Local units of government may engage in preliminary talks or solicit prospective public-private partners before those units of government have adopted legislation enabling such agreements, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a challenge to Logansport’s efforts to overhaul a coal-burning power plant.
Indiana State Sen. Sue Landske (R-Cedar Lake) announced Wednesday that she will undergo treatment for lung cancer but intends to continue to serve after almost 30 years in the Senate.
A man convicted of child molesting and incest will not get a chance to have his 99-year sentence reduced. The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that even though the trial court may have abused its discretion, the sentence was not inappropriate.
Judges have wide discretion regarding when and whether to use tendered jury instructions, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in affirming the conviction of a criminal defendant whose proffered instructions on defense of another were rejected.
A southern Indiana trial court rightly suppressed drug evidence gathered after a police drug-sniffing dog indicated the presence of meth in a van after a traffic stop.
A trial court abused its discretion when it raised a defendant’s bail in a meth possession case, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
In reviewing a dispute over the terms of a noncompete agreement, the Indiana Court of Appeals reminded the trial court that a preliminary injunction has limits.
Testimony in the first day of a trial in federal court over a contract dispute between Melania Trump, John Menard and Steve Hilbert also involved former Miss America Katie Stamm, the Kardashian sisters and the former manager of the Menards store in Avon. IBJ has the story.
Indiana Court of Appeals
James Edward Banks, Jr. v. State of Indiana (NFP)
82A01-1301-CR-38
Criminal. Affirms denial of Banks’ motion to correct erroneous sentence.
Bill R. Clark v. State of Indiana (NFP)
20A03-1304-CR-160
Criminal. Affirms trial court’s order for Clark to pay restitution. Clark argued the court did not inquire about his ability to reimburse the state and his landlord for costs associated with cleaning up his meth lab. The COA rules the presentence investigation report indicated Clark would be able to pay and Clark told the trial court he had the means to pay.
Matthew Townsend v. Lyvonda Townsend (NFP)
31A04-1303-DR-133
Domestic relation. Affirms trial court’s decision to award sole legal and primary physical custody Townsend’s son, E.T., to the boy’s mother.
Derek Lee Morris v. State of Indiana (NFP)
49A02-1304-CR-367
Criminal. Affirms denial of Morris’ petition for educational credit time.
John R. Tyrrell v. State of Indiana (NFP)
29A02-1301-PC-11
Post conviction. Affirms post-conviction court’s denial of Tyrrell’s petition for post-conviction relief.
Larry Harris v. State of Indiana (NFP)
49A04-1211-CR-584
Criminal. Affirms 45-year sentence for one county of Class A felony child molesting.
Mitchell A. Barnes v. State of Indiana (NFP)
84A01-1304-CR-281
Criminal. Affirms aggregated nine-year sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to three counts of Class D felony theft.
The Indiana Supreme Court and Indiana Tax Court posted no opinions by IL deadline. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals issued no Indiana opinions by IL deadline.
Indiana Court of Appeals
James Edward Banks, Jr. v. State of Indiana (NFP)
82A01-1301-CR-38
Criminal. Affirms denial of Banks’ motion to correct erroneous sentence.
The case of a man whose two convictions of sexual misconduct with a minor were reversed on appeal because of a prosecutor’s overzealous arguments will go to the Indiana Supreme Court.
A federal judge has denied the state of Indiana’s motion for an interlocutory appeal, signaling that a trial probably won’t be needed in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of how Marion Superior judges are elected.
The Indiana Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from a man whose 51 guns and ammunition were seized after authorities became alarmed by his behavior near the site where missing Indiana University student Lauren Spierer was last seen.
Roman Catholic employers – including the owners of an Indiana company – won a Circuit Court ruling Friday blocking the “contraception mandate” contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare.
State and federal courts were closed Monday in observation of the Veterans Day holiday.
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
William D. Grote III et al, v. Kathleen Sebelius, et al.
13-1077
Reverses and remands to the District Court for the Southern District of Indiana with orders to grant an injunction prohibiting enforcement of the “contraception mandate” of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The majority held that Grote Industries made a strong case for relief from the mandate under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but Judge Ilana Rovner warned that the panel was rewriting the law to extend rights of religion to a for-profit, secular corporation, thereby opening a host of federal regulations to religious challenges from corporation owners.
Allen County will gavel in its veterans’ court Nov. 12 and join a growing list of Indiana jurisdictions creating the problem-solving court especially to serve military veterans.
Indiana University Maurer School of Law will hold a memorial service Friday for Professor Craig Bradley.
Beginning Dec. 1, it will cost an extra $50 to appeal a case to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Notice of appeals, as well as petitions for review/applications for enforcement and writ of mandamus, will cost $500.
The voting process to select a lawyer representative to the Judicial Nominating Commission by more than 7,400 eligible attorneys will be extended due to an undetermined glitch that resulted in some lawyers not receiving ballots.