Court opinions

Indiana Tax Court
John E. Sparre v. St. Joseph County Assessor
23T-TA-18
Tax. Affirms he Indiana Board of Tax Review’s final determination that left unchanged John Sparre’s 2019, 2020, and 2021 property tax assessments and concluded that Sparre’s constitutional claims lacked merit and were unsupported by the evidence. Finds Sparre’s claims that the Indiana board’s procedures violated his rights under the First and Seventh Amendments to the United States Constitution are contrary to law. Also finds Sparre’s equal protection claims that Indiana’s property tax system, both generally and as applied to his property, are unavailing because they were unsupported by substantial and reliable evidence.

Indiana Court of Appeals
V.L. Davis Properties v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, as Indenture Trustee, on Behalf of the holders of the Accredited Mortgage Loan Trust 2004-3 Asset Backed Notes
23A-MF-2224
Mortgage foreclosure. Affirms the Jennings Superior Court’s denial of the motion to correct error that V.L. Davis Properties filed after the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Deutsche Bank National Trust Company and entered a decree of foreclosure related to a property on Blossom Court in North Vernon. Finds the trial court did not have personal jurisdiction over Deutsche Bank because CSL Community Association Inc. did not serve Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, and therefore the foreclosure decree entered in that case did not extinguish the bank’s interest.

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals
Indiana Green Party, et al. v. Diego Morales
23-2756
Civil. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. Judge James Sweeney. Affirms the district court’s granting of summary judgment to the defendant, Indiana’s Secretary of State Diego Morales. Finds that U.S. Supreme Court and 7th Circuit precedent, requiring the signatures of 2 percent of the electorate, was constitutionally permissible and that the June 30 filing deadline for submitting signatures to the counties was also permissible. Also finds states have broad authority to impose reasonable, nondiscriminatory restrictions on access to the ballot. Finally, finds the ballot access restrictions challenged in the case easily pass the scrutiny that the U.S. Supreme Court and the 7^th Circuit have employed in similar cases.

Indiana Court of Appeals
James E. Brabson v. State of Indiana
24A-CR-174
Criminal. Affirms James Brabson’s convictions in Allen Superior Court for Level 6 felony criminal recklessness, Level 6 felony pointing a firearm and Level 4 felony unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. Finds Brabson’s conviction for a Level 6 felony  of pointing a firearm did not constitute double jeopardy. Also finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it imposed a probation-violation sanction on Brabson.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Mercer Belanger Professional Corporation v. Edward Gaeta
23A-CT-1351
Civil tort. Affirms the Tippecanoe Circuit Court’s final judgment in favor of Edward Gaeta and against Mercer Belanger Professional Corporation in the amount of $463,130.81, including the original $331,000 plus $132,130.81 for attorney fees, paralegal fees, expenses, and foreclosure defense attorney fees. Finds Gaeta met the requirements for standing at summary judgment, and Gaeta did nothing at the district court that would have judicially estopped him from vigorously arguing standing at the trial court. Also finds Mercer has not convinced the court that the trial court erred in granting partial summary judgment in Gaeta’s favor.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Phillip D. Hinkle v. State of Indiana
24A-CR-136
Criminal. Affirms Phillip Hinkle’s conviction in Marion Superior Court for invasion of privacy, a Class A misdemeanor. Finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the chronological case summary of the protective order case into evidence. Also finds that the state presented sufficient evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to support Hinkle’s conviction of invasion of privacy.

Indiana Court of Appeals
In the Matter of the Paternity of E.B.K.; Genesis E. Palma v. Zachary K. Keown
23A-JP-2316
Juvenile paternity. Reverses the Warrick Superior Court’s grant of a modification of custody regarding E.K., which was filed by Zachary Keown. Finds that the mother’s due process rights were violated by the extraordinary delays in conducting the final custody hearings and by the trial court’s denial of mother’s discovery requests to the guardian ad litem. Also finds the mother has demonstrated that the trial court failed to find a proper substantial change in circumstances and erred by granting the petition. Remands and returns the parties to their joint legal and physical custody agreement, which was in effect before the temporary emergency custody order was entered. Judge Terry Crone dissents with a separate opinion.

Indiana Supreme Court
Perdue Farms, Inc. v. L&B Transport, LLC, et.al.
24S-PL-40
Civil plenary.  Affirm the Daviess Circuit Court’s order dismissing Perdue Farms ’s claims against U.S. Security for improper venue. Enforces the forum-selection clause over the plaintiff’s objection, though that means some of its claims will be heard in Maryland, and others (against non-contracting defendants) will be heard in Indiana. Reject the plaintiff’s strategic pleading to avoid the forum-selection clause by suing the contracting defendant’s Indiana-based employees individually. Reverses the trial court’s order dismissing U.S. Security’s three employees. Declines to apply the forum-selection clause to the plaintiff’s claims against the individual employees. These employees (unlike their employer) are not parties to the forum-selection clause, and they are not in privity with their employer. Remands for further proceedings consistent with the court’s opinion. Chief Justice Loretta Rush concurs with separate opinion.

