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St. Joseph County approves adding public defenders

Ten more public defenders are coming soon to St. Joseph County.The county council on Tuesday approved hiring the additional defenders for the second half of the year. Circuit Judge Michael Gotsch had asked council members for the changes described as a “revolutionary change” to the county system late last month.Judge Gotsch says the 10 public defenders are needed to keep up with increasing caseloads that are at higher levels than the state standard allows. The measures also establish a chief deputy…

Marion judges choose court administrator

    An Indianapolis law firm partner who has led three state agencies is the new administrator for Marion County courts. On Monday, the four-judge executive committee chose Glenn R. Lawrence to fill the spot, which has been vacant since the former administrator Ron Miller resigned in late March. Since then, Senior Judge Richard Good has been filling in as interim administrator. The county’s four leading judges offered Lawrence the $93,500-salary job Monday afternoon, according to presiding Superior Judge Gerald Zore. Judges had…

7th Circuit affirms crime-lab ruling

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a District Court’s decision of summary judgment in favor of Indianapolis and Marion County in an appeal filed by a former employee of the county’s Forensic Services Agency, or Crime Lab.

Counties receive Family Court grants

Eight counties are receiving grants from the Indiana Supreme Court to address the needs of families with multiple court cases.The high court announced Friday that the eight counties will receive a total $74,000 in grants, with amounts ranging from $2,000 to $19,000. Money can be used for numerous programs such as information sharing, facilitation and pre-trial conferencing, or affordable alternative dispute resolution. The funding is considered “seed money” and courts are expected to eventually become self-funding.Grant recipients are: Allen County $14,000,…

E-ticket system to be unveiled

The Indiana Supreme Court is playing a key part in doing away with delays between police-issued tickets and that information arriving in the hands of courts and prosecutors.Indiana is receiving more than $2.4 million in federal grants to launch the system known as eCWS or the electronic Citation and Warning System. The system will give officers the ability to produce e-tickets in the field and relay that information to a central location for law enforcement, prosecutors, and courts to access -…

Supreme Court will hear candidate certification dispute

The candidacy of a Cass Circuit judge is now going before the Indiana Supreme Court – even though the candidate in question has been a sitting judge for this entire year.Justices have granted transfer in J. Bradley King, et al. v. Leo T. Burns, et al., 09A02-0610-CV-847, which questioned the candidacy of judicial office-seeker Leo Burns in last year’s primary and general election.Burns, who was selected to fill the vacancy in the November 2006 ballot after the May primary, was not certified…

Senate sets Judge Tinder’s confirmation hearing

U.S. District Judge John D. Tinder in Indianapolis will face the Senate Judiciary Committee Sept. 25 for his confirmation hearing for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.The 2:30 p.m. hearing in Washington, D.C., will be webcast at the Senate committee’s Web site. The federal judge from the Southern District of Indiana received word from the White House in July that President George W. Bush nominated him for the job. If confirmed, Judge Tinder would be the first Hoosier jurist appointed to…

Justices grant 3 transfers, including dram shop case

The Indiana Supreme Court has granted three transfers in three civil cases this week.Transfers come in Michael M. Cubel v. Debra A. Cubel, No. 32A04-0605-CV-268, American Fire & Casualty Co. v. Direction in Design Inc., et al., No. 29A05-0511-CV-681, and Rebecca Shaw v. LDC Enterprises, et al., No. 29A05-0511-CV-681.The Cubel appeal stems from a Hendricks County marriage dissolution case involving spousal maintenance and child support for college. In a memorandum opinion issued April 30, the Court of Appeals didn’t find the…

Lauth distress over French Lick casino not over

Lauth Property Group may have ended its contentious battle with Bloomington billionaire Bill Cook this week to develop the $382 million French Lick casino and hotel project, but its real battle involving the Orange County resort may have just begun. The Indianapolis-based developer still faces a breach-of-contract claim seeking $100 million by Chicago-based Merit Management, a hotel and casino developer. Merit and Lauth initially teamed up to develop the French Lick project but failed to obtain a gaming license. Lauth later…

Court rules on self-defense statute

Indiana’s highest court says the phrase “reasonably believes” in the state’s self-defense statute requires a person to have subjective belief that force was necessary to prevent serious bodily injury and that actual belief was one any reasonable person would have had under the circumstances.The Indiana Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision Wednesday afternoon in Philip Littler v. State of Indiana, No. 71S03-0704-CR-151, reversing a ruling by St. Joseph Superior Judge Roland Chamblee Jr.The case involves a gun and knife fight between…

