Revising rules on agency lawyers
Attorneys from outside Indiana should know this: The process for practicing before state administrative agencies, even temporarily, is changing and may impact your ability to practice law in this state.
neglect
Articles
Notario publico issues surface again
Years ago, the Indiana Supreme Court made it clear what non-lawyers could and could not do related to immigration services. Crossing the line might be considered the unauthorized practice of law. Now, two people in Indiana are facing the consequences of doing exactly that.
Protective Order Pro Bono Project offers training
For the last 10 years, volunteer attorneys and students in central Indiana have been helping domestic violence victims obtain protective orders, but before embarking on this process, volunteers must be trained on various matters.
Respected leaders in U.S. Attorney’s Office for Southern District retire
Two longtime leaders in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District are retiring this month, taking with them more than a half century of combined legal experience.
Legal analysts use media to educate public about issues
Lawyers and judges who eat, sleep, and breathe the law might find it easy to forget that not everyone understands the finer points of how the justice system works. This is where legal commentators – analysts of the inner workings of the legal system – come into play.
7th Circuit upholds tax, fraud conviction against attorney, wife
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the finding that a Brownsburg attorney and his wife fraudulently withheld their 2001 income from the Internal Revenue Service through an elaborate shell game.
COA: Township not required to pay for private school shuttle
A school township in Marion County isn’t legally required to transport nonpublic school students to their private schools, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed.
Opinions March 28, 2011 ILD
Indiana Supreme Court had posted no opinions at IL deadline.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Sean T. Ryan v. Dee Anna Ryan
71A03-1009-DR-453
Domestic relation. Reverses denial of Sean Ryan’s motion for relief under Indiana Trial Rule 60(B)(8) regarding the prices set for the sale of real estate as listed in the settlement agreement. The trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for relief from judgment without hearing pertinent evidence. Remands with instructions.
Arnaldo Trabucco v. Pamela Trabucco
03A05-1003-DR-195
Domestic relation. Affirms the trial court’s use of income averaging to compute Arnaldo Trabucco’s child support obligation. The trial court did not err in using an income averaging approach to calculate his weekly gross income for child support and in including funds set aside for their son’s college and other accounts within the marital estate. Remands with instructions to consider whether the Home Federal IRA and IRA #1491 were consolidated into another IRA and therefore should not have been counted separately. Remands to also provide a detail explanation of how the trial court arrived at the specific value assigned to a coin collection.
Capitol Construction Services v. Farah, LLC
49A04-1006-PL-354
Civil plenary. Affirms order denying Capitol Construction Services’ motion to dismiss demand for arbitration in favor of Farah LLC. Farah has not waived its right to arbitrate and equity favors the result reached by the lower court.
Steven A. Wright v. State of Indiana (NFP)
20A03-1004-CR-233
Criminal. Affirms convictions of Class A felony and Class C felony child molesting.
G.F. v. R.F. (NFP)
26A01-1008-DR-395
Domestic relation. Affirms denial of father’s petition for modification of child custody.
Cynthia Taylor v. Community Hospitals of Indiana, Inc. (NFP)
49A04-1008-PL-499
Civil plenary. Affirms summary judgment in favor of Community Hospitals of Indiana after Taylor fell and was injured in the hospital.
Ashley Straub v. State of Indiana (NFP)
92A05-1007-CR-458
Criminal. Affirms convictions of two counts of dealing in a schedule I controlled substance as Class B felonies, and one count of Class D felony possession of a schedule I controlled substance.
Alois Cronauer v. Starke Co. Jail, et al. (NFP)
75A03-1009-PL-496
Civil plenary. Affirms denial of motion for relief under Indiana Trial Rule 60(B).
Kristin M. Escamilla v. State of Indiana (NFP)
45A04-1009-CR-570
Criminal. Affirms sentence following guilty plea to Class B felony dealing in narcotics.
Indiana Tax Court had posted no opinions at IL deadline.
The Indiana Supreme Court dismissed one appeal for the week ending March 25.
Opinions March 28, 2011
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Scott C. Cole and Jennifer A. Cole v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue
10-2194
U.S. Tax Court, Judge Diane L. Kroupa.
Tax. Affirms finding that the Coles omitted more than $1.2 million of income and more than $1.3 million of self-employment income from their 2001 joint tax return and that they fraudulently avoided tax liability. The Coles did not show clear error in the Tax Court’s finding that because they did not produce credible documentary or other evidence showing otherwise, that the commissioner’s reconstruction of their income was “reasonable and substantially accurate.”
Law school to host symposium on Defense of Marriage Act
Indiana University Maurer School of Law will host a mini-symposium on same-sex marriage and the Defense of Marriage Act to discuss lawsuits and controversies surrounding the issue.
AG files criminal UPL, tax evasion charges against ‘notario publico’
Adding to what it has already done in targeting two “notario publicos” for illegally offering immigration services, the Indiana Attorney General’s Office has now filed a criminal Unauthorized Practice of Law charge and several tax evasion counts against one of those non-lawyers who was operating in Indianapolis.
COA cites double jeopardy clause in reversal of conviction
The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled that a truck driver who caused an accident that killed a highway worker should not have been convicted of two Class C felonies, citing double jeopardy standards.
Opinions March 25, 2011 ILD
Indiana Supreme Court had posted no opinions at IL deadline.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Brian Calaway v. State of Indiana (NFP)
49A02-1008-CR-953
Criminal. Affirms conviction of Class D felony theft and Class A misdemeanor battery.
Term. of Parent-Child Rel. of J.M.; B.M. v. IDCS (NFP)
32A01-1008-JT-455
Juvenile termination of parental rights. Affirms order terminating father’s parental rights.
