COVID may have seemed like the only thing that happened in 2020, but for Indiana’s legal community, the past year brought watershed developments that will be with us for years to come, many of which were touched directly by the pandemic. Here are the Top 10 non-coronavirus Indiana legal news stories as determined by consensus of the Indiana Lawyer editorial staff.
Speaking with reporters via Zoom on Thursday, Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush acknowledged that despite efforts to keep courts operating remotely as much as possible, judges will face the difficult task in 2021 of working through COVID-created backlogs and getting their dockets back on schedule.
An Indianapolis landlord has agreed to pay nearly $46,000 to settle a lawsuit that alleged he proposed exchanging sex for rent from a female tenant who lost her job during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the first time in its history, the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society’s holiday dollar campaign is going virtual. The fundraiser has become a tradition since it was started in the mid-1990s but will be critical this season to meet the needs created by the pandemic.
Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic has partnered with the city of Indianapolis to create a special website to help Hoosiers around the state who are behind on rent and facing eviction.
A U.S. Senate subcommittee has proposed a $6 million increase in funding for the Legal Services Corporation, potentially providing additional support as more legal aid offices are bracing for higher demand caused by the worsening COVID-19 crisis.
Indiana’s Rental Assistance Portal is accepting applications for a program that provides eligible renters with up to six months in rental assistance to help cover past due and ongoing monthly payments.
As the uncertainty continues over how many struggling Hoosiers could be evicted in the coming months, the Indiana Supreme Court is trying through the new Landlord and Tenant Settlement Conference Program to prevent housing loss and all the bad ramifications that can ensue by inviting landlords and tenants to first have a conversation.