Courts

Parents can be ordered to pay medical expenses for college students as part of child support obligations, even past age 21, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled today.All five justices agreed in Michael Cubel v. Debra Cubel, 32S04-0707-CV-283, which is authored by Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard and involves two conflicting rulings from the state’s appellate court on this issue.The Hendricks County case involves the two parents who divorced in 2005, but have a daughter attending college in the state. She is currently…

Ten more public defenders are coming soon to St. Joseph County.The county council on Tuesday approved hiring the additional defenders for the second half of the year. Circuit Judge Michael Gotsch had asked council members for the changes described as a “revolutionary change” to the county system late last month.Judge Gotsch says the 10 public defenders are needed to keep up with increasing caseloads that are at higher levels than the state standard allows. The measures also establish a chief deputy…

Eight counties are receiving grants from the Indiana Supreme Court to address the needs of families with multiple court cases.The high court announced Friday that the eight counties will receive a total $74,000 in grants, with amounts ranging from $2,000 to $19,000. Money can be used for numerous programs such as information sharing, facilitation and pre-trial conferencing, or affordable alternative dispute resolution. The funding is considered “seed money” and courts are expected to eventually become self-funding.Grant recipients are: Allen County $14,000,…

The Indiana Supreme Court is playing a key part in doing away with delays between police-issued tickets and that information arriving in the hands of courts and prosecutors.Indiana is receiving more than $2.4 million in federal grants to launch the system known as eCWS or the electronic Citation and Warning System. The system will give officers the ability to produce e-tickets in the field and relay that information to a central location for law enforcement, prosecutors, and courts to access -…

The candidacy of a Cass Circuit judge is now going before the Indiana Supreme Court – even though the candidate in question has been a sitting judge for this entire year.Justices have granted transfer in J. Bradley King, et al. v. Leo T. Burns, et al., 09A02-0610-CV-847, which questioned the candidacy of judicial office-seeker Leo Burns in last year’s primary and general election.Burns, who was selected to fill the vacancy in the November 2006 ballot after the May primary, was not certified…

U.S. District Judge John D. Tinder in Indianapolis will face the Senate Judiciary Committee Sept. 25 for his confirmation hearing for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.The 2:30 p.m. hearing in Washington, D.C., will be webcast at the Senate committee’s Web site. The federal judge from the Southern District of Indiana received word from the White House in July that President George W. Bush nominated him for the job. If confirmed, Judge Tinder would be the first Hoosier jurist appointed to…

The Indiana Supreme Court has granted three transfers in three civil cases this week.Transfers come in Michael M. Cubel v. Debra A. Cubel, No. 32A04-0605-CV-268, American Fire & Casualty Co. v. Direction in Design Inc., et al., No. 29A05-0511-CV-681, and Rebecca Shaw v. LDC Enterprises, et al., No. 29A05-0511-CV-681.The Cubel appeal stems from a Hendricks County marriage dissolution case involving spousal maintenance and child support for college. In a memorandum opinion issued April 30, the Court of Appeals didn’t find the…

Indiana’s highest court says the phrase “reasonably believes” in the state’s self-defense statute requires a person to have subjective belief that force was necessary to prevent serious bodily injury and that actual belief was one any reasonable person would have had under the circumstances.The Indiana Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision Wednesday afternoon in Philip Littler v. State of Indiana, No. 71S03-0704-CR-151, reversing a ruling by St. Joseph Superior Judge Roland Chamblee Jr.The case involves a gun and knife fight between…

The Indiana Supreme Court has granted an emergency writ filed by a rural Huntington County dairy farm accused of contaminating local waterways with manure from 1,400 cows. An order issued Wednesday afternoon bars Huntington Circuit Judge Thomas Hakes from deciding on a preliminary injunction stopping the dairy owner, Johannes DeGroot, from spreading cow manure on nearby fields, until the state’s high court can rule on a request for permanent writ of mandamus and prohibition. However, any previous orders issued by…

Spouses can recover damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress claims even when there is no physical injury or direct impact, but unmarried or engaged couples cannot, the Indiana Supreme Court said today.The state ;s high court also held in its opinion that such a claim requires the plaintiff to have learned of the incident by having either witnessed the injury or the immediate gruesome aftermath.Its unanimous opinion with a separate concurring opinion from two justices is the answer to a…

A separate concurring opinion by a Court of Appeals judge describes what he calls “a fundamental shift in Indiana’s constitutional jurisprudence.”Judge James S. Kirsch made his statements in the unanimous, 3-0 opinion today in Latoya A. Blackman v. State of Indiana, No. 49A02-0610-CR-893, which involves a woman convicted of disorderly conduct in 2005 for yelling, swearing, and non-compliant behavior toward police officers during a vehicle narcotics search of the car in which she was riding.The court ruled that Blackman’s arrest for…

The legal challenge to a new school uniform policy in Anderson could be slowly slipping away, as a federal judge in Indianapolis is looking to dismiss the case after the pro se parent plaintiffs “utterly failed” to respond to discovery requests and haven’t shown any likelihood of prevailing in court.U.S. District Judge John D. Tinder on Friday vacated an injunction hearing and trial set for this morning because of the plaintiffs’ lack of response. He has issued orders barring testimony and…

A divided Indiana Supreme Court issued a ruling on a prison discipline suit Tuesday, with one of the dissenting justices writing that the majority decision removes judicial review and violates both federal and state constitutions.In Aaron Israel v. Indiana Department of Correction, 46S03-0706-CV-253, justices came down 3-2 on dismissing a case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Authoring Justice Frank Sullivan was joined by Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard and Justice Robert Rucker. Dissenting justices were Ted Boehm and Brent Dickson.”The…

Various offenses committed at different times and in different counties do not constitute a single episode of criminal conduct for sentencing purposes, the Indiana Supreme Court has reinforced this week.That logic, however, doesn’t extend to convictions, as the state’s highest court has affirmed a lower appellate finding that multiple instances of police officer impersonation are considered “the same occurrence,” and subsequent convictions in different counties violate Indiana’s double jeopardy statute.Justices granted transfer Wednesday in Derek Scott Geiger v. State of Indiana,…

In a long-awaited ruling from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals today, the former Indiana speaker of the House of Representatives came out the winner in a suit challenging prayers in the General Assembly sessions.While former Speaker Brian Bosma has won this appellate round, a  2-1 panel of judges didn’t touch the controversial merits of the case, and the case could still go to the United States Supreme Court.The federal appellate court ruled today that plaintiffs who filed a suit against…