Douglas (Sommers) Summers v. State of Indiana (NFP)
34A02-1007-CR-876
Criminal. Affirms sentence for Class D felony sexual battery.
Term. of Parent-Child Rel. of S.W.; C.W. v. IDCS (NFP)
49A02-1007-JT-913
Juvenile termination of parental rights. Affirms juvenile court’s order terminating mother’s parental rights.
Bronco L. Morgan v. State of Indiana (NFP)
20A04-1008-CR-577
Criminal. Affirms conviction of and sentence for Class A felony attempted murder.
Indiana Tax Court had posted no opinions at IL deadline.
Opinions March 25, 2011
Indiana Court of Appeals
William Hurt v. State of Indiana
82A04-1006-CR-414
Criminal. Affirms Hurt’s conviction of Class C felony reckless disregard of a traffic control device in a highway workzone resulting in death, ruling that Hurt had seen the traffic controls repeatedly on his several trips through the workzone, prior to the fatal crash. Reverses Hurt’s conviction for Class C felony reckless operation of a vehicle in a highway workzone resulting in death, on double jeopardy grounds.
Judges split on child support modification
An Indiana Court of Appeals judge dissented from his colleagues, finding their decision regarding child support promotes “formalism over fairness and legalism over common sense.”
Oxford scholar to lecture at Indiana University Maurer School of Law
A renowned intellectual property scholar will present a lecture at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law next month. Graeme Dinwoodie, director of the Oxford University Intellectual Property Research Centre, will lecture on “Global Marks in Local Markets: Territoriality in EU and U.S. Trademark Law,” at noon April 6 in the law school’s Moot Court Room.
COA denies Miranda rights appeal in drunken driving case
The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court’s decision that a man arrested for drunken driving was not entitled to counsel or a Miranda warning when police asked for his consent to a blood draw because he was not being interrogated at the time.
Opinions March 24, 2011 ILD
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
United States of America v. Rollie Mitchell
10-1831
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division, Judge Sarah Evans Barker.
Criminal. Affirms sentence of life imprisonment for distributing cocaine base, stating the District Court properly calculated the guidelines range and did not improperly consider Mitchell’s exercise of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Affirms the District Court did not clearly err in finding by a preponderance of the evidence – the proper evidentiary standard – that Mitchell participated in the murder of a confidential informant.
Indiana Supreme Court had posted no opinions at IL deadline.
Indiana Court of Appeals
Jeffrey Wooten v. State of Indiana
49A02-1004-CR-586
Criminal. Dismisses Wooten’s appeal of trial court’s revocation of his probation. The state asserts that the appeals court has no jurisdiction over Wooten’s appeal because Indiana Post-Conviction Rule 2 does not permit belated appeals from the revocation of probation. Declines Wooten’s request for appeals court to exercise jurisdiction under its inherent authority to hear appeals that present a great matter of public interest, stating substantial evidence supports the trial court’s conclusion that Wooten was properly before it for a probation revocation proceeding.
In the Matter of the Paternity of G.B.H.; L.R. v. N.H. and State of Indiana
68A01-1009-JP-475
Juvenile paternity. Reverses trial court’s contempt finding and resulting sanction, stating evidence does not support that father L.R. willfully failed to pay child support. States that during a period of involuntary unemployment, the father paid what he was able to pay, and had less than $100 per week on which to live after paying two cases of court-ordered support, and was therefore not in contempt.
Anthony Guzman v. C.K. Gray, et al. (NFP)
30A01-1009-CT-445
Civil tort. Affirms Hancock Superior Court’s denial of motion for leave to amend complaint.
Steven Green v. State of Indiana (NFP)
71A03-1008-CR-466
Criminal. Affirms conviction of Class B felony sexual misconduct with a minor.
Flavio Gonzalez v. State of Indiana (NFP)
79A05-1006-CR-407
Criminal. Affirms conviction of Class B felony criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon, and sentences for two counts of Class B felony criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon, and Class D felony domestic battery.
Charles E. Justise, Sr. v. State of Indiana (NFP)
77A01-1006-SC-352
Small claim. Grants appellant’s petition for rehearing. Reverses the trial court’s dismissal of his complaint and remands with instructions to the trial court to reinstate complaint against the state for further proceedings. Reaffirms decision regarding any claim against the appellees personally.
Ricardo Rico v. State of Indiana (NFP)
20A04-1009-CR-545
Criminal. Affirms convictions of and sentences for two counts of Class A felony delivery of methamphetamine, three grams or more.
Matthew L. Skinner v. State of Indiana (NFP)
43A03-1008-CR-439
Criminal. Affirms trial court’s sentence following revocation of probation.
S.R. v. Review Board (NFP)
93A02-1009-EX-995
Civil. Affirms decision of Review Board of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development requiring S.R. to repay unemployment benefits.
Francheska McGraw v. State of Indiana (NFP)
49A05-1007-CR-442
Criminal. Affirms conviction of Class B misdemeanor of disorderly conduct.
Matthew Riddle v. Lee Rimer (NFP)
80A02-1011-PO-1203
Order of protection. Affirms trial court’s order granting Lee Rimer a protective order.
Indiana Tax Court had posted no opinions at IL deadline.
Opinions March 24, 2011
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
United States of America v. Rollie Mitchell
10-1831
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division, Judge Sarah Evans Barker.
Criminal. Affirms sentence of life imprisonment for distributing cocaine base, stating the District Court properly calculated the guidelines range and did not improperly consider Mitchell’s exercise of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
Court of Appeals to hear arguments in Valparaiso
The Indiana Court of Appeals travels to Valparaiso University Monday to hear oral arguments in a criminal case.