When the White House nominated Hoosier Damon Leichty to a federal district judgeship, it was the second time the Trump Administration has chosen an attorney working at Barnes & Thornburg LLP in Indiana to fill a judicial vacancy.
Damon R. Leichty, partner in the South Bend office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, has been nominated to serve as a judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, potentially filling the last empty seat in the federal judiciary in Indiana. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Leichty will fill the vacancy created when Judge Robert L. Miller, Jr., took senior status in January 2016.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana announced Friday that federal courthouses in Fort Wayne, Hammond, Lafayette and South Bend would lower flags to half-staff through Monday in honor of the late Senior Judge Rudy Lozano, who died Wednesday at 76 years old.
Rudy Lozano served on the federal bench for 30 years, making landmark rulings in a Hammond courtroom that his peers said was known for its collegiality. Before that, Lozano was a leading practitioner who helped unify the legal community in northwest Indiana.
After receiving approval Thursday from the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the pair of nominees to Indiana’s two district courts are now advancing to the floor of Senate, but when they will be called for a confirmation vote is uncertain.
A lawsuit has been filed in Indiana challenging Notre Dame University’s plan to make health plan members share in birth control costs.
Two men have pleaded not guilty to federal charges in Hammond stemming from an Indiana shootout that killed a third man and wounded an agent of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The nominees for the Northern and Southern Indiana district courts will have to wait at least another week before they receive a vote from the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. The committee unanimously agreed Thursday to hold over a host of nominees to the federal bench, including Holly Brady and James Patrick Hanlon, nominees for the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts, respectively.
A former Indiana Cracker Barrel manager who sued the restaurant chain for disability discrimination and retaliation must arbitrate her claims against the restaurant after a federal judge compelled the employee to comply with an arbitration agreement she claims she never signed.
A former Navy SEAL who claims he was forced to forfeit to the government more than $6 million in proceeds from his best-selling book about the capture of Osama bin Laden may proceed with a legal malpractice lawsuit against a Fort Wayne lawyer. The author of “No Easy Day” alleges bad legal advice about not needing to first clear the book with the Department of Defense caused the loss.
A northern Indiana college has won its long-running lawsuit seeking a religious exemption from paying for employees’ birth control under former President Barack Obama’s health care law.
At Wednesday’s U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing for the five nominees to the federal district bench, including the nominees for the Northern and Southern Indiana district courts, the table of potential judges was more crowded than the dais where the senators usually sit.
A former Merrillville town councilman was sentenced to 15 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge, with the court acknowledging he had already forfeited $7,500 to the United States.
Two Indiana attorneys seeking appointment to the U.S. district courts for the Northern and Southern District of Indiana will be appearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Wednesday as candidates to fill current and future vacancies on the federal bench.
A federal judge in Fort Wayne recently certified a class of Allen County Jail inmates who were denied the right to vote in the November 2016 general election. The attorney representing the class said the case represents an opportunity to avoid similar future problems in other counties.
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a former coach of a South Bend high school basketball powerhouse who claimed he was forced out because he was white may proceed with a discrimination suit against the school corporation.
The Indiana Supreme Court will provide clarification on two conflicting rulings related to insurance coverage for parties accused of acting negligently when a co-insured is accused of acting intentionally or criminally.
An officer who claims he was discriminated against at work and in his firing from the Whitley County Sheriff’s Office may expand his lawsuit to name former Sheriff Mark Hodges, a federal judge has ruled.
A federal judge has ordered a city in Indiana to pay more than $80,000 to a former female police officer who alleged the department illegally retaliated against her for accusing a male supervisor of sexual harassment.
A former Hammond housing official has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $600,000 in federal housing assistance funding.