COA: Woman’s motion in divorce case can stand
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled a woman seek to modify a divorce agreement after she found her husband hid more than $1 million in undisclosed assets five years later.
Court opinions
Articles
Man can sue prison for failure to protect him
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled a prisoner can seek remedies against prison staff who did not protect him from other inmates who were throwing feces at him. It found the man had exhausted all of his remedies before filing suit.
7th Circuit: State immune from FLSA suit
The 7th Circuit affirmed that Indiana was immune from a Federal Labor Standards Act lawsuit brought by two Department of Child Services Employees. The court said the state did not give consent for the suit, and thus had 11th Amendment immunity under the U.S. Constitution.
Justices: Man who moved back to Indiana must register as sex offender
A man who moved back to Indiana in 2013 after he was convicted of child molesting in 1989 must still register as a sex offender, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. His registration does not cause an ex post facto violation nor place an additional punishment on him.
Supreme Court: City not immune from injury suit
The Indiana Supreme Court ruled a city did not meet the requirements of the Indiana Tort Claims Act, and as such does not have immunity in a suit filed by a woman who fell in a city street and broke her leg.
Supreme Court affirms second-degree murder charge, life in prison
The Indiana Supreme Court said admission of an autopsy report and testimony by a pathologist who did not complete the report was not a violation of a man’s Sixth Amendment right to cross-examination and thus affirmed the trial court’s conviction of second-degree murder.
COA dismisses improperly filed preliminary injunction motion
The Indiana Court of Appeals dismissed a motion for preliminary injunction against the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit filed by Pain Medicine and Rehabilitation Center and Anthony Alexander after it found PMRC’s motion in the trial court was not procedurally correct.
Court reduces man’s sentence by 3 years
The Indiana Court of Appeals reduced a man’s aggregate sentence by three years after it found he was denied effective assistance of counsel when his counsel did not bring up a statutory limitation issue.
Riding out the storm
The Indiana Supreme Court’s ruling for the state in a nearly six-year-old IBM suit is what the contract drafters “believed all along.”
Man must pay to clean up meth mess, court affirms
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled a man must pay to clean up the remnants of his meth lab after it found Indiana Code justified the payment and there was a victim to whom restitution should be paid.
COA: Patient not notified doctor was independent contractor
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled a man was never notified that the doctor treating him was an independent contractor and not an employee and therefore reversed summary judgment to the hospital and remanded the man’s vicarious liability case to the trial court.
Majority: injured worker’s immigration status relevant
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in a split decision a man’s immigration status is valid evidence in a case where he was injured while working in the United States as an undocumented immigrant.
Supreme Court: Blanket suppression goes too far in murder case
While police officers who overheard a pretrial consultation between a suspect and his lawyer were definitely in the wrong, the total suppression of all the officers’ testimony in the case may not be necessary, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision
COA: Man has to abide by settlement
A man must abide with the agreement he settled on even though he had later second thoughts. The Indiana Court of Appeals found he breached a contract after he came to a settlement with an insurance company.
Man has sentence cut in half by Supreme Court
The Indiana Supreme Court cut a man’s sentence in half, from 32 to 16 years, by a 3-2 decision after it found consecutive sentences in the case were not appropriate because the state sponsored a series of identical offenses.
COA: Contract can be rescinded after land misrepresented
The Indiana Court of Appeals found a rental company could rescind its purchasing contract for a tract of land after the company that owned the land misrepresented it to the buyer.
COA: Flood plain ordinance is enforceable, residential ordinance is not
A builder must seek a special exception to mine in a flood plain zone after the Indiana Court of Appeals found that ordinance enforceable under state statute. However, an ordinance that doesn’t allow mining within two miles of a residential area is not enforceable because it was not enacted in accordance with Indiana’s zoning statutes.
‘Quasi-contract’ not enough in fraud suit
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said a “quasi-contract” was not enough to pursue damages in a fraud case where one additive was unknowingly substituted for another.
CHINS case dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction
A mother’s appeal of a trial court’s order terminating her visitation with her child and denying her motion to modify the permanency plan in a CHINS case was dismissed by the Indiana Court of Appeals for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Woman claiming defamation after charges dropped loses appeal
A woman who sued for defamation against her employer and a private investigator after she was acquitted of two counts of theft will not gain relief after the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld summary judgment for the employer and investigator in her case.