Supreme Court takes up property tax refund dispute
Whether the owners of an industrial property who were in default on a mortgage are entitled to a property tax refund is a question the Indiana Supreme Court will decide.
Dave Stafford
Articles
Tax Court affirms rulings for Verizon in contested assessments
State tax authorities who couldn’t convince administrative boards to uphold a tripling of assessed valuation on Verizon facilities in Allen County had no better luck Friday before the Indiana Tax Court.
COA affirms convictions state conceded as double jeopardy
State attorneys who agreed with a defendant’s argument that his felony drunken-driving and misdemeanor reckless driving convictions violated double-jeopardy protections were wrong, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Friday, affirming both convictions.
Lawsuit: DCS illegally slashes subsidies if special-needs kids adopted
A lawsuit filed Thursday claims the Indiana Department of Child Services violated federal law when it proposed to slash assistance for three profoundly disabled children after their grandparents who served as foster parents planned to adopt them.
Court rules for IPS in ex-employee’s ‘Moorish Christmas’ suit
An ex-Indianapolis Public Schools employee and minister fired after repeated complaints of physical altercations with students lost his federal discrimination lawsuit that claimed in part he was fired for religious reasons, including his request to be allowed off work to observe “Moorish Christmas.”
Steele: Deal close on medical malpractice reform bill
Plaintiff and defense lawyers and state officials are close to an agreement on legislation to reform Indiana’s Medical Malpractice Act, a key state senator said Tuesday.
Study panel recommends opening adoption records
A legislative study committee Tuesday recommended opening records to thousands of Hoosiers born before 1994 who cannot access their own birth certificates.
Trailblazing lawyer Sue Shadley dies
Indianapolis attorney Sue Shadley, who made her mark in environmental law and was a founding partner in what became one of the city’s major firms, died Monday from Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Five for 5 at 25
As Indiana Lawyer marks its 25th anniversary, we posed five questions to five leaders in the legal community admitted to practice in 1990. Here’s what they had to say upon marking a quarter-century in the profession.
DCS ‘became the abusers’
A jury has awarded $31.3 million in an "arbitrary and capricious" case against parents in their child's death.
Trust and the troubled child
Estate planning attorneys occasionally draw the strong-willed client who wants to leave money to an heir – but only if the kid sobers up, quits getting in trouble with the law, gets a job, stops living beyond his means, or changes behavior in some other way.
Study panel to hear proposal to open adoption records
Whether some 350,000 adopted people born between 1941 and 1993 should be allowed access to their birth certificates – and knowledge of who their biological parents are – will be considered Tuesday by a legislative study panel.
Appeals court reinstates South Bend police wrongful death suit
A wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of a man who died in the custody of South Bend police was reinstated Friday by the Indiana Court of Appeals.
Trial court erred in ordering harassing neighbor’s firearms seized
A trial court erred in ordering firearms seized and in placing other restrictions on a man the court properly determined had committed stalking against his neighbor, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Friday.
Justices affirm attorney fees award in domestic arbitration
A trial court ruling ordering an ex-husband to pay his ex-wife’s legal fees in a divorce settled under the Family Law Arbitration Act was affirmed Friday by the Indiana Supreme Court.
Representing self, Conour types motions seeking release
Convicted fraudster and ex-attorney William Conour has asked a judge to free him from prison less than two years into his 10-year sentence for defrauding dozens of personal injury and wrongful death clients of nearly $7 million.
Insurer can’t halt depositions in fatal church bus crash
The estate of a man killed in an Indianapolis church bus crash may proceed with a countersuit against an insurance company the estate claims acted in bad faith by refusing payment after the fatal crash.
Johnson County judges, public defenders sued for ‘systemic’ problems
People who’ve been arrested in Johnson County are taking the unusual step of filing a class-action lawsuit against the county, judges and public defenders there, claiming they have not been represented by an underfunded and overburdened public defender system.
Federal jury rules against DCS, awards family $31.3 million
The family of a 14-year-old Pulaski County girl who died as a result of prescription error has been awarded $31.3 million in a judgment against state agents who wrongly removed the couple’s children from their home and prosecuted the parents for their daughter’s death.
Reversal reinstates negligence claim in fall on snowy hotel lot
A trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of hotel defendants on a negligence claim arising after a guest slipped, fell and was injured in a parking lot covered by a dusting of snow.