Articles

Court upholds discrimination claims in coroner’s office

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the finding that an African-American Marion County Coroner took action against his
white chief deputy coroner because of race, but ordered a reduction in the amount of compensatory damages the deputy coroner
could receive.

Read More

Judge faces 4 charges

A Marion Superior judge presiding over the county’s traffic court faces four judicial misconduct charges as a result of his general handling of traffic infraction cases and one suit in particular, where the state justices have described him as being “biased.”

Read More

Justices: no summary judgment for grocer in negligence suit

The Indiana Supreme Court upheld the denial of a supermarket’s motion for summary judgment in a negligence case, finding
the company failed to carry its burden in showing that criminal activity on its premises at the time a customer was assaulted
wasn’t foreseeable.

Read More

Booking card exception to hearsay rule

A booking card created by law enforcement in the course of a ministerial, nonevaluative booking process is not subject to
the police reports exclusion under Indiana Evidence Rule 803(8), the Indiana Court of Appeals decided today.

Read More

Justices address economic loss rule in 2 opinions

In two separate rulings involving the “economic loss rule,” the Indiana Supreme Court ruled against a library
seeking to hold subcontractors and an engineer responsible for negligence, and in favor of a bank in its tort claim against
a title company.

Read More

Justices address habitual-offender statute

The Indiana Supreme Court tackled the state’s habitual-offender statute today in two separate rulings, finding that
an instant offense of drug dealing, coupled with a prior conviction, can qualify a defendant as a habitual offender.

Read More

Senate to vote on Judge Pratt Tuesday

The U.S. Senate plans to vote on a Marion Superior judge’s nomination for the federal bench on Tuesday, according to
a spokesman in Sen. Evan’s Bayh’s office. Senators agreed Thursday to consider the nomination of Marion Superior
Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, whom the president chose in January for the Southern District of Indiana to succeed Judge David
F. Hamilton. Judge Hamilton was elevated to the federal appeals bench late last year.

Read More