Articles

Justices asked to take feticide case

On March 14, the one-year anniversary of Bei Bei Shuai’s imprisonment on attempted feticide and murder charges, attorney Linda Pence notified media that Pence Hensel and attorneys from the National Advocates for Pregnant Women filed a petition on March 9 for the Indiana Supreme Court to grant transfer in the case.

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End of an era

Indiana Lawyer sat down with Randall T. Shepard for a Q&A before he retired from the Indiana Supreme Court March 23.

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SCOTUS declines to take Indiana criminal case

The Supreme Court of the United States won’t take an Indiana case asking whether a defendant’s second trial was barred by the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment, and so a state Supreme Court decision on the issue will stand.

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Divided Supreme Court orders new murder trial

Three justices have tossed out a murder conviction, ordering a new trial on the grounds that the trial judge should have given the jury the option to consider a lesser offense of reckless homicide.

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Court rules FSSA notices are unconstitutional

The Indiana Supreme Court has held that the notices sent by the state Family and Social Services Administration to inform applicants they were denied Medicaid, food stamps, or family assistance benefits are unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment’s due process clause because they do not sufficiently explain the reasons for being denied.

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Justices disagree on pollution exclusion coverage

A divided Indiana Supreme Court has held that the pollution exclusion contained in a general commercial liability policy is ambiguous and should be construed to provide coverage rather than in favor of the insurance company trying to deny coverage.

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Justices rule on construction manager’s duty for jobsite safety

The Indiana Supreme Court has held that a construction manager on the Lucas Oil Stadium construction project didn’t have a legal duty to ensure jobsite safety to a subcontractor’s employee either by contract or individual actions, and as a result, cannot be held liable for workplace negligence.

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High court upholds stalking conviction

It’s up to a trier of fact to determine if someone’s conduct involved repeated or continuing harassment to qualify as stalking, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled, since there is no statutorily determinate timeframe required for this type of conviction.

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Majority upholds finding of contempt

Three Indiana justices affirmed a trial court order finding a business owner, his attorney and an environmental firm in contempt for doing work on a site with possible environmental issues after a temporary restraining order had been issued.

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Supreme Court declines to set aside tax deed

The Indiana Supreme Court has reversed a trial court’s decision to set aside a tax deed, finding the Marion County auditor’s office satisfied the due process requirement articulated by the United States Supreme Court.

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Justices explain opinion in IBM case

Last month, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that Gov. Mitch Daniels doesn’t have to testify in the dispute between the state and IBM regarding a cancelled contract to modernize the state’s welfare system. On Wednesday, the justices explained their reasoning.

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Justices rule on underinsured motorist coverage case

The Indiana Supreme Court has held that a tortfeasor’s vehicle was underinsured according to state statute because the benefit amount actually paid to a woman was less than the per-person limit of liability of the underinsurance endorsement of an insurance policy that applied to all the family members involved in the accident.

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Supreme Court rules on habitual-offender filing issue

The Indiana Supreme Court has found that a man convicted of helping to rob a restaurant did not preserve the issue of whether the trial court properly determined he was a habitual offender that could receive an enhanced sentence.

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