Articles

SCOTUS doesn’t take any Indiana cases

The Supreme Court of the United States has declined to take several Indiana cases, including a criminal appeal about whether a stun belt restraint on a defendant during trial and sentencing is prejudicial.

Read More

PACER fee increase begins April 2012

The 2-cent increase per page to access electronic information on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system will take effect April 1, 2012. The Judicial Conference of the United States authorized raising the fee to 10 cents a page to cover maintenance costs as well as to enhance the system.

Read More

Judges uphold admission of robbery confession

A trial court did not err in admitting evidence of uncharged misconduct from another incident during a defendant’s trial for robbery, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday. The evidence contained a letter that helped corroborate the man’s confession to the robbery.

Read More

Justices agree subsidiaries are not new employers

Emphasizing its ruling only deals with determining the proper merit rate for unemployment fund contributions, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled a manufacturer did not create employers through its new subsidiaries, so it wasn’t entitled to a lower rate.

Read More

Bankruptcy judges relocating

Beginning in October, three of the bankruptcy judges in the Southern District of Indiana will be relocating their courtrooms because of construction at the Birch Bayh Federal Building and United States Courthouse.

Read More

SJCBA releases results of judicial survey

The St. Joseph County Bar Association has released the findings of its annual survey of Superior judges. The bar association conducts the survey each year even if no judges are up for retention, which is the case for 2011.

Read More

Court: CHINS fact-finding hearing required by due process

The Indiana Court of Appeals disagrees with the state Department of Child Services that fact-finding and dispositional hearings in a child in need of services case are interchangeable. The appellate panel has ruled a Marion County father’s due process rights were denied because he didn’t receive the opportunity for a fact-finding hearing.

Read More

Appeals court reverses judge on visitation ruling

The state’s intermediate appellate court has reversed a southern Indiana judge’s ruling that a boyfriend should retain visitation rights over an ex-girlfriend’s child. It ruled that the finding is contrary to law because lawmakers didn’t allow for that type of circumstance to warrant visitation.

Read More

BLE will strike broad question, revise other

The Indiana Supreme Court’s Board of Law Examiners is cutting one controversial question from its annual bar exam application and will revise another in order to comply with a federal judge’s recent ruling.

Read More

Township board OKs court move

The Center Township Board on Sept. 21 approved a plan to move the township’s small claims court from the downtown Indianapolis City-County Building to the Julia M. Carson Government Center despite a judge’s objection.

Read More