Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced Tuesday that he is asking the Supreme Court of the United States to reinstate the death penalty for Tommy R. Pruitt, who was convicted in the 2001 murder of a Morgan County sheriff’s deputy.
Marion County Auditor Julie Voorhies sued the city of Indianapolis on Monday over its contract with BlueIndy, saying the city illegally paid $6 million to the electric car-sharing service.
Indiana Legal Services Inc. has received a $10,000 award to help families in the northern part of the state with bankruptcy filings.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Robbie Lomax v. Jennie L. Michael
12A05-1503-CT-124
Civil tort. Reverses final judgment against Lomax in his wrongful death action against Michael, in which the trial court granted partial summary judgment in Michael’s favor based on its conclusion that Lomax does not qualify as a dependent next of kin as required by the General Wrongful Death Statute. A question of fact exists as to whether Lomax is a dependent next of kin to Edward Lomax. Remands for further proceedings.
The Indiana Supreme Court will have its say on three cases it took on transfer last week, including the town of Fortville’s efforts to annex nearly 600 acres.
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed summary judgment in favor of the driver in a deadly car accident on the decedent’s nephew’s wrongful death action, finding questions exist as to whether the nephew is his uncle’s dependent next of kin.
An Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne custodian who was fired for his role in a physical confrontation with another custodian could not convince the Indiana Court of Appeals that his discrimination and retaliation claims should proceed to trial.
The latest hearing resolved some lingering issues, but old and new challenges continue to haunt a death penalty case that remains so mired in preliminaries that prosecutors and defense lawyers will no longer even estimate an approximate trial date.
The state has asked the Indiana Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to throw out murder convictions against three Elkhart men whose accomplice in a burglary was shot and killed by a homeowner.
In a brief hearing Thursday, members of the Interim Study Committee on Public Policy voted to leave the state’s smoking ban alone.
An ex-Indianapolis Public Schools employee and minister fired after repeated complaints of physical altercations with students lost his federal discrimination lawsuit that claimed in part he was fired for religious reasons, including his request to be allowed off work to observe “Moorish Christmas.”
Indiana Court of Appeals
Russell A. Prosser, Jr. v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
50A05-1502-CR-51
Criminal. Affirms convictions for 11 counts, including theft and unauthorized entry of a vehicle, following two separate jury trials. Prosser waived his challenge to a witness’s in-court identification of him, and there is sufficient evidence to support the convictions.
The attorney for a 19-year-old former Indiana University student says she believes he was intoxicated and didn't target a Muslim woman with racial slurs as he tried to remove her headscarf.
Indianapolis-based IBJ Book Publishing LLC and author Katina Powell have been sued by a University of Louisville student who claims her career prospects have been damaged by Powell’s book, which alleges Powell supplied strippers and prostitutes to the Louisville men’s basketball program.
For all the black robes and ceremony, the American legal system often operates more like a factory assembly line than a citadel of individualized justice. Now a legal dispute within a plaintiffs' law firm that organizes massive torts is threatening to pull back the curtain on the mechanics of high-volume litigation.
Indiana and 22 other states filed a legal challenge Friday to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new rule requiring existing power plants to make technological changes to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The rule change is expected to unleash a flood of lawsuits from lawyers challenging everything from the timing to the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s signature climate initiative.
The U.S. dropped insider-trading charges against Michael Steinberg, a former fund manager at SAC Capital Advisors LP who was convicted by a federal jury, in the latest fallout from a major appeals court ruling that made such prosecutions more difficult.
Ten victims of former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle have received a total of $1 million in restitution since he agreed to plead guilty to child pornography and sex-crime charges, and his four other victims could receive their checks by the time he is sentenced next month — a move prosecutors said is rare.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Eric Brazier d/b/a Brazier Painting v. Maple Lane Apartments I, LLC
71A04-1406-CC-278
Civil collection. Affirms judgment in favor of Maple Lane Apartments on Brazier’s lawsuit alleging he had performed more than $60,000 in painting services and had not been paid. The trial court also imposed sanctions against his counsel toward Maple Lane’s attorney fees because his attorney misrepresented the nature of the documents on which Brazier based his entire case.
The Office of the Indiana Attorney General has reached a settlement with New York-based Aspen Dental Management Inc. over deceptive advertising and unfair tactics claims used to promote services in Indiana.