Indiana Tax Court
Majestic Properties, LLC v. Tippecanoe County Assessor
22T-TA-13
Tax. Reverses the Indiana Board of Tax Review’s decision that two uses of a single-family residence – as a residential rental property and as an owner-occupied home – are equivalent for purposes of assessment after relying on appraisals offered by the Tippecanoe County Assessor that valued a Majestic Properties, LLC home for its use as an owner-occupied residence to uphold the assessment. Finds the board’s additional concern that a more narrow conception of use risks valuing the property to the specific user (e.g., Majestic) is mitigated by the appropriate identification of the class of similar users to which the owner belongs under the regulatory standard. Also finds the failure to apply the regulatory standard may have led the board to conceive the current use of the subject property too broadly.  Remands the case to the board  for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Scott A. Blattert, Jr. v. State of Indiana
23A-CR-1571
Criminal. Affirms Scott Blattert’s convictions in Lawrence Superior Court for Level 3 felony aggravated battery, two counts of Level 5 felony domestic battery, Level 6 felony strangulation, Level 6 felony domestic battery, and Class A misdemeanor domestic battery. Finds the jury acted within its discretion when it concluded that Blattert’s actions underlying count 5 and count 6 were unreasonable. Also finds the state presented sufficient evidence to support Blattert’s conviction for Level 3 felony aggravated battery.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Timothy J. Brewer v. State of Indiana
24A-CR-105
Criminal. Reverses with instructions to vacate Timothy Brewer’s conviction in Morgan Superior Court for theft under Count 7 and issue an amended sentencing statement, sentencing order, and abstract of judgment consistent with this opinion. Affirms Brewer’s other convictions.

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals
United States of America v. Joshua R. Campbell
22-3283
Criminal. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division. Judge Damon Leichty. Affirms the decision of the district court denying Joshua Campbell’s motion to suppress incriminating statements used as evidence. Finds Murphy and Cranley dictate that Campbell’s parole agreement did not threaten a penalty for exercise of his Fifth Amendment protections, and he was not in custody when he made the relevant incriminating statements. Also finds that because Campbell did not invoke his Fifth Amendment right, and it was not otherwise self-executing, the district court properly denied his motion to suppress the evidence.

Indiana Court of Appeals
M.M. v. L.P.
23A-PO-2089
Protection order. Affirms the Clinton Circuit Court’s grant of a protection order against M.M. to protect his ex-wife, L.P. Finds that transfer to the special judge was not required and, even if the trial court should have granted the transfer, any error in this case was harmless. Also finds the trial court did not err when it denied the father’s request to transfer the matter to the special judge in the dissolution matter. Judge Leanna Weissmann dissents with separate opinion.

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals
Geft Outdoor, LLC v. City of Evansville, Indiana
Civil. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Evansville Division. Judge James Sweeney. Affirms the district court’s dismissal of  Geft Outdoor’s  complaint against the City of Evansville that challenged the way the city’s ordinance handles permits and allows exceptions to (variances from) the height, spacing, and placement rules for off-premises signs. Finds that by focusing on its quest for a variance, GEFT disqualified itself from making a facial challenge. Also finds GEFT’s problem is not the lack of standing but the fact that it waged a facial challenge when it should have tried an as-applied challenge. Finally, finds the district court’s judgment is modified to make clear that GEFT loses on the merits rather than for lack of standing.

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals
United States of America v. Christopher Truett
22-1349
Criminal. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. Judge James Hanlon. Affirms the district court’s decision to not hold a competency hearing for Christopher Truett and the court’s sentencing guidelines calculation for Truett’s drug conspiracy conviction. Finds that because the condition of Truett’s supervised release included only in the written judgment is a mandatory condition, the court declines to vacate that condition. Also finds that the district court did not abuse its discretion in not ordering a competency hearing sua sponte at the change-of-plea hearing.

Indiana Court of Appeals
James D. Frye v. State of Indiana
23A-CR-1691
Criminal. Reverses the Greene Circuit Court’s decision to grant the state’s request for a protective order to prohibit James Frye from questioning the alleged victim about her sexual history with Frye. Finds the trial court abused its discretion when it granted the state’s protective order to prohibit Frye from asking the alleged victim about their shared sexual history. Remands for further proceedings consistent with the appellate court’s opinion.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Matthew D. Coonce v. State of Indiana
23A-CR-1920
Criminal. Affirms the Elkhart Superior Court’s finding that Matthew Coonce is a habitual vehicular substance offender and and the trial court’s imposition of a sentence enhancement. Finds that prior unrelated vehicular substance offenses used to support an HVSO enhancement may be either felony or misdemeanor convictions. Also finds Coonce’s prior VSO convictions support the jury’s finding he is an HVSO, and the jury’s finding supports Coonce’s enhanced sentence of 540 days for being an HVSO, for a total of 900 days.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Gregory Darnell Henderson v. State of Indiana
24A-CR-667
Criminal. Reverses Gregory Henderson’s sentence in Marion Superior Court of 360 days with 296 days suspended for resisting law enforcement, a Level 6 felony. Finds the trial court misapprehended the law when sentencing Henderson. Also finds the appellate court cannot say with confidence that the trial court would reject alternative minimum sentencing in Henderson’s case regardless of his eligibility. Remands for resentencing.

Indiana Tax Court
Dr. Tulsi and Kamini Sawlani v. Lake County Assessor
21T-TA-44
Tax. Reverses the final determination of the Indiana Board of Tax Review that Tulsi and Kamini Sawlani were not entitled to the one percent tax cap credit on the contested acreage during the 2019 tax year. Finds that that the Indiana Constitution does not permit a fixed one-acre limitation on the amount of land eligible for the one percent tax cap. Remands the matter for further proceedings to determine whether the homeowners’ contested acreage is entitled to the one-percent tax cap in light of this decision.

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals
Donnell D. Wilson v. Ron Neal
23-2316
Criminal. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division. Judge Jon DeGuilio. Affirms the district court’s denial of Donnell Wilson’s petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus. Finds Wilson’s 100-year sentence for committing two murders at the age of 16 does not violate the Eighth Amendment as construed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012). Also finds the district court denied relief on the merits, finding that the Indiana Supreme Court decision rejected Wilson’s Eighth Amendment claim under Miller on the merits and that the rejection was neither contrary to nor an unreasonable application of Supreme Court precedent.