Orville Copsey, Jr., an Indianapolis attorney whose work helping many elderly and disabled clients stay in their homes earned him the nickname “St. Orville,” died Aug. 4. He was 88. “We have lost a true gem in our legal community,” one attorney said in tribute.
As Indiana’s moratorium on evictions is set to end in a week, legal aid providers are estimating the national price tag for helping tenants facing the prospect of losing their places to live will top $2.5 billion.
Indiana residents who have struggled to pay rent or utility bills during the coronavirus pandemic have one more week before the state’s protections against evictions and utility shutoffs end, despite a recent analysis that found that more than 40% of the state’s renters are unable to pay their rent.
As Gov. Eric Holcomb extended the moratorium on evictions and foreclosures until mid-August, Indiana state courts increased their calls for residents and property owners to start trying to work out agreements that will keep families in their homes.
Another month passes. The coronavirus pandemic marches on. And Americans struggling amid the economic fallout once again have to worry as their next rent checks come due Aug. 1.
Indiana will keep its current coronavirus restrictions in place for at least most of August, with Gov. Eric Holcomb choosing Wednesday to encourage compliance with safety measures amid continued concerns about recent growth in the state’s COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Holcomb also said he would briefly extend a moratorium on evictions that was scheduled to expire this week.
Gov. Eric Holcomb on Tuesday extended Indiana’s moratorium on housing evictions for one month, through the end of July, continuing a prohibition put in place in March due to financial hardships wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A 7th Circuit Court of Appeals majority affirmed Thursday the dismissal of a homeowner’s complaint against a bank that he alleged failed to honor a loan-modification offer that could have kept him from foreclosure.
Indiana Legal Services will be receiving a booster shot of just over $1 million as part of the additional $50 million in funding Congress allotted to legal aid providers across the country during the COVID-19 emergency. Meanwhile, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers are pushing for another appropriation.
Gov. Eric Holcomb signed an executive order Thursday that protects Hoosiers from being evicted or foreclosed on during the pandemic, but housing advocates are still pushing for a veto of legislation they say could force low-income families from their homes when the moratorium is lifted.
A Lake Superior judge who threw out a bank’s mortgage foreclosure lawsuit against a homeowner and entered judgment in her favor was reversed by the Indiana Court of Appeals, which found the court abused its discretion in ordering a “near-blanket exclusion” of the bank’s evidence.
A de facto merger existed between two companies operated under a “continuity of management,” the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday, upholding a judgment against the successor entity.
The Indiana Supreme Court has affirmed a trial court’s order that foreclosed a couple’s interest in two mortgaged properties, concluding that the lender filed suit against the borrowers within the applicable statutes of limitations.
Three new lawsuits have been filed against one of the co-founders of floundering Indianapolis residential development firm Litz & Eaton — including one suit that could tee up a legal fight with his former business partner.
The Indiana Supreme Court is working to help troubled homebuyers, and possibly prevent another flood of empty houses, by relaunching the Mortgage Foreclosure Trial Court Assistance Project. A $115,000 grant from the Indiana Bar Foundation will provide funding to pay for facilitators to work with borrowers and lenders to try to get them to reach an agreement that will avert a foreclosure.
The Indiana Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Thursday in a decades-old murder case considering whether the defendant was prejudiced by his counsel’s failure to present mitigating evidence about his mental illness at the time of the crime.
A divided panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals on Thursday threw out a lawsuit against two lawyers filed by their opposing party in long-running litigation, the current case over proceeds from a tax sale that the lawyers distributed to their clients. The majority ruled that the lawsuit — filed one day outside the two-year statute of limitations — should be dismissed.
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed judgment awarded to a bank against a former homeowner who filed for bankruptcy, finding that because the man had been discharged of any liability on the mortgage, the judgment was in error.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has reversed a trial court’s order that foreclosed a couple’s interest in two mortgaged properties, finding a mortgage banking company was unreasonably delayed in invoking a promissory note’s acceleration clause.
State lawmakers have killed a bill that would have eliminated the requirement for sheriff’s sales of foreclosed properties to be published in newspapers — a victory for the media industry.