Lawmakers taking second look at ‘second chance law’
Legislators want to take a second look at a new law passed this year that gives Indiana residents with nonviolent criminal histories a chance to limit public access to parts of their record.
Indiana Supreme Court
Articles
Guidance offered on incarcerated parents’ attendance at termination hearings
Scolding the Indiana Department of Child Services for how it handled a parental termination case, the Indiana Supreme Court has found an incarcerated mother’s due process rights were not violated when she did not receive adequate notice about pending proceedings that would affect her rights as a parent or when she was not allowed to attend the hearings.
State justices accept certified question
The Indiana Supreme Court will consider a certified question from federal court concerning disability pension funds for police and firefighters who are already eligible and receiving benefits governed by Indiana statute.
Justices take FSSA reimbursement case
The Indiana Supreme Court has granted transfer to a case in which the Indiana Court of Appeals ordered a state agency to pay a long-term care facility after the agency terminated its contract with the facility.
SCOTUS won’t take Indiana bar exam case
The Supreme Court of the United States has declined to take several Indiana cases, including a federal suit against the state’s Board of Law Examiners filed by a man who wants to take the bar exam without going to law school.
Rule revision aims to broaden use of limited scope representation
The Indiana Supreme Court revised the Indiana Rules of Trial Procedure to allow pro se litigants and other potential clients to use limited scope representation more often and without some of the restraint they’ve had in the past.
‘Best Practices’ will not advance to rulemaking stage
Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard signed an order Oct. 7 stating that rather than advance the Mortgage Foreclosure Best Practices to the rulemaking stage, the court will oversee the guidelines, updating them as needed.
COA: Remonstrators didn’t request timely stay of annexation
The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of remonstrators’ challenge to annexation of land by the city of Evansville, finding the issue to be moot because the annexation has already been completed.
Deputy owed no duty to warn of icy road
A county sheriff’s department that doesn’t own, maintain or control a county road does not owe a common law duty to warn the public of known hazardous conditions upon the roadway, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
New fee allows for online payment of traffic tickets
The Indiana Supreme Court Division of State Court Administration has created an electronic system fee to allow people the ability to pay online for a traffic ticket in courts that use Odyssey.
Supreme Court appoints new CLE commission member
The Indiana Supreme Court has appointed Steven M. Badger of Indianapolis to the Indiana Commission for Continuing Legal Education, effective Jan. 1, 2012.
Justices take certified questions
The Indiana Supreme Court has accepted three certified questions stemming from a case in the Southern District of Indiana.
Commission urges discipline for former Marion County prosecutor
The Indiana Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Commission wants the state’s highest court to find former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi committed misconduct when he made statements about two high-profile cases he handled as prosecutor.
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.
Circuit Court rules in favor of utility
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed summary judgment in favor of a Louisville utility in a dispute as to whether landowners could eject the utility from their property after violating portions of the lease. The appellate judges also declined to certify a question to the Indiana Supreme Court.
Justices suspend attorney for collecting ‘exploitive fee’
The Indiana Supreme Court has suspended an Indianapolis attorney after finding he engaged in attorney misconduct by collecting a “clearly unreasonable and exploitive fee” from a vulnerable client.
Justices uphold murderer’s convictions
The Indiana Supreme Court has affirmed that a man will serve life in prison without parole for his role in the murders of seven people in Indianapolis in 2006.
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.
Justices to hear 5 cases in next 2 days
The Indiana Supreme Court hears five arguments in the next two days. Two are scheduled for Wednesday, and three will be heard on Thursday.
Index shows poor voter engagement
On Sept. 14, results of the inaugural Civic Health Index were released to the public. The data shows that while Indiana is on-par with national standards in volunteerism, the state’s voter turnout and registration are among the lowest in the country.