Damon R. Leichty, partner in the South Bend office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, has been nominated to serve as a judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, potentially filling the last empty seat in the federal judiciary in Indiana. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Leichty will fill the vacancy created when Judge Robert L. Miller, Jr., took senior status in January 2016.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana announced Friday that federal courthouses in Fort Wayne, Hammond, Lafayette and South Bend would lower flags to half-staff through Monday in honor of the late Senior Judge Rudy Lozano, who died Wednesday at 76 years old.
Rudy Lozano served on the federal bench for 30 years, making landmark rulings in a Hammond courtroom that his peers said was known for its collegiality. Before that, Lozano was a leading practitioner who helped unify the legal community in northwest Indiana.
The Marion County Election Board has agreed to open five additional satellite locations for early in-person voting starting with the 2018 general election, settling a lawsuit brought in 2017 by Common Cause Indiana and the NAACP. Senior judge Sarah Evans Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana signed on Tuesday a consent decree offered by the plaintiffs and defendants.
Senior Judge Rodolfo (Rudy) Lozano of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana has died, the office of Northern District Clerk Robert N. Trgovich confirmed Thursday morning.
A Fourth Amendment excessive force claim against an Indianapolis police officer will continue after a federal judge denied the officer’s motion for summary judgment on Tuesday. The SWAT officer is accused of assaulting a suspected drug dealer in his home after executing a no-knock warrant.
The estate of a woman who was confined to a hospital bed and harassed by her landlord won a major victory last week in federal court that provided some rare Indiana case law on housing discrimination and, according to a fair housing advocate, will impact Hoosiers for years to come.
A federal judge on Monday sentenced Steven Ganote, a key player in the massive American Senior Communities overbilling and and kickback scheme, to five years in prison and ordered him to pay $7 million in restitution. Judge Tanya Walton Pratt also doled out punishment to Joshua Burkhart, sentencing him to four months in prison and ordering him to pay $420,000 in restitution for his role in the scheme.
For the third consecutive year, an Indiana law that would have raised restrictions on abortion rights was blocked by a federal judge. Abortion rights supporters say they expect more such attempts in the future, while the continuity of those federal rights has suddenly become an open question.
Daniel Benson, the former chief operating officer of American Senior Communities, was sentenced Friday to nearly five years in federal prison for his role in a massive kickback scheme at Indiana’s largest chain of nursing homes. Indiana Southern District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt sentenced Benson to a 57-month sentence as part of a plea agreement.
A suburban Indianapolis swim coach is facing federal charges alleging he shot video of himself having sex with one of his athletes. Prosecutors said Thursday that 29-year-old John C. Goelz has been charged with sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography.
The Indiana Court of Appeals cautioned against plaintiffs proclaiming amounts in controversy will not exceed $75,000 unless they can be held to their word when it ruled in a semitruck crash case Tuesday.
Convicted fraudster and former Indianapolis attorney William Conour has agreed to dismiss a third appeal of his 10-year federal prison sentence stemming from a 2012 wire fraud conviction for stealing more than $6 million from his personal-injury and wrongful-death clients.
Speaking at a press conference about Thursday’s federal court order stopping another abortion law passed by the Indiana Legislature, ACLU of Indiana legal director Ken Falk noted this is not the first time the Statehouse has passed a bill attempting to limit abortions.
James Burkhart's hopes for a light sentence were dashed Friday afternoon when a federal judge handed down a 9-1/2-year sentence for his role in leading a massive kickback scheme as CEO of Indiana’s largest chain of nursing homes.
Following a familiar pattern of recent years, a federal judge Thursday halted an abortion restriction passed by the Indiana General Assembly just days before the law was to take effect. Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry on Thursday in essence said he and others tried to warn the state.
After receiving approval Thursday from the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the pair of nominees to Indiana’s two district courts are now advancing to the floor of Senate, but when they will be called for a confirmation vote is uncertain.
A federal judge on Thursday blocked an Indiana abortion law that was set to take effect July 1 that would have required the reporting of complications arising from abortions to the state.
A lawsuit has been filed in Indiana challenging Notre Dame University’s plan to make health plan members share in birth control costs.
A judge in California on Tuesday ordered U.S. border authorities to reunite separated immigrant families within 30 days, setting a hard deadline in a process that has so far yielded uncertainty about when children might again see their parents.