Articles

Prosecutors: Possible negligence in Missouri boat sinking

The U.S. Coast Guard has found probable cause that the sinking of a tourist boat on a Missouri lake last month that killed 17 people “resulted from the misconduct, negligence, or inattention to the duties” by the captain of the boat, according to a court motion filed Wednesday by federal prosecutors. The July 19 incident claimed the lives of nine members of one Indiana family. 

Read More

Ex-student claiming sex assault sues Butler, fraternity

A lawsuit filed by a former Butler University student-athlete alleges the university and a now-suspended fraternity failed to take necessary action to remove an allegedly known sexual predator from campus, leading to the student-athlete’s rape at a fraternity party in late 2016.

Read More

Long-running IBM suit against state back before COA

The latest installment in a years-long legal saga between the state and IBM, Inc. came before the Indiana Court of Appeals on Tuesday, when the parties argued over the awards of damages and what, if any, significant changes were made to the state’s welfare system after Indiana terminated its contract with IBM and developed its own claims-processing system.

Read More

Fort Wayne settles suit challenging amplified-noise statute

Indiana’s second-largest city has settled a federal lawsuit that challenged a portion of its ordinance regulating amplified noises. Court documents filed Tuesday show the city of Fort Wayne has agreed to an injunction permanently barring it from enforcing a provision that “prohibits amplified sound, including speech, that can be heard more than 50 feet from the source.”

Read More

Judge lets Marion County inmate suicide suit proceed

A lawsuit claiming the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and one of its deputies violated an inmate’s constitutional rights by leaving him unattended long enough for the inmate to kill himself will continue after a district court judge declined to fully grant summary judgment to the county.

Read More

Indiana BMV directed to repay final $3.3M in fee overcharges

Indiana drivers who were overcharged by the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles could soon find it easier to claim the last $3.3 million of a much larger class-action settlement. A bureaucratic snafu had prevented people from receiving their payments from the state attorney general’s unclaimed property division, so Marion County Judge Heather Welch directed the BMV to refund the money itself through credits or refund checks.

Read More

Secretary of State to AG Hill: Drop opposition to satellite voting

Opposition is rising to embattled Attorney General Curtis Hill’s move to block expanded early voting in Marion County, with Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson calling Hill’s action “reckless” and urging him to drop the matter. Under state law, Lawson’s office is responsible for election oversight, and she said Hill did not consult her before going to court.

Read More

AG Hill moves to block Marion County early voting sites

Marion County’s decision to open additional voting centers is being contested by Attorney General Curtis Hill, but the Marion County Election Board disputes his assertion that the agreement to offer more early voting sites is contrary to Indiana law or that the board lacked a unanimous vote.

Read More

Food services company sues closed Indiana college

A private college in Rensselaer that closed last year is being sued by a food service company that alleges administrators concealed the school’s dire financial situation. The company said it wouldn’t have paid for renovations at St. Joseph College had it known of the school’s fiscal problems.

Read More

Lawsuit filed in fatal duck boat sinking seeks $100 million

A lawsuit seeking $100 million in damages has been filed against the owners and operators of a duck boat that sank on a Missouri lake, killing 17 people, including nine Hoosiers. The federal lawsuit was filed Sunday on behalf of two members of an Indiana family who lost nine relatives when the boat sank July 19 on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri.

Read More

MGM sues Vegas shooting victims in push to avoid liability

MGM Resorts International has sued hundreds of victims of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history in a bid to avoid liability for the gunfire that rained down from its Mandalay Bay casino-resort in Las Vegas. The company argues in lawsuits filed in Nevada, California, New York and other states this week and last that it has “no liability of any kind” to survivors or families of slain victims under a federal law enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Read More

Pierogi festivals settle over trademark dispute

A northwestern Indiana city that hosts an annual festival built around a popular Polish delicacy has reached a settlement in its trademark dispute with a rival festival in Pennsylvania. Since 2014 the Edwardsville Hometown Committee has run the Pennsylvania festival dedicated to the potato-filled dumplings, abundant in a region whose coal mines drew Polish immigrants more than a century ago, while Whiting, Indiana, has hosted Pierogi Fest since 1995.

Read More

Anthem sued by doctors in dispute over emergency room coverage

The health insurer Anthem Inc. was sued by doctors in Georgia for declining to pay for some emergency room care, escalating a long-running battle over how far insurance plans can go to push patients to seek lower-cost treatment. It’s the latest legal challenge over a change in policy that Indianapolis-based Anthem says was designed to cut down on patients going to an emergency room in situations that don’t require it. 

Read More