Government

The Indiana Tax Court has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s property tax assessment system because the petitioning taxpayers didn’t exhaust their administrative options.Indiana Tax Judge Thomas G. Fisher ruled Nov. 9 in Mel Goldstein, et al. v. Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, et al., No. 49T10-0709-TA-45, which was brought by 14 taxpayers and 10 citizen groups from across the state.Indianapolis attorney John Price filed the suit in September on behalf taxpayers statewide pushing for tax reform,…

The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today that state officials violated the law by not adhering to the public bidding process when privatizing a Fort Wayne development center two years ago.In Anita Stuller, et al. v. Mitchell Daniels Jr., et al., 02A05-0601-CV-22, the court unanimously reversed and remanded the case to Allen Superior Judge Nancy Boyer with instructions to hold a hearing to determine if a preliminary injunction should be granted.The 27-page opinion points out that Judge Boyer misinterpreted a state…

The process for after-hours legal filing changes today as a result of new security being implemented at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.North doors of the building will be locked at 5:30 p.m., and the Capitol Police desk at that entrance will not be staffed. The Clerk of the Courts and Department of Administration installed a drop box for filings to be placed, according to according to Supreme Court Administrator and Clerk of the Appellate Courts Kevin Smith.Security measures for the entire…

New security measures starting in two weeks at the Indiana Statehouse means the legal community will have to change their routines for after-hours filing.Beginning June 4, north doors of the building will be locked at 5:30 p.m. and the Capitol Police desk at that entrance will not be staffed as it currently is. The Clerk of the Courts and Department of Administration is installing a drop box for filings to be placed, according to according to Supreme Court Administrator and Clerk…

The Indiana Supreme Court said today that insurance carriers are not required to pay for power companies’ costs incurred in a federal lawsuit, nor the installation of new equipment to reduce pollution as ordered in a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States. In Cinergy Corp and Duke Energy v. Associated Electric & Gas Insurance Services, et al., 32S05-0604-CV-151, the state’s highest court issued a 17-page unanimous opinion affirming a decision by Hendricks Superior Judge David H. Coleman. The…

Attorneys are presenting their cases in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District in Indianapolis today on whether the Army and Department of Defense are violating federal environmental laws in shipping the potentially deadly VX nerve gas from Indiana to Texas.Chief Judge Larry McKinney began the evidentiary hearing at 1:30 p.m. and has allocated up to three days for the proceeding. Four environmental and activist groups and five citizens, including two Hoosiers, filed a suit in May against the government to permanently…

Elkhart County is immune from losses resulting from temporary weather-related road conditions in 2001, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled today.The 4-1 decision came in Marvin Hochstetler v. Elkhart Co. Highway Dept., et al., 20S05-0703-CV-97, a case it heard arguments in May 10. The case involved a motorcycle driver, Hochstetler, who struck a fallen tree on a county road after a storm and sued the county departments and officials for negligence. The Elkhart Superior Court entered summary judgment in favor of the…

The Judicial Nominating Commission conducted its first round of interviews today for the Indiana Court of Appeals vacancy that will be created by Judge John T. Sharpnack’s retirement in May 2008.Fifteen people from Indiana’s legal community applied for the appellate court seat.Nine applicants sat before the commission this morning, including three trial judges, a senator, and the heads of the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council and Indiana Gaming Commission. Interviews started at 9 a.m. and ran until mid-afternoon, all conducted in a…

The Indiana Supreme Court will consider two cases Thursday morning. One looks at the line between estate plans and wills, while the other involves a motorist’s lawsuit against a county for not removing a tree in the road after a storm.Justices will first hear arguments at 9 a.m. in the case In re Guardianship of E.N., Adult, which comes out of the Washington Circuit Court. The trial court approved an estate plan submitted by a protected person’s adult children in their…

The Indiana Supreme Court today upheld the death sentence against a man condemned for murdering a college student, though the authoring justice disagreed and his writing could offer a key for another execution to be tossed out.In Michael Dean Overstreet v. State of Indiana, 41S00-0306-PD-249, the court affirmed the post-conviction judgment of Johnson Superior Judge Cynthia Emkes, who’d first sentenced him to death in 2000. The case involves the September 1997 disappearance, rape, and strangulation of Franklin College freshman Kelly Eckart. Overstreet has…

Three recommendations made today by the Commission on Local Government Reform focus specifically on courts and the state’s legal community.Court-specific recommendations impacting all Indiana counties include transferring the local court clerk responsibilities to the courts themselves and transferring trial court system funding – including probation and public defenders – to the state. A third recommendation is focused solely on Marion County, where all township small claims courts duties would be transferred to the county’s Superior Courts.Headed by former Gov. Joe Kernan…

More than a dozen RV manufacturers that supplied the Federal Emergency Management Agency with trailers following Hurricane Katrina are being sued in federal court in Louisiana, including a handful based in Indiana.A suit filed this week in the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans accuses the manufacturers of using inferior construction materials in a profit-driven rush to build the trailers for the federal government. The 63-page filing includes nearly 50 pages of more than 500 plaintiffs who’ve lived in the…