Court rules on gun manufacturer suit

The Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s decision to deny handgun manufacturers’ motion to dismiss a public nuisance suit brought by the city of Gary. The court determined Indiana’s public nuisance statute is applicable to the sale or marketing of firearms for purposes of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. At issue in Smith & Wesson Corp. et al. & United States of America v. City of Gary, Indiana by its mayor, Rudy Clay, 45A05-0612-CV-754, was whether the…

COA rules on habitual-offender enhancement

The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded a case involving the denial of a defendant’s motion to correct an erroneous sentence. The court also considered whether the trial court dealt correctly with the defendant’s habitual substance offender enhancement by treating it as a separate conviction and whether the trial court may properly suspend any portion of the sentence enhanced by the habitual substance offender finding. In Joseph Bauer v. State of Indiana, 92A05-0704-PC-229, Bauer filed a…

ND law student on ‘Millionaire’

A University of Notre Dame Law School student will appear on the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Sept. 14 and 17.Jaclyn Sexton is a first-year law student from North Attleboro, Mass. Notre Dame students and South Bend residents can watch “Millionaire” on WNDU-TV (channel 16/cable channel 8) at 1 p.m. Other Indiana stations that air the show can be found on http://www.millionairetv.com/tunein.html.Sexton took her mother, Janice, to the taping, according to a press release from the law school….

Supreme Court grants emergency writ for dairy farm case

The Indiana Supreme Court has granted an emergency writ filed by a rural Huntington County dairy farm accused of contaminating local waterways with manure from 1,400 cows. An order issued Wednesday afternoon bars Huntington Circuit Judge Thomas Hakes from deciding on a preliminary injunction stopping the dairy owner, Johannes DeGroot, from spreading cow manure on nearby fields, until the state’s high court can rule on a request for permanent writ of mandamus and prohibition. However, any previous orders issued by…

Judge: IFD discrimination suit can go to trial

A federal district judge is allowing a sexual discrimination suit against an Indianapolis Fire Department chief to proceed to trial.U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker in Indianapolis issued an order Tuesday in Morrison v. Indianapolis Fire Department Chief James Greeson, denying the chief’s motion for summary judgment.Filed in January 2006, the suit comes from what 10-year department veteran Ruth Morrison, a fire captain, describes as routine and repeated discrimination because she is female, including her not getting a promotion to chief…

Bad breakup leads to lawsuit between former associate, firm

The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today on a case where a law firm sued its former associate who left, along with several other employees, to join a new firm. In Kopka, Landau & Pinkus v. Larry Hansen, et al., No49A02-0611-CV-987, Hansen’s previous employer, law firm Kopka Landau & Pinkus, appealed two trial court orders -summary judgment in favor of Hansen and judgment in favor of Hansen on the counterclaims against KLP. Hansen worked as an associate attorney for KLP and…

Supreme Court rules on emotional distress case

Spouses can recover damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress claims even when there is no physical injury or direct impact, but unmarried or engaged couples cannot, the Indiana Supreme Court said today.The state ;s high court also held in its opinion that such a claim requires the plaintiff to have learned of the incident by having either witnessed the injury or the immediate gruesome aftermath.Its unanimous opinion with a separate concurring opinion from two justices is the answer to a…

Judge sees shift in ‘constitutional jurisprudence’ in protected speech cases

A separate concurring opinion by a Court of Appeals judge describes what he calls “a fundamental shift in Indiana’s constitutional jurisprudence.”Judge James S. Kirsch made his statements in the unanimous, 3-0 opinion today in Latoya A. Blackman v. State of Indiana, No. 49A02-0610-CR-893, which involves a woman convicted of disorderly conduct in 2005 for yelling, swearing, and non-compliant behavior toward police officers during a vehicle narcotics search of the car in which she was riding.The court ruled that Blackman’s arrest for…

Child’s ‘home state’ rules jurisdiction

The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today Indiana courts have jurisdiction to modify custody agreements originally made in another state, as long as Indiana is considered the “home state” of the subject child. In the case, In Re: The Marriage of Barbara Kenda and Boris Pleskovic, 71A03-0701-CV-34, Kenda, the mother of A.P.K., appealed a custody modification order awarding Pleskovic, the child’s father, custody of A.P.K. Kenda contends the trial court in Indiana did not have jurisdiction to modify and abused its…

Judge: Parents not responsive in Anderson school uniform suit

The legal challenge to a new school uniform policy in Anderson could be slowly slipping away, as a federal judge in Indianapolis is looking to dismiss the case after the pro se parent plaintiffs “utterly failed” to respond to discovery requests and haven’t shown any likelihood of prevailing in court.U.S. District Judge John D. Tinder on Friday vacated an injunction hearing and trial set for this morning because of the plaintiffs’ lack of response. He has issued orders barring testimony and…