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…

Today’s discussion focuses on an often-overlooked doctrine of law known as the fiduciary shield doctrine. This week the Indiana Court of Appeals addressed this doctrine for only the third time in the state’s almost two hundred-year history (Indiana became the...

This week’s installment of the Hoosier Litigation Blog is a short but useful piece for Indiana practitioners. In today’s post we take a look at a very meaningful difference between the federal and Indiana state court standard for summary judgment. We do this through...

     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....