New bankruptcy rules effective Oct. 11
The United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Indiana, issued an order Oct. 5 amending local bankruptcy rules.
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COA: Remonstrators didn’t request timely stay of annexation
The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of remonstrators’ challenge to annexation of land by the city of Evansville, finding the issue to be moot because the annexation has already been completed.
Deputy owed no duty to warn of icy road
A county sheriff’s department that doesn’t own, maintain or control a county road does not owe a common law duty to warn the public of known hazardous conditions upon the roadway, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Justices take certified questions
The Indiana Supreme Court has accepted three certified questions stemming from a case in the Southern District of Indiana.
Judges extend due process safeguards regarding interpreters to civil cases
A trial court must take the same steps in a civil action as it does in a criminal action regarding the use of an interpreter in order to address due process concerns, the Indiana Court of Appeals held for the first time Tuesday.
Pro bono award winners announced
An attorney who made significant contributions in pro bono service will receive a posthumous honor on Oct. 21.
Appellate judges will hear arguments in East Chicago
A panel of Indiana Court of Appeals judges will travel to northern Indiana Thursday to hear the appeal of a man convicted of attempted murder.
SCOTUS doesn’t take any Indiana cases
The Supreme Court of the United States has declined to take several Indiana cases, including a criminal appeal about whether a stun belt restraint on a defendant during trial and sentencing is prejudicial.
PACER fee increase begins April 2012
The 2-cent increase per page to access electronic information on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system will take effect April 1, 2012. The Judicial Conference of the United States authorized raising the fee to 10 cents a page to cover maintenance costs as well as to enhance the system.
Judges uphold admission of robbery confession
A trial court did not err in admitting evidence of uncharged misconduct from another incident during a defendant’s trial for robbery, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday. The evidence contained a letter that helped corroborate the man’s confession to the robbery.
Commission urges discipline for former Marion County prosecutor
The Indiana Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Commission wants the state’s highest court to find former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi committed misconduct when he made statements about two high-profile cases he handled as prosecutor.
Justices agree subsidiaries are not new employers
Emphasizing its ruling only deals with determining the proper merit rate for unemployment fund contributions, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled a manufacturer did not create employers through its new subsidiaries, so it wasn’t entitled to a lower rate.
Bankruptcy judges relocating
Beginning in October, three of the bankruptcy judges in the Southern District of Indiana will be relocating their courtrooms because of construction at the Birch Bayh Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
SJCBA releases results of judicial survey
The St. Joseph County Bar Association has released the findings of its annual survey of Superior judges. The bar association conducts the survey each year even if no judges are up for retention, which is the case for 2011.
Appellate court to visit southern Indiana Oct. 4
Two panels from the Indiana Court of Appeals will hear arguments at universities in southern Indiana next week.
Justices suspend attorney for collecting ‘exploitive fee’
The Indiana Supreme Court has suspended an Indianapolis attorney after finding he engaged in attorney misconduct by collecting a “clearly unreasonable and exploitive fee” from a vulnerable client.
Court: CHINS fact-finding hearing required by due process
The Indiana Court of Appeals disagrees with the state Department of Child Services that fact-finding and dispositional hearings in a child in need of services case are interchangeable. The appellate panel has ruled a Marion County father’s due process rights were denied because he didn’t receive the opportunity for a fact-finding hearing.
Justices uphold murderer’s convictions
The Indiana Supreme Court has affirmed that a man will serve life in prison without parole for his role in the murders of seven people in Indianapolis in 2006.
Appeals court reverses judge on visitation ruling
The state’s intermediate appellate court has reversed a southern Indiana judge’s ruling that a boyfriend should retain visitation rights over an ex-girlfriend’s child. It ruled that the finding is contrary to law because lawmakers didn’t allow for that type of circumstance to warrant visitation.
Federal judge finds U.S. law preempts state ‘robo-call’ statute
The state is not able to prevent out-of-state entities from placing political calls to residents within Indiana because of an existing federal law, according to a federal judge’s ruling on Indiana’s auto-dialer statute.