The annual State of the Judiciary address will not be delivered in person to the Indiana General Assembly this year due to COVID-19, the Indiana Supreme Court has announced. Instead, Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush will submit a written report and video message.
Given the economic toll the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on Indiana’s budget, the Indiana Supreme Court is not requesting additional funding in the next biennial budget that will be drafted during the 2021 Legislative session. Instead, the court is asking the General Assembly to keep funding steady and has reverted funds to the state through pandemic-related savings.
Amendments have been made to Indiana Rules of Trial Procedure regarding child paternity cases, as well as e-filing processes and procedures for filing probate and guardianship cases, according to an order from the Indiana Supreme Court.
The minimum number of court senior judge service days for the upcoming year has been doubled from 15 to 30, and courts are encouraged to use senior judges to assist during the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Indiana Supreme Court announced in a Wednesday order.
Indiana’s commercial court docket is expanding for the first time, with four new venues opening in 2021. Hamilton, Madison, St. Joseph and Vigo counties will join Allen, Elkhart, Floyd, Lake, Marion and Vanderburgh counties in offering the specialized business dockets.
The Indiana Statehouse rotunda filing drop box is once again accessible for appellate case filings as public access to the Statehouse has been reinstated, the Indiana Supreme Court and Indiana Court of Appeals have announced. As such, appropriate in-person filing at the clerk’s office is once again permitted.
The Indiana Supreme Court has certified two additional judicial officers as senior judges for 2021.
Speaking with reporters via Zoom on Thursday, Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush acknowledged that despite efforts to keep courts operating remotely as much as possible, judges will face the difficult task in 2021 of working through COVID-created backlogs and getting their dockets back on schedule.
The Indiana Supreme Court on Monday certified retiring Marion Superior Court Magistrate Judge Deborah Jean Shook as a senior judge for 2021, beginning Jan. 1.
A divided Indiana Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled in favor of the city of Bloomington, upholding a ruling against the Indiana governor and striking down “special legislation” targeting the city’s annexation efforts. Dissenting justices, however, warned that the majority’s holding “erodes separation of powers.”
The Indiana Supreme Court has taken the “drastic” step of suspending all jury trials in Indiana until March 2021 as Indiana continues to report high numbers of positive COVID-19 cases.
A four-member Indiana Supreme Court denied a petition Thursday filed by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis to stop the lawsuit brought by a social studies teacher who was fired from Cathedral High School for being in a same-sex marriage.
Indiana’s decision to adopt the Uniform Bar Exam came after a year of study, and the decision wasn’t unanimous. As Chief Justice Loretta Rush explained, “I really respect the dissenting opinion and in many ways a lot of us agree with what they are saying. But we really felt the time had come.”
An Indianapolis attorney who failed to act promptly and misled a client has been suspended from the practice of law in Indiana for six months.
Indiana has decided to join the growing majority of states and adopt the Uniform Bar Exam in July 2021, according to an announcement Tuesday from the Indiana Supreme Court. Justices also announced Tuesday that the February 2021 Bar Exam will be given remotely.
Indiana Supreme Court justices in a Wednesday order provided instructions to hearing officers and parties in attorney disciplinary proceedings that have not yet proceeded to final hearing, perhaps most significantly permitting remote proceedings due to the continuing pandemic.
Residents of a Miami County lake community lost their bid to make their case to the Indiana Supreme Court that the county, not property owners, are responsible for fixing six crumbling dams.
Court-related outbreaks of the novel coronavirus mean more aggressive approaches are needed for Indiana’s trial courts when it comes to in-person operations during the pandemic, according to a new order from the Indiana Supreme Court.
The Indiana Supreme Court has agreed to hear an oil company’s appeal of a ruling against its claim for insurance coverage after it paid a ransom to hackers to regain control of its computer systems.
Indiana Supreme Court justices have suspended a Crown Point attorney and ordered her to JLAP services after she was found driving recklessly and asleep behind the wheel before struggling with and spitting on an officer.