Supreme Court of Indiana Decisions 2021

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the trial court granting summary judgment to Plaintiffs in this dispute over whether a board policy created a binding contract with the former directors of the board of a county…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the trial court granting summary judgment in favor of Defendant in this case brought by K.G.'s parent, who alleged that she suffered emotional distress as a result of the sexual…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court convicting Defendant of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and sentencing her to life without parole for her murder charge and to thirty-five years'…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the trial court granting summary judgment for the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District and dismissing Clarence Lowe's tort claim, holding that the District is a…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that when the government knows of an existing defect in a public thoroughfare and when it has ample opportunity to respond, immunity does not apply under the Indiana Tort Claims Act simply because…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court granting summary judgment in favor of the government and dismissing Plaintiff's claim that the negligence of the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) in…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court granting summary judgment for a shipper and its agent and against a commercial truck driver who sustained injuries when his cargo fell on him, holding that this…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's grant of summary judgment for Defendant in this personal injury case, holding that the trial court did not err. Plaintiffs were shopping for a sink in Menard, Inc. when a box…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the trial court granting Defendant's motion for summary judgment in this dispute over a challenged provision in a revocable trust, holding that the challenged provision was not…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the appellate panel affirming the decision of the trial court to deny Appellant's request to amend her complaint alleging negligence against numerous healthcare providers to…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the post-conviction court concluding that Defendant's counsel was not ineffective during his criminal proceedings, holding that counsel provided constitutionally effective…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court convicting Defendant of murdering twenty-three-month-old P.H. and neglecting three-year-old R.H., resulting in serious bodily injury, holding that none of the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that when a property's assessment increases by more than five percent over the previous year and the Indiana Board of Tax Review finds incorrect both parties' assessment, a statutory clause…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court granting summary judgment on Plaintiff's negligence claim based on a determination that no duty was owed in this case, holding that there was no…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court denying a petition for judicial review of the finding of the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board that four Teachers Associations and their respective…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of involuntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter, holding that the district court did not err in instructing the jury on involuntary…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court denying Defendant's motion to suppress on the grounds that the affidavit supporting the search warrant failed to specify the deputies' "training and experience"…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the trial court granting summary judgment to Defendant and dismissing Plaintiff's fraudulent concealment claim, holding that Plaintiff's claim was untimely. Plaintiff, having been…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed in part the judgment of the trial court awarding Plaintiff $132,000 in damages in connection with her negligence complaint, holding that the trial court erred in failing to apply the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court remanded this property valuation matter for further proceedings, holding that the use of a now-defunct tax appeal form challenging assessments to certain homeowners' association lands for the years…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court accepted a question certified by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and answered that the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act applies when a plaintiff alleges that a qualified…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the post-conviction court denying Appellant's petition for post-conviction relief raising challenges to the effectiveness or his trial and appellate counsel, holding that…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court finding that Husband had breached a provision of the parties' settlement agreement entered into during their dissolution of marriage action, holding that the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the order of the trial court directing the State to produce a confidential informant (CI) for a face-to-face interview with Defendant's counsel, holding that because the trial court did not…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the trial court denying Defendant's motion arguing that he should receive credit time from the date of his erroneous release through his readmission to the Department of…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed in part and affirmed in part the judgment of an appellate panel finding that the City of Marion's claims alleging corruption in the old City administration were time barred, holding that, under…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court ruled that the forfeiture of Tyson Timbs's his white Land Rover was unconstitutional, holding that Timbs met his high burden to show that the harshness of his Land Rover's forfeiture was grossly…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the order of the trial court suppressing statements made by Defendant during a police interview, holding that the circumstances did not amount to a custodial interrogation. At issue was…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court denying Defendant's motion to suppress the fruits of an inventory search of the company van he was driving, holding that the van's seizure and search were…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the trial court denying Defendant's request to represent himself during trial, holding that the trial court did not err in denying Defendant's request to…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the trial court granting Defendant's motion to suppress evidence seized during the search of his home, holding that a waiver of the "right against search and seizure" clearly…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the trial court for CompressAir and thus rejected CompressAir's claim that a certain transfer was fraudulent and remanded with instructions to enter judgment for New Nello…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court answered in the negative a certified question as to whether a store manager can be held liable for negligence when he is not directly involved in the accident at issue. In the underlying personal…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court convicting Defendant of attempted murder, holding that the trial court did not err in not allowing Defendant's mother as a witness to stay in the courtroom…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Continental Western Insurance Company and dismissing G&G Oil Company of Indiana's claim for losses from a ransomware attack, holding that…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the ruling of the trial court finding that Mother's consent was not required for the adoption of her child, holding that sufficient evidence supported the trial court's determinations. The…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the trial court reversing the order of the City of Bloomington Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) affirming the decision of the City of Bloomington citing UJ-Eighty Corporation for a…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this negligence action, The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal from the order of the trial court denying Defendant's motion for summary judgment, holding that the appeal was forfeited. Plaintiff was injured when she…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of molesting and murdering an eighteen-month-old boy, holding that the trial court did not commit fundamental error by admitting improper character evidence and…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this challenge to an appraiser's valuation of corporate shares, the Supreme Court held that the shareholder agreement's valuation term clearly contemplated a fair market valuation of the selling shareholder's…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this case involving an agreement to arbitrate, the Supreme Court reiterated the elements of equitable estoppel required for an outside party not contemplated by the agreement to enforce an arbitration clause against a…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court reversed the determination of the trial court that Jane Doe could compel her legal guardian (Guardian) to arbitrate her claims against it and affirmed the trial court's order compelling Guardian to…