Line in the sand
Public access and use of the Lake Michigan shore clashes with private property rights in heated case of first impression.
Dave Stafford
Articles
Administrative law ripe for reform?
Indiana has ordered a fresh look at ALJs and whether panels are preferable to the current system.
Riding out the storm
The Indiana Supreme Court’s ruling for the state in a nearly six-year-old IBM suit is what the contract drafters “believed all along.”
Judge denies class action in NCAA scholarship suit
A former college football quarterback who sued the NCAA over its former scholarship policy doesn’t meet the requirements for certification of a class-action suit against the Indianapolis-based organization, a federal judge ruled.
Interim appellate court clerk replaces Smith
Long-serving Indiana appellate court clerk Kevin S. Smith resigned recently, and former deputy clerk Greg Pachmayr is now serving as interim clerk.
Pence vetoes limited private university police disclosure bill
A bill that critics said would limit the information private university police departments must make public was vetoed Thursday by Gov. Mike Pence. The bill was passed just before the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in favor of ESPN, which seeks records the University of Notre Dame police refuse to make public.
Pence vetoes compromise environmental bill
A bill that originally would have barred the Department of Environmental Management from passing “no more stringent” regulations than federal rules was vetoed Thursday by Gov. Mike Pence, despite a compromise on the bill agreed to by both industry and environmental groups.
COA trims man’s robbery, sex offense sentence from 248 to 218 years
An Indianapolis man who was one of five accomplices who robbed a house and sexually assaulted victims inside during a two-hour rampage will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars, but the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Thursday he had been subjected to double jeopardy and trimmed 30 years off his sentence.
Morgan County sued over death of jail inmate
The estate of a woman who was found dead in a Morgan County Jail cell after jail staff allegedly knew she required medical attention has filed a federal wrongful death suit against the sheriff, jail staff and contracted health care providers.
Justices: IBM breached state welfare contract
IBM breached its master services agreement with the state in its failed bid to privatize and modernize Indiana’s welfare systems, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, more than six years after the state sued the tech giant over the $1.3 billion contract.
Rewriting discipline rules for Indiana attorneys
The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission would be limited to a one-year period of internal investigation of lawyers under a key change in an overhaul of rules governing attorney discipline.
Ruling: Simon must face anti-trust suit from competitor
Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group must face an anti-trust lawsuit from a competitor that developed a northern Indiana shopping center near a Simon mall, a federal judge has ruled.
Suit rightly decided for IMPD detective, appeals court rules
A plaintiff who sought to sue an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police detective for alleged abuses related to a drug search failed to persuade the Indiana Court of Appeals that the officer could be held personally liable.
Shot officer’s suit against gun dealer splits COA
An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Officer who was shot and wounded by a suspect he killed returning fire may proceed with his lawsuit against a gun dealer that sold the gun to a straw purchaser, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. The officer’s case is supported by law enforcement and public policy organizations.
Conour resentenced to 10 years, minus supervised release
A federal judge rejected ex-attorney and convicted fraudster William Conour’s bid to reduce his prison sentence Wednesday but lifted the condition of supervised release after he serves his time.
Government seeking tougher sentence for Conour
Ex-attorney William Conour has argued he should be freed from his 10-year federal prison sentence, casting doubt in court filings on whether the multi-million-dollar fraud he pleaded guilty to was even a crime. The government counters that Conour’s lack of remorse justifies imposing a longer prison term when he is in court Wednesday for resentencing.
Northern District case filings plummet, federal courts report shows
Case filings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana fell 43.9 percent between 2014 and 2015, according to statistics released Tuesday in the 2015 Judicial Business of the United States Courts report.
Disability denial reversed due to ‘fatally weak testimony’
The latest in a string of appeals critical of the denial of Social Security disability benefits resulted in reversal of a ruling against the worker Monday. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals held the district court's ruling affirming denial of benefits was “not a reasonable analysis of the plaintiff's claim.”
Marion County Bar Association opposes judicial selection bill
Lawmakers are working to craft an 11th-hour agreement on how judges should be chosen in Marion County after they were unable to reach a compromise Monday. Meanwhile, Indianapolis’ historically black bar association called for direct election of judges instead of a proposed merit-selection system.
‘No more stringent’ restrained
Manufacturers, agriculture and other big Hoosier industries pegged House Bill 1082 at the top of their legislative agenda this year. So did about 20 environmental, health and public-interest groups that opposed the measure barring Indiana from adopting environmental regulations tougher than federal standards.