An Indianapolis man who described his offenses as “being in a truck with drugs and a gun” was unable to get his sentence reduced after the Court of Appeals of Indiana rejected his argument that his six-year enhancement for being a habitual offender was an impermissible double enhancement.
A construction worker injured in a building collapse was, in fact, an independent contractor, the Court of Appeals of Indiana has concluded, rejecting an earlier finding that the worker was actually an employee of the company he sued.
An Indianapolis man will not have his charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon dropped, as the Court of Appeals of Indiana affirmed his constitutional rights weren’t infringed upon when the state applied Indiana Code § 35-47-4-5 to his case.
Read Indiana appellate court decisions from the most recent reporting period.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
In the Matter of the Power of Attorney of Darlene DeHart, Jeff DeHart v. Darlene DeHart
21A-GM-1043
Guardianship, miscellaneous. Affirms the Johnson Superior Court’s denial of a petition by Jeff DeHart to release an accounting of his mother, Darlene’s, finances. Finds the order is in the best interests of Darlene. Also finds the trial court erred in having Jeff bear the burden of proof instead of Darlene, but holds it harmless. Finally, finds Darlene was competent in appointing her daughter, Christine, as attorney-in-fact, and she is entitled to privacy in the management of her finances.
A Greenwood man will not obtain an accounting of his mother’s finances, as the Court of Appeals of Indiana has affirmed it is in the best interest of the woman that those details stay between her and the daughter she named as her guardian.
The Court of Appeals of Indiana has tossed a postadoption visitation order for a maternal grandmother, finding the Jennings Superior Court abused its discretion by ignoring the requirements and, in part, ordering contact four years after the adoption was completed.
A doctor who wasn’t notified of a lawsuit against him until one year after it was filed must face the lawsuit after the Court of Appeals of Indiana reversed its dismissal.
A man serving as personal representative of his brother’s estate has failed to convince the Court of Appeals of Indiana that the language in a will left by his deceased brother created a valid trust in his name.
Indiana Court of Appeals
In re the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of: AJ.D., J.A., and A.D. (Minor Children), and A.A. (Mother) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)
21A-JT-1394
Juvenile termination of parental rights. Affirms the termination of mother A.A.’s parental rights to her children, J.D., J.A. and A.D. Finds ample evidence to support the findings and conclusion that there is a reasonable probability that the reasons for the children’s removal from A.A. and continued placement outside her home will not be remedied. Also finds the Madison Circuit Court did not clearly err in terminating A.A.’s parental rights.
Neither an assessor nor a longtime northern Indiana shopping mall met their burdens of proof in an appeal contesting tax assessments of the mall’s property for 2015 and 2016, the Indiana Tax Court concluded, ordering for the assessments to revert back to their 2010 value.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
Abram Lamar Glover v. State of Indiana
21A-CR-1422
Criminal. Affirms Abram Glover’s convictions for Level 6 felony strangulation and Level 6 felony domestic battery. Finds the Knox Superior Court did not abuse its discretion in how it regulated the form and substance of Glover’s jury selection or when it denied Glover’s motion for a mistrial and instead admonished the jury not to consider E.A.’s statement. Also finds the state’s comment in its opening statement was not prosecutorial misconduct and that it did not place Glover in “a position of grave peril to which he would not have been subjected otherwise.”
Finding no prosecutorial misconduct or circumstances warranting a mistrial, the Court of Appeals of Indiana has affirmed a man’s two felony convictions following a domestic violence incident.
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Nickolas Seekins v. CHEP USA and CHEP Recycled Pallet Solutions, LLC
20-3270
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson.
Civil. Affirms the Indiana Southern District Court’s grant of summary judgment to CHEP USA and CHEP Recycled Pallet Solutions in a dispute with Nickolas Seekins. Finds CHEP did not owe Seekins a duty of care under Indiana negligence law after his lost his foot in a work-related accident. Also finds the district court did not err in granting summary judgment to CHEP.
The city of Gary can roll out the welcome mat once again after the Court of Appeals of Indiana found that much of its welcoming ordinance did not violate state law.
A pallet company did not owe a duty of care to a man whose foot was crushed and amputated after he was injured while operating a machine used to lift and transport pallets, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed.
An injured motorist who crashed his car into a tree after hydroplaning on Interstate 74 during a downpour did not convince the Indiana Supreme Court that his negligence suit against the Indiana Department of Transportation should proceed.
Immunity for the Indiana Department of Transportation against a motorist’s personal injury lawsuit wasn’t appropriate because the agency knew of flooding issues on a northern Indiana highway for years and failed to remedy the problem before a woman was injured after her vehicle hydroplaned, a split Indiana Supreme Court has ruled.
A Texas judge said Thursday the enforcement mechanism behind the nation’s strictest abortion law — which rewards lawsuits against violators by awarding judgments of $10,000 — is unconstitutional in a narrow ruling that still leaves a near-total ban on abortions in place.
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday against an effort by former President Donald Trump to shield documents from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.