Articles

COA reinstates fraud, bad faith suit against State Farm

A fraud suit against State Farm Insurance brought by one of its insured will continue in trial court after the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday there were genuine issues of material fact precluding the grant of summary judgment to the insurer.

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COA affirms escape conviction in home detention case

A person’s home is considered a “place of lawful detention” if the person has been sentenced to home detention, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Thursday in a decision that upheld a woman’s felony escape conviction.

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Divided COA again allows sentence modification in fixed-sentence agreement

A divided panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals has ordered a trial court to reconsider a sentence modification for an offender who agreed to a fixed-sentence plea agreement, a ruling that goes against proposed legislation currently pending before an Indiana Senate committee. However, in his first writing as an appellate senior judge, former Indiana Supreme Court Justice Robert Rucker dissented from the majority ruling.

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Divided COA upholds absentee juvenile delinquent adjudications

A divided panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld additional delinquency adjudications and findings of probation violations against a Lawrence County teen after determining the teen was in procedural default when he failed to appear for his fact-finding hearings. Chief Judge Nancy Vaidik, however, dissented on statutory grounds.

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Sentence modification bill inspired by COA ruling

A recent Indiana Court of Appeals decision that prosecutors say went against longstanding practices in the sentence modification process has sparked a conversation in the Indiana legislature about courts’ discretion to modify sentences stemming from fixed-sentence plea agreements.

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Problems persist as director quits DCS

The departure of Mary Beth Bonaventura as director of the Indiana Department of Child Services surprised several family law attorneys and social service providers. Uniformly, they agreed the former Lake County juvenile judge was a strong advocate for children and brought valuable experience to her tenure. Still, the department has struggled against internal and external challenges.

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COA upholds judgment in favor of Delaware County on insurance claim

A Delaware County public defender convicted on multiple drunk driving charges has lost his appeal of the grant of summary judgment in favor of the county after the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled he failed to present evidence that would have required the county to pay for his accident-related medical bills.

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