Civil Procedure

Permanent Link Archived: https://perma.cc/SPJ9-7VGS There are some weeks in which finding a single decision to discuss can be quite difficult. Then there are weeks like this past week. We will narrow our focus to the Indiana Supreme Court decision Sims v. Pappas, which addressed the admissibility of prior alcohol-related convictions in a trial for injuries from a drunk-driving car crash.…

Permanent Link Archived: https://perma.cc/32BN-Y4ZR Today’s discussion touches upon a hot-button issue in the current political climate: unauthorized immigration. The catalyst for our discussion is a decision from the Indiana Supreme Court this past week, which answered two issues of first impression in the state. As Chief Justice Rush summarized those questions: “May an unauthorized immigrant sue for decreased earning capacity…

For the second time in two months, the Court of Appeals addresses whether a party can appeal an agreed judgment. Consistent with long-standing Indiana precedent, the court of appeals again held that a party cannot. In April, the Court of Appeals recognized: “‘absent fraud,’ an agreed judgment is not appealable.” Ironically, because that was an appeal of a Marion County…

     It is not uncommon for the Indiana Supreme Court to not release an opinion in any given week. It is not uncommon, as was the case this week, for the court to release four decisions. However, what is quite uncommon is for the court to hand down two opinions under...

In a concise but informative decision the Indiana Court of Appeals ordered a new trial where the trial court erroneously instructed the jury on comparative fault despite the defendant having admitted liability in the matter. The case, Banter v. Sheets, arose from an...

Though we usually like to give thorough—i.e. lengthy—discussions of topics on the Hoosier Litigation Blog, today’s post will be much more brief than usual. For our devoted readers accustomed to tuning into to read my pontifications and hear me bloviate, I apologize....

This past week the Indiana Supreme Court handed down its concise decision in City of Indianapolis v. Buschman.The specific issue before the court was: when a claimant includes information in her tortclaim notice beyond that required by the Indiana Tort Claims Act, may...

Typically on the Hoosier Litigation Blog, we focus our discussions on decisions from one of the federal circuit courts—usually the Seventh Circuit—or an Indiana appellate court. This week we are breaking that usual mold and taking a look at a decision by a federal...

In this post we shall examine the perils of defendants failing to be specific and clear in a Federal Rule 68 offer of judgment. Our focus on Rule 68 stems from the Seventh Circuit decision Sanchez v. Prudential Pizza, Inc. Though the Sanchez decision may seem like a...

This week’s post is dedicated to one of the most important doctrines of law in existence – the Discovery Rule. We shall examine the concept of the Discovery Rule through the recent Indiana Court of Appeals decision Landers v. Wabash Center, Inc. authored by the former...