Indiana Court Decisions – June 18-30, 2020
Read Indiana appellate court decisions from the most recent reporting period.
Court opinions
Articles
Divided COA panel finds for woman wrongly told hepatitis test was negative
A woman who learned years after she had been told that a hepatitis test was negative that in fact the test had come back positive had her case reinstated June 26 by the majority of an Indiana Court of Appeals panel. Two of three judges found a clinic fraudulently concealed the woman’s positive test result.
Opinions July 7, 2020
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Monwell Douglas v. Faith Reeves
18‐2588
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Terre Haute Division.
Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson.
Civil. Affirms the Indiana Southern District Court’s grant of summary judgment to Faith Reeves against Monwell Douglas, an Indiana prisoner who claimed Reeves retaliated against him for activity protected by the First Amendment. Finds no reasonable jury could conclude that Reeves inflicted deprivations on Douglas likely to deter a person of ordinary firmness from engaging in First Amendment activity.
7th Circuit: Caseworker didn’t retaliate against prisoner
An Indiana prisoner whose discipline conviction was overturned for lack of evidence did not persuade the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that his case manager later retaliated against him for activity protected by the First Amendment.
7th Circuit affirms drug conspiracy conviction
A man convicted in a drug conspiracy could not convince the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that he pleaded guilty to a lesser amount than what the government indicted him for.
COA affirms godmother’s conviction for assisting teen after murder
The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a northern Indiana woman’s felony conviction for assisting her godson after he murdered his teenage girlfriend, finding she did so with the intent to hinder his punishment.
Justices reduce meth dealing sentence in split opinion
A divided Indiana Supreme Court has sided with an appellate judge’s dissent in a drug dealing case, lowering a woman’s decades-long sentence pursuant to Appellate Rule 7(B).
Supreme Court upholds cellphone robocall ban
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a 1991 law that bars robocalls to cellphones. Six justices agreed that by allowing debt collection calls to cellphones, Congress “impermissibly favored debt-collection speech over political and other speech, in violation of the First Amendment.”
Opinions July 6, 2020
Indiana Court of Appeals
Robert Shorter v. State of Indiana
19A-CR-2904
Criminal. Affirms Robert Shorter’s convictions for Level 2 felony dealing in methamphetamine, Level 3 felony dealing in a narcotic drug, Level 3 felony conspiracy to commit dealing in a narcotic drug and Level 3 felony aiding, inducing or causing dealing in methamphetamine. Finds that the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions. Also finds no error in the admission of evidence that would violate the Fourth Amendment or Article 1, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution. Judge Rudolph Pyle dissents with separate opinion.
Split COA affirms drug dealing convictions in warrantless search, arrest dispute
A divided appellate court has affirmed a man’s drug dealing and conspiracy convictions despite disagreement among the panel as to whether admitted evidence found during a warrantless arrest should have been excluded.
Appeals court corrects factual error but otherwise denies inmates’ rehearing request
An appellate panel has granted a man’s petition for rehearing, but only to correct a factual error it made in its original decision in his case.
Terre Haute firm loses fees appeal against former Illinois Congressman
A Terre Haute law firm is owed no additional money from one of its former clients, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday in an attorney fees lawsuit involving former Illinois Congressman Aaron Schock and his campaign committee.
7th Circuit temporarily stays federal execution set for next week
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily stayed an execution scheduled for next week after finding that two issues raised by a Terre Haute inmate were “worthy of further exploration.” Wesley Ira Purkey’s execution was scheduled for July 15, but now it will be stayed “pending the completion of proceedings in the Seventh Circuit.”
Justices rule states can bind presidential electors’ votes
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that states can require presidential electors to back their states’ popular vote winner in the Electoral College. The ruling, just under four months before the 2020 election, leaves in place laws in 32 states and the District of Columbia that bind electors to vote for the popular-vote winner, and […]
Indiana report says abortions dropped 5% in state last year
The number of abortions performed in Indiana fell by about 5% last year, according to a new state health department report.
Opinions July 2, 2020
Indiana Court of Appeals
Thomas R. Ysursa and Becker, Hoerner, Thompson & Ysursa, P.C. v. Frontier Professional Baseball, Inc.
20A-CT-49
Civil tort. Affirms the Marion Superior Commercial Court’s denial of the Ysursa parties’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit asserting legal malpractice over its involvement in litigation stemming from a failed bid to locate a Frontier Professional Baseball League team in Kokomo. Finds the commercial court did not err in finding there were sufficient minimum contacts between Ysursa and Indiana to establish personal jurisdiction, and the ruling was not unreasonable.
SCOTUS denies cert petition against South Bend abortion clinic
U.S. Supreme Court justices rejected a third Indiana abortion case on Thursday, refusing to hear a petition filed against an embattled South Bend abortion clinic that was permitted by a federal judge to open last summer.
Molester, 62, loses appeal claiming state didn’t prove he was at least 21
Common sense doomed a 62-year-old man’s appeal of his child molesting conviction Thursday in which he argued the state had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was at least 21 years old.
Law firm strikes out in seeking to toss Kokomo baseball litigation
An out-of-state law firm can’t avoid a lawsuit in the Indiana Commercial Court alleging legal malpractice in its handling of litigation that arose from failed efforts pitching a minor league baseball team for Kokomo.
SCOTUS remands 2 Indiana abortion cases, won’t hear ‘buffer zone’ challenges
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday remanded to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals two lawsuits challenging Indiana laws restricting abortions, leaving undisturbed for now lower court rulings striking down state laws that would have required stricter ultrasound measures and parental notification for mature minors.