Editor

Olivia joined Indiana Lawyer as a reporter in September 2016 and was promoted to managing editor in April 2018. Olivia has experience reporting on local, state, and federal government entities, including the state and federal court systems. She has been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists for her work individually and with the Indiana Lawyer staff each year since she joined IBJ Media.

First job: Watering flowers around the yard for my dad
Favorite movie: Tie between The Devils Wear Prada and Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Favorite book: Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen (seeing a pattern?)
Personal hype song: “Respect” by Aretha Franklin
Hobbies: Reading, biking, taking walks, listening to music

Articles

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Monroe County Judge Ken Todd retiring after more than 40 years

As he reflects on his career before his Oct. 15 retirement, Monroe Circuit Judge Kenneth Todd says his interactions with litigants and courtroom colleagues has been the best part of his 40-year stint on the bench. “I intended to do it for one term, but I found that it was a good fit for me,” he said of his judicial career.

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COA upholds $78 million for state in IBM suit, awards IBM interest

The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a $78 million judgment in favor of the state and against IBM Corp. that was awarded as part of a long-running legal battle stemming from IBM’s breach of a contract to redesign the state’s welfare system in 2006. But the court also ordered the state to pay post-judgment interest to IBM on a $49.5 million damages award it previously received, overturning a lower court ruling on that issue.

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Justices consider ouster of Yorktown clerk-treasurer

Choosing to forcibly remove an elected official from office is a weighty decision, one that requires government officials to go against the will of the voters — presumably for the public good. In theory, an impeachment occurs only when an elected officer has egregiously failed to perform his or her duties, leaving no choice but to force the official to vacate her office.

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Foreclosure, judgment for Kokomo property owners reversed

An Indiana trial court must recalculate the amount of damages that must be paid by a couple who defaulted on a real estate contract after an appellate panel determined the trial court erred in allowing for both a forfeiture and foreclosure remedy for the default.

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Public Defender Commission announces legislative priorities

The Indiana Public Defender Commission has announced plans to begin a legislative effort intended to stir statewide public defense reform, a decision that comes on the heels of a task force report that highlighted shortcomings in the Hoosier indigent defense system.

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New Albany attorney J. Todd Spurgeon to become ISBA president

A couple of years into his practice at Kightlinger & Gray, a senior partner at the firm gave J. Todd Spurgeon a simple directive: “You are going to get involved in the bar association.” The rest, as they say, is history: Spurgeon’s now the incoming president of the Indiana State Bar Association.

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IU McKinney LL.M. 1 of 34 to pass exam for future Lebanese judges

To call the Lebanese judicial exam difficult would be an understatement. Many who qualify try for years, and this year, less than 4 percent of all takers pass the test to become a judge in the Middle Eastern nation. But a former IU McKinney master of laws wasn’t deterred by such odds, and she succeeded on her first attempt.

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Sheriffs, public defense task force shine spotlight on jail overcrowding

The work of law enforcement has changed dramatically in the last 30 years. But in Indiana, one aspect of local law enforcement has not: the per diem local jails receive to house, feed and transport inmates. Currently the state allocates a $35 per day, but the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association has announced plans to advocate for raising that amount to $55.

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Improving legal representation for the indigent

Nearly two years after a national organization released a report that was highly critical of Indiana’s public defense system, a statewide task force has issued a report of its own that lays out the issues hindering Hoosier defendants’ access to counsel and makes recommendations for improvement.

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COA overturns injunction against Charlestown code enforcement scheme

A special judge’s ruling that preliminarily enjoined the city of Charlestown from inconsistently imposing code violation fees while simultaneously finding the city was not subject to the state’s Unsafe Building Law has been overturned. The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the trial court erred in finding the UBL does not apply to the city, thus requiring remand for re-examination of how local and state regulations should work together.

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Hill asks SCOTUS to reinstate death penalty for murderer Baer

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is asking the nation’s highest court to reinstate the death penalty against a man convicted of killing a Madison County woman and her 4-year-old daughter, arguing the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals failed to properly defer to state court rulings when it overturned his death sentence earlier this year.

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Ball State settles free speech suit with campus pro-life group

Ball State University has agreed to pay more than $12,000 and to revise its student activity fund allocation guidelines as part of a settlement with a pro-life student organization that sued the school earlier this summer for alleged free speech and equal protection violations.

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AG Hill signs Indiana onto retaliatory arrest case

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill has signed onto another multi-state Supreme Court amicus brief, this one challenging a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that allowed a retaliatory arrest lawsuit to proceed against Alaska police officers despite probable cause supporting the arrest.

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