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AG won’t appeal sex-offender law ruling

The Office of Indiana Attorney General won’t appeal a federal court’s decision last month that ruled a law requiring sex offenders to allow for blanket consent of computer and home searches is unconstitutional. Instead of appealing, Attorney General Steve Carter said in a press release Thursday that the office will work with legislators this fall to create a law that will protect children from Internet predators but would not violate the Constitution. Carter also cited the cost to taxpayers as a…

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Justices: ‘Three Strikes Law’ unconstitutional

A four-year-old state statute aimed at limiting frivolous lawsuits filed by prison inmates is unconstitutional because it effectively closes the courthouse doors altogether for certain people, a split Indiana Supreme Court ruled today.Three of the five justices – Justices Theodore Boehm, Robert Rucker, and Brent Dickson – agreed that the state’s 2004 “Three Strikes Law” violates the Indiana Constitution’s Open Courts Clause. Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard and Justice Frank Sullivan disagreed and observed their colleagues’ decision means many Hoosier litigants…

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High court clarifies evidence designation

The Indiana Supreme Court upheld a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a defendant and also clarified the designation of evidence in regards to Indiana Trial Rule 56(C). In Idan (John) Filip and Valaria Filip v. Carrie Block and 1st Choice Insurance Agency, No. 75S05-0704-CV-149, the Filips filed a suit against Block and 1st Choice, alleging negligence in the selection of insurance on an apartment building they purchased in 1999. Block was the insurance agent of the previous owner,…

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State files suit against mortgage lender

Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter has filed a lawsuit against mortgage lender Countrywide Home Loans Inc. for questionable practices, making Indiana the fifth state to take action against the largest lender in the country. The suit, No. 76C01-0808-PL-652, was mailed to Steuben Circuit Court Aug. 22 and filed the same day. The suit, which includes Countrywide’s parent company, Countrywide Financial Corporation, alleges the company engaged in deceptive and misleading practices that put borrowers in potentially risky and costly loans. Carter’s investigation…

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License revocations stayed for now

A panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals has temporarily blocked the state from revoking driver’s licenses that don’t match Social Security records.The preliminary injunction came June 6 in a case challenging the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ invalidations of licenses or identification cards on the sole basis of mismatched records.The decision comes in Lyn Leone, et al. v. Indiana BMV Commissioner, No. 49A02-0804-CV-00377, which is currently pending in the state’s second highest appellate court and is at the briefing stage…

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Federal court dismisses suit against judge

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit against an Allen Circuit judge because the judge was entitled to judicial immunity in a suit filed by a pro se plaintiff disgruntled about a small claims ruling.

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COA: Dealership not denied due process

he Indiana Court of Appeals directly addressed for the first time today the due process implications of an administrative law judge conducting a hearing without the participation of a party who received notice but couldn't be contacted by telephone at the time of the hearing. The appellate court found a car dealership's due process hadn't been violated when it failed to participate in a telephone hearing with the administrative law judge and a former employee.

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Head Start considered a school

Teachers who work for a federally funded program to help children prepare for kindergarten are not eligible under Indiana statute for unemployment during summer breaks, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today. In South Bend Community School Corporation v. Linda D. Lucas, No. 93A02-0705-EX-387, the majority of judges agreed with South Bend that Head Start institutions should be considered schools under Indiana statute and therefore, its teachers are not allowed to collect unemployment during the summer. Lucas works as a teacher at…

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Judges disagree on registration by homeless

Indiana Court of Appeals judges disagreed today in an opinion in which the majority ruled that a man who claimed he was temporarily homeless should be charged with violating the Indiana statute that requires registered sex offenders to provide their new address to authorities within seven days of a move. One judge dissented, saying their ruling would make homelessness a crime.Judges L. Mark Bailey and Ezra Friedlander affirmed Daniel J. Milliner’s conviction for failing to register as a sex offender and…

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Lawyer suspended for conversion, lying

The Indiana Supreme Court suspended a Vanderburgh County attorney today for at least three years for committing what the court describes as the most serious of ethical breaches.The court came to its decision In the matter of: Douglas W. Patterson, No. 82S00-0402-DI-90, as a result of Douglas Patterson’s conversion of client funds, deceit in concealing his misconduct, and dishonesty with the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission.Patterson was an associate at a law firm which maintained a trust account. In 1999, Patterson and…

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COA mulls ‘fraud’ in paternity affidavit statute

A man’s paternity cannot be revoked three years after he and the child’s mother fraudulently signed an affidavit establishing that he’s the legal father, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today.The court’s unanimous ruling paves the way for a possible Indiana Supreme Court interpretation of this particular state statute, which this appellate panel believes was designed to protect a man’s paternal rights in the event he was defrauded – not when he was the one doing the deception along with the…

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Court reverses joint tenancy interest ruling

The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a finding that a mother and her daughter and son-in-law each held a one-half joint tenancy in a property, finding the parties actually held one-third undivided interest as joint tenants.

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Justices: Act doesn’t allow interest

Interest may not be calculated on workers’ compensation benefits, including past-due medical bills, because Indiana legislation doesn’t expressly allow for it, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled today. In Christopher R. Brown, D.D.S., Inc. v. Decatur County Memorial Hospital, No. 93S02-0711-EX-561, Dr. Christopher Brown appealed the decision by the full Workers’ Compensation Board that he was not entitled to interest on past-due medical bills incurred from his treatment of a patient who was receiving workers’ compensation benefits from Decatur County Memorial Hospital. Indiana’s…

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Social Security doesn’t go toward threshold

Social Security benefits can’t be counted toward the threshold amount of benefits that a person has to get in order to be eligible for benefits from Indiana’s Second Injury Fund, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today.The court tackled the issue of first impression in James Kohlmeyer v. Second Injury Fund, No. 93A02-0711-EX-1000, in which James Kohlmeyer argued Social Security benefits he received after becoming permanently totally disabled as a result of a work accident should count toward the threshold dictated under…

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Federal judge won’t overturn jury verdict

Ruling on his first jury trial as a federal judge, U.S. District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen declined to overturn a jury verdict in favor of a fired East Chicago worker who’d claimed she lost her job for political reasons.In an eight-page ruling on Aug. 1 in Blanca I. Camacho v. George Pabey, et al., No. 2:05-cv-456, Judge Van Bokkelen ruled that a reasonable jury had evidence to find in favor of Camacho and award her $250,000.Camacho was a restaurant inspector when…

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Aspiring attorneys general face off: Other campaigns get the spotlight, but this one deserves a closer look

With at least two very closely watched races in Indiana – governor and president – and multiple political theories about how either race will go, there’s bound to be less attention paid to some of the other candidates. But with Republican Gregory Zoeller and Democrat Linda Pence up for the attorney general post and the incumbent Steve Carter not running, this race is worth another look. At stake is the oversight of the state attorney general’s office, basically a very large…

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