Home » neglect

neglect

Articles

Judge grants injunction for judicial candidates

For the time being, Hoosier judicial candidates can’t be sanctioned for answering a questionnaire about their views because of a federal judge’s decision today.U.S. District Judge Theresa L. Springmann in Fort Wayne issued a preliminary injunction earlier this afternoon, stopping Indiana from enforcing rules that prohibit judicial candidates from responding to surveys on their views.The 36-page order came in Torrey Bauer et. al. v. Randall T. Shepard et al., No. 3:08-CV-196-TLS. The non-profit Indiana Right to Life Committee filed the suit…

Read More

COA: Court lacked personal jurisdiction

The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s denial of a biological mother’s motion to set aside an adoption decree because the court lacked personal jurisdiction over her and her due process rights were violated. In In the matter of the adoption of D.C.; H.R. v. R.C., No. 22A01-0709-CV-425, the appellate court ruled the adoptive mother, R.C., did not do everything she could to contact H.R., the biological mother, about R.C.’s petition to adopt D.C. R.C., who married D.C.’s biological father,…

Read More

SCOTUS denies Evansville death penalty case

The nation’s highest court won’t review the case of an Evansville death row inmate who’d questioned the requirement he wear a stun belt during his eight-month capital trial for murdering three people in 1996.In a list of certiorari denials released today, the Supreme Court of the United States announced it wouldn’t review John Stephenson v. Indiana, No. 07-8237. He’d filed a petition for review in December, and justices decided at a private conference April 11 not to take the case.The denial…

Read More

Lecture to discuss judicial divide

A contemporary expert on sociological jurisprudence will discuss the formalist-realist judicial divide at Valparaiso University School of Law's 26th annual Edward A. Seegers Lecture Dec. 4.

Read More

Former Schererville judge sentenced

A former judge in Lake County received a 15-month federal prison sentence on Thursday, four years after being indicted for
extortion and fraud, and two years after she pleaded guilty to getting kickbacks from more than 1,000 defendants that she'd
sentenced to driving school and counseling classes she secretly owned and personally profited from.

Read More

Council confirms new chief defender

It’s official: Marion County has a new chief public defender.The City-County Council voted Monday to approve Robert Hill Jr. as the county’s top public defender, succeeding David E. Cook who left the office after 13 years to return to private practice.Hill, who has long ties to the agency and extensive experience in public defense, won the council’s support by a 27-1 vote. Councilman Monroe Gray was the sole dissenter, and Jose Evans did not attend the meeting. The public defender’s office…

Read More

Justices address parental discipline

A mother who spanked her 11-year-old son with a belt or extension cord didn’t cross the line between parental discipline and abuse, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled.In its 4-1 decision late Tuesday in Sophia Willis v. State of Indiana, No. 49S02-0707-CR-295, the state’s high court established a bright-line rule on parental discipline privilege that it hasn’t addressed since the adoption of the Indiana Criminal Code.Sophia Willis was charged and convicted of battery as a Class D felony for spanking her…

Read More

Attorney chairs women’s health campaign

A northern Indiana attorney wants to make sure women in her community are aware of the No. 1 killer of American women – heart disease. Along with several organizations, Dana Leon is chairing the Heart Truth campaign of Kosciusko County. Leon, a partner at Warsaw law firm Rockhill Pinnick, became involved with the Heart Truth campaign through her participating Tri-Kappa sorority. The sorority was approached by the county’s community foundation to help stage an event for women’s health in the community….

Read More

Sexual misconduct doesn’t fall under MedMal act

The Indiana Court of Appeals today affirmed a trial court determination that an employee's sexual conduct with a patient can't constitute a rendition of health care or professional services, so a negligent hiring complaint against a hospital based on that conduct doesn't fall under the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act.

Read More

Justices issue robo-call decision

The Indiana Supreme Court says the state's two-decade old law on pre-recorded, autodialed calls isn't limited to those placed to consumers with commercial messages. But justices stopped short of deciding how the law applies to political messages, leaving that question for another day.

Read More

Suit challenges new sexually explicit retailer law

Several Indiana arts and publishing organizations have joined the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana in a suit challenging the state’s new law that requires sellers of sexually explicit material to register and pay a fee to the state. The ACLU of Indiana, along with the Indianapolis Downtown Artists and Dealers Association, Freedom to Read Association, Big Hat Books, Indianapolis Museum of Art, and other groups, yesterday filed the suit, Big Hat Books, Boxcar Books and Community Center Inc., et al….

Read More

IBA collecting items for troops overseas

The Indianapolis Bar Association, through its Lawyers Care project, is collecting personal items and food to send to Indiana National Guard troops stationed in the Middle East.

Read More

Court: Girlfriend could consent to search

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a defendant’s conviction of possession of ammunition by a felon, finding the defendant’s girlfriend had the authority to consent to a search of the apartment by police when the defendant was not present. In United States of America v. Daniel Groves Sr., No. 07-1217, the Circuit Court had to determine whether Daniel Groves’ girlfriend, Shaunta Foster, could allow police to search their apartment without a warrant in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court case,…

Read More

COA: primary before true excess policies

Indiana’s “Lease Statute” can’t be used to determine the priority of insurance coverage between a primary insurance policy and true excess policies, ruled the Indiana Court of Appeals today in a case of first impression. Old Republic Insurance appealed the trial court’s decision in Old Republic Insurance Co. v. RLI Insurance Co., et al., No. 49A04-0709-CV-523, which determined Old Republic’s policy had higher priority over other excess policies and that the Lease Statute didn’t allow for ranking different types of insurance policies….

Read More

State trumps local red-light camera ordinances

Cities and towns that want to use red-light cameras to catch traffic violators can’t adopt an ordinance to implement the cameras because current laws allow only the state to regulate moving traffic violations, Attorney General Steve Carter said.Carter issued an official opinion Friday regarding whether a municipality can adopt an ordinance to use red-light cameras to determine whether a driver has violated traffic laws. Carter issued the opinion in response to an inquiry from Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary. The city of…

Read More