Court of Appeals of Indiana
Megan M. Smith v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)
22A-CR-1166
Criminal. Affirms Megan M. Smith’s convictions of Class A misdemeanor domestic battery and Class A misdemeanor invasion of privacy. Finds Smith did not preserve her argument that the Knox Superior Court could not consider the record of proceedings on the order for protection, nor is there any fundamental error on that issue. Also finds the state presented sufficient evidence.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
Community Construction LLC v. Posterity Scholar House, LP, and BWI Development & Management, Inc.
21A-CC-2728
Civil collections. Affirms summary judgment for Posterity Scholar House LP and BWI Development & Management Inc. in a dispute with Community Construction LLC. Finds the designated evidence shows there is no genuine issue as to any material fact on the claims and counterclaims for which Posterity and BWI-DAM sought summary judgment, so they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on Community’s complaint and on liability issues associated with the breach of contract and accounting counts of the counterclaim.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
David Joseph Guzzo, Robert Glenn Guzzo, and Betty Jo Keller v. Town of St. John, Lake County, Indiana
21A-PL-2213
Civil plenary. Reverses the Lake Superior Court’s judgment denying the Guzzo family 150% of the fair market value of their property in an eminent domain dispute. Finds the trial court erred in interpreting Indiana Code §§ 32-24-4.5-6.2 and -8. Remands to the trial court with instructions to order the town of St. John to compensate the Guzzos accordingly. Judge Margret Robb dissents with separate opinion.
Wednesday opinions
Court of Appeals of Indiana
Bernard Lash v. Fred Kreigh, d/b/a Urnest Construction, LLC
22A-CC-1069
Civil collections. Affirms the award of damages to Fred Kreigh for unpaid construction costs owed by Bernard Lash. Finds Noble Superior Court didn’t commit clear error by calculating damages based upon the value of Kreigh’s services. Also finds the trial court did not err in denying Kreigh’s request for prejudgment interest.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
Amy Osadchuk v. Charles P. Rice and Boveri Murphy Rice, LLP
22A-CT-1068
Civil tort. Affirms the St. Joseph Superior Court’s order to grant Charles Rice and his law firm’s motion for judgment on the pleadings. Finds Amy Osadchuk’s complaint alleging legal malpractice, fraud, constructive fraud and attorney deceit and collusion was time-barred.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
Erin Harrell Stanley v. Andrea Burns and Renardell Burns
22A-CT-721
Civil tort. Affirms the grant of summary judgment in favor of Andrea Burns and Renardell Burns in a dispute with Erin Harrell Stanley. Finds the defendants had no common law or statutory duty to clear the public sidewalk outside their home where Stanley fell while visiting for a business-related meeting.
Indiana Supreme Court
Amanda Dawn Carmack v. State of Indiana
21S-LW-00471
Life without parole. Affirms Amanda Carmack’s conviction of the murder of her 10-year-old stepdaughter, S.C., and her sentence to life without parole. Finds the state met its evidentiary burden to disprove the existence of sudden heat because of the lack of adequate provocation, accompanied by a sustained cooling-off period.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
Illinois Casualty Company v. B&S of Fort Wayne, Inc., Showgirl III., Inc., Reba Enterprises LLC, Jessica Burciaga, Jessica Hinton, Jamie Middleton Eason, Lucy Pinder, Abigail Ratchford, Emily Scott, Denise Trlica, Sara Underwood, Jennifer Walcott Archuletta, Paola Canas, Camila Davalos, Mariana Davalos, Jaime Edmondson, Cielo Jean Gibson, Hillary Hepner, Krystal Hipwell, Melanie Iglesias, Joanna Krupa, Arianny Celeste Lopez, Brooke Marrin, Ursula Mayes, Carrie Minter, Anya Monzikova, Andra Cheri Moreland, Caitlin O’Connor, Lina Posada, Laurie Romeo, Ina Schnitzer, Cora Skinner, Alana Souza, Irina Voronian, Jennifer Zharinova, and Rachel Koren
22A-PL-432
Civil Plenary. Reverses Allen Superior Court’s grant of the motion to compel arbitration filed by the 33 models who initially sued Insured Clubs in federal court over the unauthorized use of their photos in advertisements. Finds Illinois Casualty Company is not required to arbitrate pre-2016 claims because the cyber protection endorsement was not part of the insurance policy during that time. Rules 2016 and later claims are also not entitled to arbitration because the cyber protection endorsement’s arbitration provision applies only to claims made under the endorsement and the models did not bring timely claims under the endorsement. Judge Terry Crone concurs in result.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
R.P. and D.P. v. A.W. and K.H. (mem. dec.)
22A-AD-1862
Adoption. Affirms the denial of R.P. and D.P.’s petition to adopt their grandson. Finds the Jasper Superior Court did not err in concluding that the grandparents did not prove by clear and convincing evidence that for at least one year mother A.W. and father K.H. failed without justifiable cause to communicate significantly with child E.W.-H. when able to do so.
Indiana Supreme Court
Donnell Goston, Sr., et al. v. State of Indiana, et al.
