Opinions

Indiana Court of Appeals
Jonathan Stanley Belcher v. State of Indiana
19A-CR-00830
Criminal. Affirms Jonathan Belcher’s guilty but mentally ill convictions for two counts of Level 3 felony aggravated battery and one count each of Class B misdemeanor battery and Class A misdemeanor resisting law enforcement, the finding that he is a habitual offender, and his aggregate 53-year-and-180-day sentence. Finds sufficient evidence that Belcher appreciated the wrongfulness of his actions. Also finds no abuse of discretion at sentencing. Finally, finds the sentence is not inappropriate given the nature of his offenses and his character.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Tyler Miller v. State of Indiana
19A-CR-768
Criminal. Affirms Tyler Miller’s aggregate 72-year sentence for his convictions of murder, Level 5 felony attempted robbery and Level 3 felony robbery. Finds the sentence is not inappropriate in light of the nature of the offenses and his character. Also finds Indiana Code § 35-50-1-2(c) and (d) do not prohibit the Marion Superior Court’s sentence under Count III, attempted robbery. Remands with instructions to enter an amended sentencing order and abstract of judgment which reflect Miller’s conviction for Level 5 felony attempted robbery under Count III.

Indiana Court of Appeals
James Ketchum v. State of Indiana
19A-CR-1341
Criminal. Affirms the denial of James Ketchum’s motion to modify his 12-year sentence, with six years suspended, for conviction of Level 3 felony aggravated battery, to be served consecutively to his two-year sentence for Level 6 felony intimidation in a separate cause. Finds the Rush Circuit Court did not err in denying Ketchum’s motion to modify his sentence because he did not have consent from the prosecuting attorney to file it.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Old Plank Trail Community Bank, N.A. v. Mattcon General Contractors, Inc. (mem. dec.)
19A-PL-1033
Civil plenary. Affirms the Marshall Circuit Court’s denial of Old Plank Trail Community Bank’s motion to correct error on a ruling that Old Plank waived its right to set-off the garnished funds of its account holder, Mattcon General Contractors. Finds the court did not abuse its discretion in entering a final order in garnishment.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Daniel Tanoos v. State of Indiana
19A-CR-1086
Criminal. Affirms the denial of former Vigo County School Corporation Superintendent Daniel Tanoos’ motion to dismiss charges of one count of Class C felony bribery and two counts of Level 5 felony bribery. Finds the Marion Superior Court did not abuse its discretion when it did not dismiss his charges.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Jennifer L Hall v. State of Indiana
19A-CR-203
Criminal. Reverses Jennifer Hall’s conviction of Level 4 felony aiding, inducing, or causing dealing in a narcotic drug. Finds insufficient evidence to support her conviction pursuant to Indiana Code § 35-48-4-1(c)(2). Remands with instructions to vacate Hall’s Level 4 felony conviction enter a judgment of conviction for Level 5 felony dealing and resentence her accordingly.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Joseph Hipps and Eugene Protz v. Biglari Holdings, Inc., Sardar Biglari, Philip L. Cooley, Ruth J. Person, Kenneth R. Cooper, James P. Mastrian, BH Merger Company, and NBHSA, Inc.
19A-CT-101
Civil tort. Affirms the Hamilton Superior Court’s grant of a motion to dismiss filed by Biglari Holdings, BH Merger Company, NBHSA Inc., Sardar Biglari and other members of the Biglari Holdings board of directors against. Finds the Hamilton Superior Court properly dismissed the shareholders’ complaint.

Indiana Supreme Court
Heraeus Medical, LLC, et al. v. Zimmer, Inc., et al.
19S-PL-471
Civil plenary. Vacates Section 1(e) of the Kosciusko Superior Court’s preliminary injunction order enjoining Robert Kolbe from recruiting Zimmer Inc. employees, as prohibited by a nonsolicitation covenant in Kolbe’s noncompetition agreement with Zimmer. Finds the Kolbe agreement’s unenforceable covenant not to solicit Zimmer employees cannot be reformed and that parties to noncompetition agreements cannot use a reformation clause to contract around Indiana’s blue pencil doctrine. Remands.

Indiana Court of Appeals
Drendall Law Office, P.C. v. Lucy Mundia
19A-PL-582
Civil plenary. Reverses the St. Joseph Circuit Court’s denial of Drendall Law Office’s motion for judgment on the evidence in a legal malpractice case against it brought by Lucy Mundia. Finds the jury’s verdict in Mundia’s favor was clearly erroneous because she did not present substantial evidence supporting the proximate cause element of her claim for legal malpractice. Also finds the trial court abused its discretion in its denial. Remands for the trial court to vacate the jury verdict and enter judgement for Drendall.

Indiana Tax Court
Southlake Indiana LLC v. Lake County Assessor
18T-TA-16
Tax. Reverses the Indiana Board of Tax Review’s final determination that valued Southlake Indiana LLC’s real property for each of the 2007 through 2014 tax years. Finds the board’s reliance on Lake County appraiser Mark Kenney’s market rent estimates is contrary to law, and its repudiation of Southlake appraiser Sara Coers’ percentage-of-gross-sales analysis is unsupported by substantial and reliable evidence. Remands to the board with instructions to assign the subject property a market value-in-use under the income approach that calculates the property’s net operating income each year at issue by replacing Kenney’s market rents with the market rents derived by Coers through her reconciliation of her market extraction and gross-percentage-of-sales estimations, and that applies Coers’ capitalization rates for 2010-2012 but Kenney’s capitalization rates for 2007-2009 and 2013-2014.

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals
United States of America v. Dexter Fisher
18-2765
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson.
Criminal. Affirms Dexter Fisher’s convictions for brandishing a firearm, the forfeiture of his firearm and his 57-year sentence. Finds no reasonable juror could have failed to find a sufficient nexus between the pistol and Fisher’s conviction for possessing a firearm as a felon, so the district court’s failure to inquire whether he would like to waive his right to a jury trial on the issue of forfeiture did not affect his substantial rights. Also finds Fisher did not object to a supervised release condition prohibiting him from purchasing, possessing, distributing, administering or using psychoactive substances, but his written and oral sentences impose terms of supervised release inconsistently, on different counts. Finally, finds Fisher’s convictions of brandishing a firearm qualify as crimes of violence. Remands with specific instructions for the district court to enter a corrected judgment that mirrors the oral sentence regarding the counts to which a term of supervised release attaches.