L.P. following a jury trial on Judy Vigus’s complaint alleging negligence as administratrix of the Estates of Ruth C. Vigus and Eugene Vigus. Finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it revoked its pretrial order on a judicial admission or when it excluded evidence of communications between the theater’s owners that they would seek a variance in the riser’s height rather than reduce that height. Also finds Vigus has not preserved for review her contention on appeal that the trial court erred when it did not instruct the jury that the theater had made a judicial admission of a building code violation.

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Opinions Aug. 14, 2020

Indiana Court of Appeals
Kenneth Lavar Lancaster v. State of Indiana
19A-CR-02970
Criminal. Affirms Kenneth Lancaster’s convictions of three counts of murder. Finds the Marion Superior Court did not err by finding that the statement of Lancaster’s brother was admissible as an adoptive admission. Neither did it err in adding the second statement made by Lancaster, which it found to be plainly admissible. Also finds sufficient evidence to support the convictions. Lastly, finds that the trial court did not err in the sentencing process.

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Opinions Aug. 13, 2020

Indiana Court of Appeals
Tyson Daishan Lamonte King v. State of Indiana
20A-CR-6
Criminal. Reverses Tyson King’s conviction in Marshall Superior Court of Class A misdemeanor driving while suspended. Finds in deciding an issue of first impression that King’s driver’s license was not suspended when he was pulled over at approximately 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 24, 2018, because his suspension expired at 12:01 a.m. that same day.

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Opinions Aug. 12, 2020

Indiana Court of Appeals
Culver Community Teachers Association, et al. v. Indiana Education Employment Relations Board
19A-PL-2989
Civil plenary. Reverses the Marion Superior Court’s denial of the Culver Community Teachers Association, Decatur County Education Association, Smith-Green Community Schools Classroom Teachers Association, and West Clark Teachers Association’s joint verified petition for judicial review of the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board’s final decisions regarding their respective collective bargaining agreements. Finds the trial court erred in denying the Teachers Associations’ petition for judicial review. Remands to the IEERB with instructions to adopt the ratified contracts. Judge Patricia Riley dissents with a separate opinion.

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Opinions Aug. 11, 2020

Indiana Court of Appeals
Susan Mwangi and Joe Mwangi v. Nicholas Bobelinski and Classic Seamless Gutter, Inc. (mem. dec.)
20A-CT-528
Civil tort. Affirms the entry of summary judgment in favor of Nicholas Bobelinski and Classic Seamless Gutter, Inc. against Susan and Joe Mwangi. Finds no abuse of discretion in the St. Joseph Superior Court’s denial of Susan’s requests to continue the trial to secure counsel. Also finds that Susan was not denied her day in court and that the trial court did not clearly err in dismissing the action.

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