Justice deny transfer to 13 cases

The Indiana Supreme Court denied granting transfer in any of the 13 cases brought before its bench last week, including a case involving a gun robbery consisting of more than a dozen firearms and a debt suit lacking malicious intent.

Justices unanimously chose not to hear argument in any cases for the week ending March 22, including Jack Wonderly v. State of Indiana, 18A-CR-1888. In that case, Wonderly and another individual broke into a detached garage, hooked a log chain to a gun safe containing 14 firearms and proceeded to drag the safe across the lawn to their truck. They also stole three briefcases and a coin collection valued at $7,000.

Although he apologized for his actions, Wonderly told the victims he was unaware that he would be participating in a crime. The Indiana Court of Appeals didn’t buy that argument and upheld his 10-year sentence for his Level 4 felony burglary conviction, which he had appealed was inappropriate.

The high court also declined to grant transfer in Ben's Quarry LLC, et al. v. Diamond Equipment, 18A-CT-15, in which the COA affirmed summary judgment for heavy equipment company Diamond Equipment Inc., finding there was no malicious prosecution of Marion County’s Ingram Quarry and owner Benjamin Ingram over a debt. 

There, the COA found that designated evidence supported the trial court’s determination that Diamond had probable cause to believe a fraudulent transfer had occurred between Ingram Quarry and Ingram and Ben’s Quarry, which he formed later. The panel also found that materials Diamond submitted in support of its motion for summary judgment were dispositive of the malice element of the tort.

The full list of cases denied for the week ending March 22 may be found here.