The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a man’s child molesting conviction and sentence after finding, among other things, that his due process rights were not violated after he was found to be a sexually violent predator pursuant to Indiana Code section 35-38-1-7.5.
A general contractor does not owe a duty of care to a construction worker injured on the job, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in a Monday interlocutory appeal, reversing a grant of summary judgment to the worker as to that issue.
Indiana Court of Appeals
John P. Hampton v. Audie Barber
20A-MI-143
Miscellaneous. Affirms the Delaware Circuit Court’s order granting Audie Barber’s request for a permanent injunction following his complaint for ouster of an unlawful office holder in which the court concluded that Muncie City Councilman John P. Hampton is ineligible to hold a seat on the council under Indiana Code Section 3-5-8-1(e). Finds the evidence supports the trial court’s finding that Barber has a special interest in the city council seat, and that finding supports the court’s conclusion that Barber had standing to file the complaint against Hampton. Also finds that Hampton has waived for review the issue of whether Indiana Code Section 3-8-1- 5(e)(3) violates Article 1, Section 23 of the Indiana Constitution as applied to him.
A man convicted of domestic battery and disorderly conduct successfully secured a new trial from the Indiana Court of Appeals after it found the admission of his wife’s hearsay statements were in error.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a young adult’s decades-long sentence for felony burglary convictions that stemmed from several residential break-ins he committed as a teen, finding that his sentence is not inappropriate.
A Muncie city councilman could not persuade the Indiana Court of Appeals to determine on Friday that he is still eligible for the position after another candidate revealed that the councilman has a felony record.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Judy Reece v. Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc., et al.
20A-CT-214
Civil tort. Majority affirms the grant of summary judgment in favor of Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc. in a lawsuit alleging that tall grass on its property obstructed the view of an intersection before a crash in which a motorcyclist sustained catastrophic brain injuries. Finds Tyson negated the element of duty in Reece’s negligence claim. Senior Judge John Baker dissents, finding multiple issues of fact rendering summary judgment inappropriate, and would consequently reverse and remand for proceedings. Unanimously affirms the trial court’s evidentiary rulings.
The guardian of a Wayne County man who sustained catastrophic brain injuries in a motorcycle crash lost an appeal of a judgment against her negligence suit Thursday, but one judge would have permitted her case against a meat plant near the crash scene to proceed.
The following Supreme Court opinions were posted after IL deadline Tuesday:
Jordan B. Wadle v. State of Indiana
19S-CR-340
Criminal. Affirms and reverses in part Jordan Wadle’s convictions of Level 3 felony leaving the scene of an accident, Level 5 felony operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury and Level 6 felony counts of OWI endangering a person and OWI with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more, and his 16-year sentence with two years suspended to probation. Overrules the Richardson v. State constitutional tests in resolving claims of substantive double jeopardy and instead adopts an analytical framework that applies the statutory rules of double jeopardy. Finds the statutory offenses charged against Wadle were alternative sanctions, so his multiple convictions violate the statutory rules of substantive double jeopardy. Also finds Wadle’s conviction of Level 3 felony leaving the scene of an accident justifies his sentence. Remands for Fayette Superior Court to vacate all but one of Wadle’s convictions, Level 3 felony leaving the scene of the accident, and to leave his sentence in place.
A panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals narrowed the claims of women who sued pharmaceutical giant Bayer claiming alleged defects in the permanent birth control device Essure. The ruling Wednesday came after the Indiana Supreme Court remanded the case for the appeals court to address the viability of plaintiffs’ claims.
Overruling a constitutional test for resolving claims of substantive double jeopardy and adopting a new test in its place, the Indiana Supreme Court has partially reversed a man’s drunken driving convictions on double jeopardy grounds. His 16-year sentence, however, will remain.
A man who fired multiple gunshots into a car in Lafayette after a confrontation was properly convicted of two counts of attempted murder, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled, reinstating one of the charges that had been vacated by the Indiana Court of Appeals.
The grant of an alleged child molester’s motion to suppress a statement he made to police was not in error because the statement was obtained during a custodial interrogation without Miranda warnings, an appellate court has ruled.
Just as celebrations were starting over the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that Title VII protections cover transgender workers, another opinion from the nine justices shielded religious organizations from lawsuits by expanding the ministerial exception legal doctrine and injected more energy into potential religious liberty challenges to anti-discrimination laws.
Read Indiana appellate court decisions from the most recent reporting period.
The Indiana Court of Appeals recently published a decision that is instructive about noncompete agreements. It is one of the rare noncompete cases that does not contain the phrase: “Indiana courts are reluctant to enforce noncompete agreements because they constitute a restraint on trade.”
Indiana Court of Appeals
Victoria V. Arrowood v. State of Indiana
20A-CR-667
Criminal. Affirms the revocation of Victoria Arrowood’s placement in community corrections home detention and the order that she serve the remainder of her sentence in the Department of Correction. Finds that because the revocation of probation or placement in community corrections is civil, not criminal, in nature, Article 1, Section 13 of the Indiana Constitution is inapplicable. Also finds Arrowood was not denied her right to counsel.
An Indianapolis man’s attempted murder conviction was upheld Tuesday after the Indiana Court of Appeals found that the testimony of one of his shooting victims was not incredibly dubious.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed the revocation of a woman’s home detention in favor of incarceration, declining to make the “profound statement” that the Indiana constitutional right to counsel extends to revocation hearings.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Judy Vigus, as Administratrix of the Estate of Ruth C. Vigus and the Estate of Eugene Vigus v. Dinner Theater of Indiana, L.P.
19A-CT-1365
Civil tort. Affirms the Marion Superior Court’s judgment for Dinner Theater of Indiana L.P. following a jury trial on Judy Vigus’s complaint alleging negligence as administratrix of the Estates of Ruth C. Vigus and Eugene Vigus. Finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it revoked its pretrial order on a judicial admission or when it excluded evidence of communications between the theater’s owners that they would seek a variance in the riser’s height rather than reduce that height. Also finds Vigus has not preserved for review her contention on appeal that the trial court erred when it did not instruct the jury that the theater had made a judicial admission of a building code violation.