Indiana Lawyer reporters and designers brought home 12 awards from the Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists’ annual Best of Indiana Journalism Contest, including four top honors. The awards were announced Monday in a virtual ceremony.
An order awarding $15,000 in attorney fees to a mother after her ex-husband sought to modify custody and child support will stand, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled. It found the fees weren’t barred by res judicata or the law of the case doctrine.
A construction worker struck by a driver while placing barriers on Interstate 469 could not convince the Indiana Court of Appeals on Monday that his bad faith claim against his employer’s insurer was wrongly ruled upon.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Pradeep Kumar Toppo v. State of Indiana
20A-CR-2099
Criminal. Affirms Pradeep Toppo’s conviction for Level 6 felony operating a vehicle while intoxicated and Class C infraction driving left of center. Holds that the traffic stop was lawful based on Toppo’s traffic violation and that the trial court did not err when it admitted evidence that law enforcement had obtained following a traffic stop.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed an order requiring a Johnson County man to pay his public adjuster for negotiating a settlement on his damaged home. The court found appellate review of his issues were waived, also noting with distaste his words about the trial judge in his case.
A man who stole a Jeep after threatening the vehicle’s owner with a hatchet did not have his right to a public trial violated due to restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday.
A request to suppress evidence in a Tippecanoe County man’s drunken driving case did not succeed at the Indiana Court of Appeals, which upheld the denial of the suppression motion and found that the stop of the man’s vehicle was lawful.
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
United States of America v. Jeffrey Esposito
20-1124
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson.
Criminal. Affirms Jeffrey Esposito’s sentence to 200 years in prison, a de facto life sentence, for his convictions of multiple counts of sexually exploiting a child as well as possession of child pornography. Finds the district court did not err when sentencing Esposito.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has reaffirmed its prior holding that a Monroe County trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction in a Florida case between a Bloomington professor and a Russian bank centered on an alleged 2016 political hacking scandal.
A split Indiana Supreme Court has reversed the suppression of a man’s statements made during a police interrogation, finding that the limited curtailment of his freedom of movement wasn’t akin to formal arrest. But one justice dissented, arguing that the suspect’s language barrier could have kept him from knowing he was free to leave.
Indiana Supreme Court
State of Indiana v. Tyson Timbs
20S-MI-289
Miscellaneous. Affirms the order for the return of Tyson Timbs’ Land Rover, seized in 2013 after Timbs pleaded guilty to dealing and theft charges. Finds that under the proportionality framework set forth in State v. Timbs, 134 N.E.3d 12, (Ind. 2019), Timbs met his high burden to show that the harshness of his Land Rover’s forfeiture was grossly disproportionate to the gravity of the underlying dealing offense and his culpability for the vehicle’s misuse. Justice Geoffrey Slaughter concurs in the judgment with separate opinion. Justice Mark Massa dissents with separate opinion.
Indiana Court of Appeals Hicks & Sons, LLC v. Carewell International, LLC 20A-PL-1874 Civil plenary. Affirms the determination that Carewell International Inc. could continue displaying a Holiday Inn hotel sign within a driveway easement over Hicks and Sons LLC’s real estate. Finds the evidence presented at trial supports the Putnam Superior Court’s determination that the […]
Read Indiana appellate court decisions from the most recent reporting period.
An inmate at the Pendleton Correctional Facility represented himself against a former guard for use of excessive force in a legal battle that lasted for nearly six years before culminating in March in an in-person bench trial and an award of $35,000.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Indiana Board of Pharmacy v. Paul J. Elmer
20A-PL-2200
Civil plenary. Affirms the Marion Superior Court’s order reversing the decision of the Indiana Board of Pharmacy to revoke Paul J. Elmer’s pharmacist’s license. Finds the board does not have statutory authority to revoke an expired license. Remands for further proceedings.
Despite the pro se defendant claiming he had never heard the word “bailment,” the Indiana Court of Appeals found he became the bailee when he threatened to shoot his friend and pseudo-tenant in a dispute that started with the purchase of a brand new motorcycle.
Foreseeing the potential for corrupt pharmacists to avoid discipline by letting their licenses expire, the Indiana Board of Pharmacy argued it had the authority to revoke expired licenses, but the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled the board does not have the power under state statute to pull a lapsed license.
A Gary woman whose prison sentence was thrown out on appeal in a 2018 apartment fire that killed two of her children will be resentenced this month to no more than 42 years in prison.
Indiana Court of Appeals Jesse E. Atwood v. State of Indiana 20A-CR-02391 Criminal. Affirms Jesse Atwood’s conviction for Level 5 felony corrupt business influence and his aggregate 11-year sentence with one year suspended. Finds sufficient evidence to support the conviction. Judge Nancy Vaidik dissents, arguing the Indiana RICO statute “should not be construed to include […]
The following 7th Circuit opinions were posted after IL deadline on Thursday. Justin Castelino v. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 19-1905 Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Terre Haute Division. Senior Judge William T. Lawrence. Civil. Affirms the Indiana Southern District Court’s entry of summary judgment for Rose-Hulman Institute […]