Comment sought on possible child support guideline changes
The Indiana Supreme Court is considering altering the child support guidelines, which provide a measure for determining the amount of child support each parents owes.
Indiana Supreme Court
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Merrillville attorney disbarred for stealing funds
A northern Indiana attorney who stole trust account funds belonging to his former law partner and that partner’s clients, and embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from a receivership, has been disbarred by the Indiana Supreme Court.
Justices disbar attorney who abandoned practice for Australia
A Kokomo attorney who took nearly $60,000 from clients but never completed their legal matters – and later abruptly abandoned his law practice to move to Australia – has been disbarred by the Indiana Supreme Court.
Justices take fired principal, battery cases
The Indiana Supreme Court will decide whether an elementary school principal fired for having a consensual relationship with a teacher will be allowed to continue his breach of contract lawsuit. That case is one of two the justices accepted on transfer last week.
Justices reverse life sentence based on error by judge
The Indiana Supreme Court upheld a Gary man’s convictions related to the death of a woman he met at a bar, but it reversed the sentence of life without possibility of parole because the trial court’s sentencing order lacked a personal statement from the judge that the sentence is the appropriate one for the defendant.
Justices take dispute over county road
The Indiana Supreme Court granted transfer to a not-for-publication Court of Appeals decision over whether a gravel drive to a landlocked 40 rural acres in Jackson County is a public road by use.
Bisard exhausts appeals as justices deny transfer
The Indiana Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal from former Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Officer David Bisard, who was convicted of killing one motorcyclist and seriously injuring two others while driving drunk in his police cruiser.
Evidence seized from probationer’s roommate violated 4th Amendment
The Indiana Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed the partial denial of a man’s request to suppress drug evidence found during a routine warrantless search of the residence he shared with a man on probation. The probationer only consented to searches based on reasonable suspicion.
Justices decline to make bright-line rule on admission of coverage limits
The Indiana Supreme Court affirmed the admission of a couple’s uninsured motorist policy limits at a trial in which the couple sued its insurer to recover under that provision. But in doing so, the justices declined requests by the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association and the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana to adopt a bright-line rule on the admission of coverage limits.
Justices split, deny grandparent visitation appeal
Divided 3-2, the Indiana Supreme Court last week declined to hear the appeal of a grandparent stripped of visitation rights in a Court of Appeals ruling.
Humane Society ‘disappointed’ justices won’t hear canned-hunt suit
A deadlocked Indiana Supreme Court declined to hear the state’s appeal of a ruling allowing captive-hunting preserves to operate in the state without regulation. The Humane Society condemned the decision on the controversial hunting practice.
Justices: Adoption agency didn’t breach duty to couple
The Indiana Supreme Court ruled 4-1 in favor of an adoption agency that it did not have any duties with respect to the putative father registry in excess of statutory requirements. A couple who adopted a baby through the agency – only later to have her removed from their care after the biological father contested the adoption – sued the agency alleging negligence.
Plan to establish commercial courts in Indiana moves forward
The move to create commercial courts in Indiana, first mentioned by Chief Justice Loretta Rush during her State of the Judiciary address in January, is a step closer to becoming a reality. The Indiana Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it has named a working group to recommend policies and procedures for the courts, which could be hearing cases as early as 2016.
Justices reinstate med-mal suit against doctor in stillbirth
The Indiana Supreme Court reinstated a medical malpractice case against a Richmond doctor accused of failing to meet the standard of care in examining a pregnant woman whose child subsequently was stillborn.
Justices affirm stabbing conviction in evidence appeal
An Anderson man convicted of stabbing his son-in-law lost his appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court Tuesday. The man claimed the trial court wrongly excluded evidence that the victim told others that he had struck the man with a two-by-four piece of lumber before the knife attack.
Supreme Court appoints team to look at pro se litigant problems
Less than two years after appointing a commission to expand civil legal services for the indigent, the Indiana Supreme Court has assembled another group to examine the nagging problems caused by pro se litigants.
Supreme Court pulls plug on audio-video transcript pilot project
Transcripts generated by video cameras have had their day in court in Indiana. The verdict is in favor of keeping paper records.
Court rejects Meyers’ claims his trial counsel was ineffective
John R. Myers II, the man convicted of killing Indiana University student Jill Behrman in 2000, was unable to convince the Indiana Court of Appeals that his father-son trial counsel team was ineffective during his murder trial.
Certified question regarding Patient’s Compensation Fund dismissed
The Indiana Supreme Court has dismissed as moot a certified question sent to it from the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Indiana regarding a claim the Patient’s Compensation Fund sought to pursue against an insurer.
Justices find nature of murders supports death penalty
A Gary man who shot and killed his wife and her two children at close range will remain on death row, the Indiana Supreme Court concluded Wednesday.