The Indiana Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed the termination of a father’s parent-child relationship after concluding his due process rights had been violated. The Department of Child Services, the appellate court found, did not make reasonable efforts to reunify the father and child.
A mother who backed over her aunt with a vehicle before fleeing the scene with her child in the car has won a new trial on a criminal recklessness conviction, though the Indiana Court of Appeals declined to overturn her related conviction of resisting law enforcement.
A divided panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals on Thursday threw out a lawsuit against two lawyers filed by their opposing party in long-running litigation, the current case over proceeds from a tax sale that the lawyers distributed to their clients. The majority ruled that the lawsuit — filed one day outside the two-year statute of limitations — should be dismissed.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals will not revisit a prior ruling that upheld an injunction on an Indiana law requiring “mature minors” to notify their parents before they have an abortion, setting the case up for a possible trip to the United States Supreme Court.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Kathy Salyer v. Washington Regular Baptist Church Cemetery, and Kristy Sams
19A-PL-243
Civil plenary. Affirms the Ripley Circuit Court’s order awarding Kathy Salyer an open gravesite at the Washington Regular Baptist Church Cemetery after the cemetery resold the gravesite she had purchased and another individual was buried there. Finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion in fashioning a remedy that required the cemetery to “correct” its mistake by giving Salyer an open, adjacent burial site free of charge. Judge James Kirsch dissents with separate opinion.
The Indiana Court of Appeals on Wednesday reversed suppression of drug evidence in a man’s parole violation case that was found during a search of a rented storage unit.
A man mistakenly buried at a gravesite that had already been sold to another individual will continue to rest in peace after the Indiana Court of Appeals declined to order the cemetery to exhume the man and relocate his grave. A dissenting judge, however, said Indiana statute and legal principles require the cemetery to correct the “wrongful entombment.”
Read Indiana appellate court decisions from the most recent reporting period.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Natoami Riley, et al. v. St. Mary’s Medical Center of Evansville, Inc.
19A-CT-844
Civil tort. Reverses the Vanderburgh Circuit Court’s grant of summary judgment to St. Mary’s Medical Center of Evansville Inc. on a medical malpractice claim brought by Natoami and Frank Riley. Finds a radiologic technician who wrote an affidavit on behalf of the Rileys is qualified to render an expert opinion on proximate causation, and that a genuine issue of material fact exists regarding that issue. Remands for further proceedings.
A woman who suffers from nerve damage after dye was negligently injected into her arm for a medical scan has won a reversal against the southern Indiana hospital that administered the procedure.
Indiana Supreme Court
State of Indiana v. Tyson Timbs
27S04-1702-MI-70
Miscellaneous. Vacates and remands for the Grant Superior Court to determine, based on the Indiana Supreme Court’s framework, whether Tyson Timbs has cleared the hurdle of establishing gross disproportionality in the civil forfeiture of his Land Rover. Finds a use-based in rem fine is excessive if (1) the property was not an instrumentality of the underlying crimes, or (2) the property was an instrumentality, but the harshness of the punishment would be grossly disproportional to the gravity of the underlying offenses and the owner’s culpability for the property’s misuse. Also finds that Timbs’ Land Rover was an instrumentality of the underlying offense of drug dealing. Justice Geoffrey Slaughter dissents with separate opinion.
The Indiana Tax Court on Monday reversed an Indiana Board of Tax Review’s final determination that concluded a low-income apartment complex owner failed to prove it qualified for a charitable purposes exemption.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has found a father in contempt for failing to pay years’ worth of irregular child support, reversing a lower court’s denial of his ex-wife’s petition to show cause for his failure to pay.
The following 7th Circuit Court of Appeals opinions were posted after IL deadline Thursday:
John W. Kimbrough v. Ron Neal
18-3145, -3153
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. Judge William T. Lawrence.
Civil. Reverses the grant of John Kimbrough’s petition for writ of habeas corpus after he was denied post-conviction relief in state court on his 80-year sentence for child molesting. Finds a federal court considering a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) cannot disagree with a state court’s resolution of a state law issue.
A convicted child molester’s 80-year sentence has once again been reinstated after the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the grant of a habeas petition. The appellate panel on Thursday reversed habeas relief that had been granted at the district court.
A former Indiana Department of Transportation supervisor who claimed his firing was motivated in part by his defense of a Democratic employee and a letter to the editor that the supervisor’s mother wrote criticizing former Gov. Mike Pence’s immigration policies failed to prove he was discriminated against, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.
Indiana Supreme Court
William Clyde Gibson, III v. State of Indiana
22S00-1601-PD-00009, 22S00-1608-PD-00411
Post conviction. Affirms the Floyd Superior Court’s denial of post-conviction for William Clyde Gibson III from his two murder convictions resulting in death sentences, finding he did not receive ineffective assistance of counsel.
Video of suspected drug activity from a drone aircraft a woman found in her yard is admissible in court to try her neighbor on charges including dealing methamphetamine, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.
The following 7th Circuit Court of Appeals opinions were issued after IL deadline Tuesday.
USA v. Anthony Shockey
19-1308
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division. Judge Robert L. Miller, Jr.
Criminal. Affirms an order revoking Anthony Shockey’s supervised release and imposing a 15-month prison sentence after he tested positive for methamphetamine. Finds the court could reasonably infer possession from use.
A man who was convicted of drug-dealing charges and sentenced to 12 years in prison won a reversal Wednesday because his trial was wrongly continued when the state could not timely produce lab results. The appellate court noted a lengthy prosecutorial delay in providing the evidence for lab testing was to blame.