23S-CT-5
Civil tort. Grants transfer to clarify that Indiana Trial Rule 16, Trial Rule 56(B) and Marion County Local Rule LR49-TR16 207(B) work in harmony and are not in conflict. Finds the Marion Superior Court appropriately exercised the discretion afforded by Trial Rule 16 in a manner that balanced the goals of doing justice to the merits of the case, minimizing the risk of prejudice to the plaintiffs, and maintaining orderly and efficient court proceedings when it considered the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, filed outside the deadline set by the local rule. Summarily affirms the Court of Appeals of Indiana in all other respects.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
Kory Easterday v. Amber (Easterday) Everhart
22A-DC-1510
Domestic relations with children. Reverses in part the Jackson Superior Court’s decision to modify the legal custody of Ka.E., the child of father Kory Easterday and mother Amber Everhart. Finds Easterday demonstrated prima facie error. Also finds the trial court erred when it based the modification of legal custody solely on religion. Finally, finds the portion of the trial court’s order totally prohibiting Easterday from discussing religion with Ka.E. violates his First Amendment right to free speech.
Indiana Supreme Court
Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Inc., Vote Solar, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Solarize Indiana, Inc., Solar United Neighbors, and Indiana Distributed Energy Alliance v. Southern Indiana Gas and Electric Company and Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission
22S-EX-00166
Agency action. Affirms the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s approval of Southern Indiana Gas and Electric Company’s petition for approval of its new instantaneous netting method determining the amount of credit its customers receive for their excess distributed generation of electricity. Finds the commission properly held that Vectren’s instantaneous netting method is not contrary to law and satisfies the requirements in Indiana Code § 8-1-40-5. Justice Christopher Goff concurs in result without separate opinion. Justice Derek Molter did not participate.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
Tonia Land, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. IU Credit Union
22A-CP-382
Civil plenary. Reverses the grant of IU Credit Union’s motion to compel arbitration on Tonia Land’s overdraft lawsuit. Finds IUCU failed to provide reasonable notice to Land of the arbitration contract, so there was no meeting of the minds. Also finds Land’s silence did not constitute acceptance, and lack of acceptance is a ground for invalidating the addendum’s arbitration requirement. Remands for further proceedings.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
John S. Wagner and Sharon G. Wagner v. United Farm Family Mutual Insurance Company (mem. dec.)
22A-PL-1419
Civil plenary. Affirms the entry of summary judgment in favor of United Farm Family Mutual Insurance Company on John and Sharon Wagner’s complaint for wrongful denial of coverage. Finds the Carroll Circuit Court did not err in ruling that the Wagners’ policy does not cover their mold-related loss.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
Fredrick Austin v. State of Indiana
22A-CR-1240
Criminal. Reverses Fredrick Austin’s convictions of two counts of Level 1 felony child molesting. Finds the evidence is insufficient to support the convictions. Remands with instructions to replace the two Level 1 felony convictions with two convictions of Level 4 felony child molesting and to resentence Austin accordingly.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
John C. Miller v. State of Indiana
22A-CR-1055
Criminal. Affirms John C. Miller’s convictions of Level 4 felony possession of methamphetamine and Class C misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia. Finds Whitley Circuit Court did not abuse its discretion when it admitted evidence recovered during a pat-down search of Miller. Finds the pat-down search was supported by reasonable suspicion and thus did not violate Miller’s Fourth Amendment rights.
The following 7th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion was posted after IL deadline on Thursday:
United States of America v. Thomas Jones, et al.
20-1405, 20-1442, 20-2112, 20-2304, 20-2420, 20-2458, 20-2462, 20-2498, 20-2499, 20-3266, 21-1002
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. Judge James R. Sweeney, II.
Criminal. Affirms all challenged drug-related convictions for Pierre Riley, Reggie Balentine, Michael O’Bannon, Michael Jones, Jason Reed, Shaun Myers, Perry Jones, Thomas Jones, Derrick Owens and Antwon Abbott. Affirms all defendant-appellants’ sentences except that of Thomas Jones. Finds no reversible error except as to the imposition of a two-level firearm enhancement to Thomas’ sentence. Remands Thomas’ case for resentencing. Judge Thomas Kirsch dissents in part with separate opinion.
Court of Appeals of Indiana
Michael Bass Chatman v. State of Indiana
22A-CR-934
Criminal. Affirms Michael Bass Chatman’s conviction of Level 3 felony aggravated battery resulting in serious bodily injury to a person less than 14 years old. Finds the testimony by the pediatric nurse practitioner was not inadmissible hearsay under Indiana Evidence Rule 703.
Indiana Farmers Mutual Insurance Company v. HomeWorks Management Corporation; HomeWorks Funding Group II LLC; HomeWorks Construction Inc.; HomeWorks Holdings LLC; HomeWorks Realty LLC; HomeWorks Management and Remodeling LLC; HomeWorks Investments, Inc.; Selena Wiley; Joevonne Hiles, Sr.; Child Doe A; Child Doe B; Jeff Muzik; Ken Mensik; Joe Colvin, Jodi Pearce; Becky Medich; Mitchell Hooton; and Ron McCall
22A-PL-1232
Civil plenary. Reverses the entry of summary judgment in favor of HomeWorks Management Corporation and HomeWorks Funding Group II LLC and the denial of Indiana Farmers Mutual Insurance Company’s motion to summary judgment. Finds the St. Joseph Circuit Court erred.