Opinions

Court of Appeals of Indiana
Faye E. Hunter and James E. Hunter v. J & M Displays, Inc.
22A-CT-1454
Civil tort. Affirms the grant of J & M Displays Inc.’s motion for summary judgment in a dispute with Faye E. and James E. Hunter. Finds the evidence does not constitute a direct physical impact under the Modified Impact Rule. Also finds the Johnson Superior Court did not err in granting summary judgment with respect to the Hunters’ claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Court of Appeals of Indiana
Akinfemiwa Akinribade v. State of Indiana
22A-CR-1757
Criminal. Affirms and reverses in part the order to disclose Afkinfemiwa Akinribade’s expert’s summary of the state’s crime lab report. Finds Akinribade waived any objection to the disclosure of the one page of the summary that he introduced into evidence at a deposition of the state’s DNA analyst. Also finds the state failed to make the requisite showing of either substantial need or exceptional circumstances to justify the disclosure of the remaining pages of the summary under Indiana Trial Rule 26(B). Remands for further proceedings. Judge Melissa May dissent with separate opinion.

Court of Appeals of Indiana
Megan M. Smith v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
22A-CR-1166
Criminal. Affirms Megan M. Smith’s convictions of Class A misdemeanor domestic battery and Class A misdemeanor invasion of privacy. Finds Smith did not preserve her argument that the Knox Superior Court could not consider the record of proceedings on the order for protection, nor is there any fundamental error on that issue. Also finds the state presented sufficient evidence.

Court of Appeals of Indiana
Community Construction LLC v. Posterity Scholar House, LP, and BWI Development & Management, Inc.
21A-CC-2728
Civil collections. Affirms summary judgment for Posterity Scholar House LP and BWI Development & Management Inc. in a dispute with Community Construction LLC. Finds the designated evidence shows there is no genuine issue as to any material fact on the claims and counterclaims for which Posterity and BWI-DAM sought summary judgment, so they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on Community’s complaint and on liability issues associated with the breach of contract and accounting counts of the counterclaim.

Wednesday opinions
Court of Appeals of Indiana
Bernard Lash v. Fred Kreigh, d/b/a Urnest Construction, LLC
22A-CC-1069
Civil collections. Affirms the award of damages to Fred Kreigh for unpaid construction costs owed by Bernard Lash. Finds Noble Superior Court didn’t commit clear error by calculating damages based upon the value of Kreigh’s services. Also finds the trial court did not err in denying Kreigh’s request for prejudgment interest.

No opinions today due to the holiday.

Court of Appeals of Indiana
Erin Harrell Stanley v. Andrea Burns and Renardell Burns
22A-CT-721
Civil tort. Affirms the grant of summary judgment in favor of Andrea Burns and Renardell Burns in a dispute with Erin Harrell Stanley. Finds the defendants had no common law or statutory duty to clear the public sidewalk outside their home where Stanley fell while visiting for a business-related meeting. 

Indiana Supreme Court
Amanda Dawn Carmack v. State of Indiana
21S-LW-00471
Life without parole. Affirms Amanda Carmack’s conviction of the murder of her 10-year-old stepdaughter, S.C., and her sentence to life without parole. Finds the state met its evidentiary burden to disprove the existence of sudden heat because of the lack of adequate provocation, accompanied by a sustained cooling-off period.

Court of Appeals of Indiana
Illinois Casualty Company v. B&S of Fort Wayne, Inc., Showgirl III., Inc., Reba Enterprises LLC, Jessica Burciaga, Jessica Hinton, Jamie Middleton Eason, Lucy Pinder, Abigail Ratchford, Emily Scott, Denise Trlica, Sara Underwood, Jennifer Walcott Archuletta, Paola Canas, Camila Davalos, Mariana Davalos, Jaime Edmondson, Cielo Jean Gibson, Hillary Hepner, Krystal Hipwell, Melanie Iglesias, Joanna Krupa, Arianny Celeste Lopez, Brooke Marrin, Ursula Mayes, Carrie Minter, Anya Monzikova, Andra Cheri Moreland, Caitlin O’Connor, Lina Posada, Laurie Romeo, Ina Schnitzer, Cora Skinner, Alana Souza, Irina Voronian, Jennifer Zharinova, and Rachel Koren
22A-PL-432
Civil Plenary. Reverses Allen Superior Court’s grant of the motion to compel arbitration filed by the 33 models who initially sued Insured Clubs in federal court over the unauthorized use of their photos in advertisements. Finds Illinois Casualty Company is not required to arbitrate pre-2016 claims because the cyber protection endorsement was not part of the insurance policy during that time. Rules 2016 and later claims are also not entitled to arbitration because the cyber protection endorsement’s arbitration provision applies only to claims made under the endorsement and the models did not bring timely claims under the endorsement. Judge Terry Crone concurs in result.

Court of Appeals of Indiana
R.P. and D.P. v. A.W. and K.H. (mem. dec.)
22A-AD-1862
Adoption. Affirms the denial of R.P. and D.P.’s petition to adopt their grandson. Finds the Jasper Superior Court did not err in concluding that the grandparents did not prove by clear and convincing evidence that for at least one year mother A.W. and father K.H. failed without justifiable cause to communicate significantly with child E.W.-H. when able to do so.

Indiana Supreme Court
Donnell Goston, Sr., et al. v. State of Indiana, et al.
23S-CT-5
Civil tort. Grants transfer to clarify that Indiana Trial Rule 16, Trial Rule 56(B) and Marion County Local Rule LR49-TR16 207(B) work in harmony and are not in conflict. Finds the Marion Superior Court appropriately exercised the discretion afforded by Trial Rule 16 in a manner that balanced the goals of doing justice to the merits of the case, minimizing the risk of prejudice to the plaintiffs, and maintaining orderly and efficient court proceedings when it considered the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, filed outside the deadline set by the local rule. Summarily affirms the Court of Appeals of Indiana in all other respects.

Court of Appeals of Indiana
Tonia Land, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. IU Credit Union
22A-CP-382
Civil plenary. Reverses the grant of IU Credit Union’s motion to compel arbitration on Tonia Land’s overdraft lawsuit. Finds IUCU failed to provide reasonable notice to Land of the arbitration contract, so there was no meeting of the minds. Also finds Land’s silence did not constitute acceptance, and lack of acceptance is a ground for invalidating the addendum’s arbitration requirement. Remands for further proceedings.