Home » Courts

Courts

Articles

COA: Laser hair removal not ‘health care’

Laser hair removal isn’t considered “health care” within the meaning of the state’s Medical Malpractice Act, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today.A unanimous ruling today affirmed a trial court decision in OB-GYN Associates of Northern Indiana P.C. v. Tammy Ransbottom, No. 71A03-0711-CV-503, which involved a St. Joseph County case and the denial of a motion to dismiss a negligence action. In January 2006, Ransbottom had gone to a Mishawaka OB-GYN’s office and underwent the cosmetic laser hair removal treatment. She went…

Read More

High court welcomes Australian, Ukraine jurists

The Indiana Supreme Court is welcoming some of its colleagues from other countries this month, first an Australian justice and then a group of jurists from the Ukraine.Justice Marcia Neave of the Australian Supreme Court of Victoria, Court of Appeals division, is visiting Indiana this week as part of a lecture at Valparaiso Law School. She was slated to meet today with Indiana Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard and Justices Ted Boehm and Robert Rucker; they were to take an afternoon…

Read More

Adult son could file paternity, support petition

A retroactive child support action brought by an adult child presented an issue of first impression for the Indiana Court of Appeals, which ruled the adult child could bring the action, but his mother would be the proper recipient of the retroactive payments.

Read More

Supreme Court arguments Wednesday

The Indiana Supreme Court will have a busy Wednesday morning as it hears arguments scheduled for three cases on appeal. First up is Ronald Mayes v. Second Injury Fund, No. 93A02-0702-EX-162, in which Mayes petitioned the Supreme Court to accept jurisdiction over his appeal. The Worker’s Compensation Board denied Mayes’ disability benefits from the Second Injury Fund, ruling Mayes’ settlement of his claim against third-party tortfeasors precluded those benefits from the fund. The Court of Appeals affirmed finding Mayes failed to prove…

Read More

Court rules marriage not valid, affirms sentence

A woman who helped her husband flee from police after committing three murders in southern Indiana can be convicted of assisting a criminal because her marriage is void in Indiana, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today. In Misty D. Davis v. State of Indiana, No. 63A01-0712-CR-605, the Court of Appeals today upheld Misty Davis’ convictions of and sentence for assisting a criminal in murder and giving a false statement to law enforcement. Davis’ husband, Nick Harbison, attacked four people, resulting in…

Read More

Boone County courts seek rule comments

Boone Circuit and Superior courts are seeking comments to proposed local rule changes, including altering jury trial procedures, financial declarations, workshops about how children cope with divorce, and family court rules. To view the proposed changes, click here. Comments may be made until Aug. 9 to Judge Matthew Kincaid at [email protected].

Read More

Amendment trumps high court ruling

Addressing the issue for the first time since the legislature amended the state's Workers' Compensation Act in 2006, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today the amendment overrules an earlier Indiana Supreme Court decision that placed the burden of proof on employers in cases involving "neutral risk" incidents.

Read More

Popular online guidelines made user-friendly

The parenting time and child support guidelines on the Indiana Supreme Court’s Web site just got a little friendlier to use. The guidelines have been reformatted to allow easier printing. The Supreme Court received feedback about the challenges the public, courts, and clerks’ offices were having in printing and making copies of the guidelines because they were lengthy. The number of pages for the parenting time guidelines has been reduced from 27 to 15 pages; the child support guidelines shrank from…

Read More

Mom not in contempt over middle name change

A trial court erred in finding a mother in contempt for not changing the middle name of her child, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today. The appellate court remanded the case for consideration of whether the name change would be in the best interest of the child.

Read More

Justices analyze occurrence-based limitations

Two Indiana Supreme Court justices dissented from the majority today in two medical malpractice suits because they believed the majority's reasoning behind the decisions that both plaintiffs' claims are time-barred would foster suspicion and doubt between health-care providers and their patients.

Read More

High court to hear 2 arguments Thursday

The Indiana Supreme Court will hear arguments on two cases Thursday to determine whether a health services provider is entitled to interest on payment owed for services and if a city had missed the statute of limitations to bring contamination-related claims against a company.At 9 a.m., the high court will hear arguments on Cooper Industries, LLC, et al. v. City of South Bend and The South Bend Redevelopment Commission, No. 49A04-0511-CV-637, in which the Court of Appeals reversed the Marion Superior Court’s…

Read More

Court to decide on prevailing party issue

The Indiana Supreme Court granted transfer Thursday to determine who would be considered the “prevailing party” when a settlement lacks a judicial resolution. In Kirk Reuille v. E.E. Brandenberger Construction, Inc., No. 02A04-0704-CV-186, Reuille appealed the trial court’s judgment in favor of E.E. Brandenberger when the court decided Reuille was not the prevailing party in the contract between him and Brandenberger and said the trial court erred in characterizing his motion for attorney fees as one for summary judgment. Reuille and…

Read More

Court order questions confidentiality agreement

The Indiana Supreme Court issued an order to show cause today seeking to determine whether a trial court- approved confidentiality stipulation and order should be vacated in a case involving insurance coverage for bodily injury claims caused by exposure to silica. The parties in Travelers Casualty and Surety Company, et al. v. United States Filter Corporation, et al., No. 49S02-0712-CV-596, asked the trial court to approve a confidentiality stipulation and order while the litigation was pending in Marion Superior Court in…

Read More

Judgment for prison employees affirmed

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment in favor of prison employees in an inmate's Eighth Amendment violations suit, finding the inmate's lack of cooperation in providing details of threats against him prohibited the officials from protecting him from an attack by another inmate.

Read More

Ministers not protected under labor act

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a District Court’s decision to toss out a case because the plaintiffs were not entitled to minimum wage and overtime under the “ministerial exception,” although the Circuit Court modified the reason for dismissing the case. In Steve and Lorrie Schleicher v. The Salvation Army, No. 07-1333, the Schleichers appealed the decision of U.S. District Judge Richard Young of the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division, to dismiss the case for lack of federal jurisdiction. The…

Read More

SCOTUS rules on patent exhaustion case

The U.S. Supreme Court has limited the ability of companies to collect royalties after the first sale of a patented product. The case tackled an issue of patent exhaustion that hasn’t been ruled on in 66 years.In a unanimous opinion this morning in Quanta Computer, et al. v. LG Electronics, No. 06-937, the nation’s highest court said that longstanding patent law precedent extends to method patents that are often part of high-technology components and products. “For over 150 years this Court…

Read More