Supreme Court grants transfer in 3 cases, including NCAA concussion-injury lawsuit

The Indiana Supreme Court granted transfer to three cases last week, including the case in which the NCAA sought to keep its executives from sitting for depositions in a concussion lawsuit.

Justices denied transfer in 12 of 15 cases that came before the high court last week but decided to hold oral arguments in three of those, including National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Jennifer Finnerty, et al., 21S-CT-409.

There, the Indianapolis-based NCAA sought to bar depositions of key executives in a concussion-injury lawsuit filed by the estates of former college football players who claimed they suffered chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The representatives asserted claims including negligence and fraudulent concealment against the NCAA that were consolidated in Marion Superior Court in July 2019.

A split Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that the NCAA’s time for seeking an interlocutory appeal of the ruling on its motion for protective order had long since passed, and it therefore forfeited its right to appeal. However, Judge Elizabeth Tavitas dissented, arguing she would address the NCAA’s interlocutory appeal “even if the second motion for a protective order was repetitive under Trial Rule 53.4(A).”

The high court also granted transfer to Sierra M. DeWees v. State of Indiana, 21S-CR-410.

At age 18, Sierra DeWees was charged with Level 2 felony aiding, inducing or causing a burglary after police in Brazil stopped the car she was driving. She admitted to being the getaway driver for the armed robbery of a 67-year-old Brazil man who later testified he was afraid of DeWees and the accomplices who attacked him.

The Clay Superior Court found DeWees was not entitled to pretrial release under Criminal Rule 26, but the Indiana Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay of that order pending appeal, which was granted. DeWees was released to pretrial home detention and ordered by the COA to remain there after it concluded the trial court had abused its discretion.

Finally, the justices granted transfer to Service Steel Warehouse Co., L.P. v. United States Steel Corp., 21S-CC-408, in which the COA held that the Lake Superior Court wrongly granted U.S. Steel summary judgment in a dispute among material suppliers and contractors who built a now-defunct Gary industrial facility. At issue in the case is whether the supplier-to-supplier prohibition bars Service Steel from obtaining a mechanic’s lien against U.S. Steel.

Oral arguments have not yet been scheduled in any of the three cases granted transfer last week.

Justices concurred in their denials of transfer, with the exception of Elda Corporation, et al. v. Holliday, LLC, 20A-PL-2316. Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Christopher Goff voted to grant the petition to transfer.

In that case, the COA ruled that the owner of land where Anderson’s Mounds Mall once stood cannot order the owner of one parcel to agree to a prior lease.

A full list of cases examined, discussed and addressed on petition to transfer or review by the Supreme Court from the week ending Aug. 27 can be found online.