Opinions May 28, 2019

Indiana Court of Appeals
Gary Police Civil Service Commission v. City of Gary
18A-MI-540
Miscellaneous. Affirms the Lake Circuit Court’s reversal of the Gary Police Civil Service Commission’s order for the city of Gary to reinstate Reserve Officer Lamarquist Pritchett. Finds the trial court did not commit reversible error in declining to defer to the commission’s findings. Also finds the trial court did not err in concluding the commission’s ruling was arbitrary and capricious because it was issued in disregard of the undisputed facts and circumstances. 

Cheryl Alcorn v. State of Indiana
18A-CR-2849
Criminal. Affirms the contempt finding against Cheryl Alcorn. Finds Alcorn did not meet
her burden on appeal to demonstrative that she was not in direct contempt. 

Cordell O. Spencer v. State of Indiana
18A-CR-2878
Criminal. Affirms Cordell O. Spencer’s conviction of Class A misdemeanor resisting law enforcement by force. Finds Spencer’s proposed jury instruction emphasized particular factual scenarios, thereby minimizing other potentially relevant evidence, so the Marion Superior Court did not abuse its discretion in declining to give it. 

Shaun Perrill v. Brandy Perrill
18A-DN-1616
Domestic relation no children. Reverses the Hendricks Superior Court’s determination that there was no enforceable premarital agreement between Shaun and Brandy Perrill. Finds the trial court erred in concluding as a matter of law that there was no contract between the parties, in failing to admit testimony regarding Brandy’s excluded property and in finding the agreement was unconscionable, to the extent such a finding was made. Remands. 

IU Health, Inc. d/b/a Riley Hospital for Children v. Mike Meece and Natalie L. Meece, Individually and as Parents and Natural Guardians of Gabriel M. Meece, Deceased Minor (mem. dec.)
18A-CT-2968
Civil tort. Reverses the jury verdict in favor of Mike and Natalie L. Meece on their medical malpractice complaint against Riley Hospital for Children. Finds the Meeces did not present evidence at trial to prove Riley breached the applicable standard of care in its provision of health care to the Meeces’ child, Gabe, so the Vanderburgh Circuit Court erred when it denied Riley’s motion for directed verdict at the close of the Meeces’ presentation of evidence at trial. Also finds the issue of medical malpractice should not have been presented to the jury. 

James P. Maloney v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
69A01-1707-CR-1663
Criminal. Affirms James P. Maloney’s six-year sentence for his conviction of Level 5 felony battery. Finds Maloney has failed to prove his sentence is inappropriate. 

In the Matter of the Termination of the Parent-Child Relationship of L.M. and Li.M. (Minor Children); A.M. (Mother) and An.M. (Father) v. Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)
18A-JT-3065
Juvenile termination of parental rights. Affirms the termination of An.M. and A.M.’s parental rights to their two minor children, L.M. and Li.M. Finds the evidence most favorable to the Tippecanoe Superior Court’s judgment demonstrates that the trial court did not err when it concluded that the continuation of the parents’ relationships with the children posed a threat to the children’s well-being. Also finds that given the totality of the evidence, the parents cannot show that the juvenile court erred when it concluded that termination of their rights was in the children’s best interests. 

In the Matter of: K.B., J.K.E., J.E., and K.E., Children in Need of Services, and A.E. (Mother) v. The Indiana Department of Child Services (mem. dec.)
18A-JC-2603
Juvenile CHINS. Remands the dispositional order concluding A.E.’s four children are children in need of services, with instructions for the LaPorte Circuit Court to enter findings of fact and conclusions of law consistent with Indiana Code section 31-34-19-10. Finds the lack of findings of fact and conclusions of law has impeded appellate review. 

In Re the Estate of James E. Hurwich, Scott D. Hurwich v. Stacey MacDonald (mem. dec.)
19A-EU-38
Estate, unsupervised. Affirms the award of $44,444 in attorney fees to Stacey MacDonald in the breach of fiduciary duty case brought by Scott Hurwich, but rejects MacDonald’s cross-appeal request for approximately $40,306.50 more in attorney’s fees, as well as appellate attorney fees and costs. Finds the probate court did not erroneously award the attorney fees.