Indiana Lawyer this edition presents our annual look back at what the General Assembly did this year. But our Legislature was also noteworthy for the many important things it failed to even discuss.
The idea of revamping the state’s administrative law system has been floating around the Statehouse for years, but during the 2019 session, the reform effort finally gained broad support that has resulted in a new law proponents say will bring independence and transparency to the proceedings.
Two transgender individuals seeking to keep private their name and gender marker change actions will be able to seal their case records after the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed trial court rulings requiring the transgender women to publish notice of the changes.
A national report says opioid prescriptions in Indiana have decreased by 35.1 percent over five years. The American Medical Association Opioid Task Force 2019 Progress Report shows Indiana’s reduction in opioid prescriptions from 2013 to 2018 is two percentage points higher than the national average of 33 percent.
Holding her infant foster daughter, attorney Kiamesha Colom explained in simple terms a 13-page bill that revamps parts of Indiana’s foster care system. Come July 1, she and her husband, like other long-term foster parents around the state, will be able to have more of a say in the care and protection of their baby.
Supporters and opponents are mobilizing after the neighbors of an 8,000-hog farm in Hendricks County asked the Indiana Court of Appeals to reconsider its earlier ruling that found their nuisance claim based on the “noxious odors” from the farming operation was barred under Indiana’s Right to Farm Act.
The Indiana Department of Correction’s refusal to disclose to the public information concerning the means it would use to execute a condemned criminal will cost taxpayers more than a half-million dollars in attorney fees, a judge has ruled.
An Allen County judge has enjoined Fort Wayne from enforcing an ordinance designed to curb “pay-to-play” arrangements that allegedly led to city contracts for businesses that contribute to local candidates’ campaigns.
In the five years since same-sex marriage became legal in Indiana, married same-sex couples say acceptance has grown, but some are concerned about pushback and the potential rollback of hard-won rights.
Nearly 20 years after it was originally filed, the city of Gary’s lawsuit against firearm manufacturers and dealers is again moving forward after being revived for a third time on appeal, this time focusing on potential unlawful conduct.
Video exposing alleged animal abuse at a famous northwestern Indiana dairy farm is politically motivated, said an Indiana lawmaker who drafted legislation in 2013 that would have barred undercover video filming at the state’s agricultural operations.
A former gubernatorial aide has been picked to replace a retiring member of the Indiana House who will represent a central Indiana district.
A new leader has been selected to head the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council as longtime executive director David Powell announced his retirement from the role Thursday. Powell has been a leading Statehouse voice advocating on criminal law matters for nearly a decade.
A federal judge grilled an attorney for the state of Indiana on Monday over whether the Legislature had legitimate reasons for approving a law that would largely ban a second-trimester abortion procedure.
A victims rights bill inspired by a mother attempting to protect her underage daughter from a sexual predator’s grooming tactics was ceremonially signed Wednesday by Gov. Eric Holcomb, with support from the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council.
Study committees for the 2019 interim period have been approved by Indiana’s Legislative Council and will address dozens of issues for review in the coming months, including several legal-focused topics.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated in part a Southern District Court’s decision, asking it to reconsider whether an amended Indiana wage-deduction law could be retroactively applied to claims made against a former employer for withholding employee wages to rent work uniforms.
Indiana’s law mandating that fetal remains be either buried or cremated has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in a per curiam opinion issued Tuesday that found the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals had “clearly erred” in overturning the law. However, in the same opinion, the Supreme Court let stand a ruling which blocked another Indiana law that would have prevented abortions based on the gender, race or genetic abnormality of the fetus.
Indiana is considered a leader in the red flag law movement that allows firearms to be confiscated from people deemed dangerous. But with language that some experts considered overly broad and potentially unconstitutional, the Indiana General Assembly revisited that legislation, known as the Jake Laird Law, during the 2019 legislative session.
Indiana lawmakers will be looking at prescription drug prices, crime sentences and taxes on vaping liquids in the coming months. Those are among the more than 40 topics that leaders have assigned to committees ahead of next year’s General Assembly session.