Since March 2020, attorney Kathryn DiNardo has taken up dozens of cases through the Indiana Federal Community Defenders from inmates hoping to be released early because of the pandemic. Those cases are but a drop in the bucket of inmates who have applied for compassionate release, and a July ruling from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has seemingly further dwindled their chances of success.
Read Indiana appellate court decisions from the most recent reporting period.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is sending an excessive force case back down to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana after it found the district court erroneously awarded summary judgment to an Indianapolis police officer and the city.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
State of Indiana v. Brian Koorsen and Kelly Hoffman
20A-PL-2306
Civil plenary. Reverses the Hamilton Superior Court’s decision that landowners Brian Koorsen and Kelly Hoffman accepted the state of Indiana’s $45,000 settlement offer and were entitled to an additional $171,640.56 in litigation expenses. Finds that because the landowners did not mutually assent to the state’s offer to settle the cause for $45,000, the trial court erred in entering a judgment against the state for $216,640.56. Remands for further proceedings.
No settlement agreement was reached between the state of Indiana and two Carmel landowners who brought an inverse condemnation action costing the state more than $200,000, the Court of Appeals of Indiana ruled in a Wednesday reversal.
A man charged with the murder of his 12-year-old son won a partial reversal from the Court of Appeals of Indiana after his motion to suppress evidence against him was denied.
A pro se litigant who filed a $2.5 million lawsuit in Marion Superior Court using a small claims form will be able to seek damages from her landlord after the Court of Appeals of Indiana found res judicata did not bar all her claims.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Cole G. Strack v. State of Indiana
21A-CR-922
Criminal. Affirms Cole Strack’s six-year sentence, with two years suspended, for convictions of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and possession of marijuana. Finds the Wells Superior Court did not violate Strack’s right to allocution. Also finds the trial court’s error in precluding evidence pertaining to parenting issues with his child’s mother was harmless. Finally, finds that while the trial court’s failure to afford mitigating weight to Strack’s entry of a guilty plea was an abuse of discretion, declines to remand for resentencing due to the abuse of discretion and alleged cumulative effect of the trial court’s errors.
A man convicted of operating a vehicle while intoxicated with his toddler in the car could not convince the Court of Appeals of Indiana that he was denied his right to allocution or that his sentence should be reconsidered.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
Butler Motors, Inc., et al. v. Michael Benosky, et al.
20A-PL-1871
Civil plenary. Affirms the Marion Superior Court’s denial of two consolidated motions to dismiss filed by numerous automobile dealer defendants against a group of customers who purchased or leased vehicles from the dealers and who sued under the Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and the Motor Vehicle Dealer Services Act. In an interlocutory appeal, finds the trial court did not err by denying the respective motions to dismiss.
Two car dealer groups could not convince the Court of Appeals of Indiana to order the dismissal of class action lawsuits brought against them by angry customers.
A former South Bend high school athletic director claiming “reverse race discrimination” has lost on his claims that he was discriminated and retaliated against when he didn’t receive job offers for positions he applied for within the school corporation.
A gay teacher who sued the Archdiocese of Indianapolis after he was terminated from his teaching position at Cathedral High School has been given another chance to make his case after the Court of Appeals of Indiana found the trial court committed reversible error in dismissing the lawsuit.
A unanimous Supreme Court on Monday rejected a claim that the Memphis, Tennessee, area has been taking water that belongs to Mississippi from an underground aquifer that sits beneath parts of both states.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
M.B. v. J.D. (mem. dec.)
21A-PO-00524
Protective order. Affirms the protective ordered issued for J.D. against ex-boyfriend M.B. Finds M.B. forfeited his original appeal and has not identified any basis to set the order aside under Indiana Trial Rule 60(B). Finds the Grant Superior Court did not abuse its discretion by leaving the protective order in place.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld the murder conviction of a woman who arranged the killing of her young daughter’s father amid a custody battle over the child.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
Tracey Wheeler v. State of Indiana and Indiana Department of Corrections
21A-MI-1175
Miscellaneous. Reverses the Perry Circuit Court’s dismissal of a negligence complaint by prisoner Tracey Wheeler against the Indiana Department of Correction and remands for further proceedings. Finds Wheeler adequately stated a cause for negligence and the DOC appeared to concede as much by abandoning their challenge to the sufficiency of the allegations. Also finds Wheeler was not required to plead exhaustion of remedies to state a claim for relief. Affirms the dismissal of any other putative claims contained in the complaint by Wheeler.
A Georgia-based bank waived its right to claim the Marion Superior Court lacked personal jurisdiction over a garnishment case after it placed a hold on a bank account and responded to interrogatories without objection, the Court of Appeals of Indiana has affirmed.
The Court of Appeals of Indiana is allowing a negligence complaint by a prisoner against the Indiana Department of Correction to proceed, partially reversing a dismissal by the Perry Circuit Court.
Indiana Court of Appeals
In Re the Matter of: Paternity of W.M.T., Elizabeth Jackson v. Sharon Thomas
21A-JP-57
Juvenile paternity. Affirms the Hancock Superior Court’s order awarding custody of W.M.T. to Sharon Thomas, the order for Elizabeth Jackson to pay child support to Thomas and the denial of Jackson’s request for attorney fees. Finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it admitted certain challenged evidence, nor did it err when it determined that Thomas was W.M.T.’s de facto custodian and that modification of W.M.T.’s custody was in the child’s best interests. Also finds the trial court didn’t err when it excluded W.M.T.’s survivor benefits from the child support calculation. Finally, finds the trial court didn’t abuse its discretion when it denied Jackson’s request for attorney fees.