Essential or non-essential? Lawyers scrambling to provide COVID-19 guidance
Though they don’t have all the answers, legal professionals are being looked to for guidance as clients navigate their new realities.
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Articles
SCOTUS case highlights qualified immunity questions
After attacking a man mistaken for a fugitive, law enforcement in Michigan are facing a civil lawsuit that’s raising questions about qualified immunity and government accountability.
Federal Circuit tweaks statute to overcome constitutionality concerns with administrative patent judges
On Halloween 2019, a constitutional argument against the process for challenging patents not only convinced a federal appellate court but also inspired the judges to offer their own fix to the statute.
Bell and Grass: 3 things: The ethics of working from home
Moving your office into your home can pose unique ethical concerns you may not have considered. James Bell and Stephanie Grass discuss three things you need to know about the ethics of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Legal education confronts the pandemic
The coronavirus emergency is forcing many changes to legal education in Indiana. Law schools and the judiciary are changing procedures, canceling events and finding alternatives as the prohibitions on large gatherings appear likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
Home again: Elkhart man released after 15 years in prison, but case likely isn’t over
Andrew Royer has been granted a new trial after a special judge determined his 2005 trial was tainted by false evidence and coercive investigative techniques that exploited his mental disability. But the possibility of a retrial remains.
DTCI: Finding positives: Togetherness in social distancing
Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana member Megan Culp reflects on the positive things I’ve experienced during the COVID-19 crisis to give others a small distraction from the negatives.
ACLU not planning suit to block fetal remains bill
Indiana’s new fetal remains law, which provides for burial or cremation following an abortion, will likely not face a legal challenged in contrast to a similar provision in a 2016 state law that was ultimately upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
COA affirms murder conviction over challenged letter
The Indiana Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected a South Bend murderer’s claim that a letter he purportedly sent from the St. Joseph County Jail implicating another man in the shooting death was wrongly admitted at his trial because it was not properly authenticated.
Reversal: Landowners, not county, responsible for fixing failing dams near Peru
Reversing a trial court that determined Miami County was responsible for fixing six crumbling dams in a lake community housing addition, the Indiana Court of Appeals found the county was responsible only for the roads that crossed the tops of the embankments.
Texas clinics ask Supreme Court to allow certain abortions
Abortion clinics in Texas have asked the Supreme Court to step in to allow certain abortions to continue during the coronavirus pandemic. The clinics filed an emergency motion on Saturday asking the justices to overturn a lower-court order and allow abortions when they can be performed using medication.
Challenged blood draw in fatal impaired driving crash upheld
A defendant was unable to convince the Indiana Court of Appeals the state was improperly allowed a “do-over” by being able to offer as evidence at trial an analysis of his blood that showed the presence of controlled substances.
Injured wood trimmer operator loses appeal against manufacturer
A Southern Indiana machinery worker’s failure to follow warnings and instructions on a woodcutting machine he was using were the cause of injuries he sustained on the job, the Indiana Court of Appeals concluded on Monday. As such, the machinery’s manufacturer couldn’t have reasonably expected the accident.
7th Circuit: Insurer has no obligation to ambulance fleet service after fatal crash
An ambulance that crashed into a car and killed its driver was not covered under an insurance policy, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. As a result, the insurer had no obligation to either the ambulance service or its employee.
Indiana Supreme Court suspends filing by personal delivery through May 4
The Indiana Supreme Court announced Tuesday that filing pursuant to Appellate Rule 23(A)(1) by personal delivery to the clerk of courts or the rotunda filing drop box is now suspended through May 4.
Nonprofits petition Indiana Supreme Court to protect stimulus payments
Legal aid providers and nonprofits that help the poor are asking the Indiana Supreme Court to protect vulnerable households from having their federal stimulus checks seized by creditors.
ACLU sues to block new Indiana panhandling law
A new Indiana law that effectively bans panhandling in downtown areas effective July 1 is being challenged in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which claims that in addition to panhandlers, it and other organizations whose members personally collect donations would be broadly banned from doing so under the new law.
Order vacating man’s removal from sex offender registry affirmed
A trial court that vacated its prior order removing a man’s name from the Indiana Sex Offender Registry was correct in doing so because the Indiana Attorney General’s Office had not been notified of the offender’s request to be taken off the registry, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.
Justices deny ACLU petition to release inmates amid COVID-19
Indiana Supreme Court justices have denied a petition from the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana inviting the high court to engage in emergency rulemaking to facilitate the release of Hoosier inmates at risk for contracting COVID-19.
Clinton Superior judge to return to bench after military deployment
The judge of the Clinton Superior Court will be back on the bench at the courthouse in Frankfort on Monday nearly a year after a senior judge was temporarily appointed to serve in his place while the sitting judge was deployed on military duty.