On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 49A02-1409-PL-662 PER CURIAM . Plaintiff Randy Thornton brought multiple claims against several defendants arising out of his incarceration for a probation violation that allegedly occurred after his term of probation had expired. The trial court dismissed his claims against all defendants. The Court of Appeals affirmed in a memorandum decision. Thornton v. State of Indiana, No. 49A02-1409-PL-662, 2015 WL 4877004 (Ind.Ct.App....
On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 71A03-1402-PL-58 DAVID , Justice . Today this Court holds that the promissory note in the present case does not satisfy the requirement of "payment" under the disputed employment contract. This issue arose when James Armour's employment contract with AM General entitled him to payment of a long-term incentive plan (LTIP). When Armour retired in early 2012, he was to receive a lump sum LTIP payment on or about January 20,...
On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 29A04-1403-PL-130. DAVID , Justice . This case involves termination of an elementary school principal after the school board learned that the principal had been involved in a sexual relationship with a teacher, one of his subordinates. At issue is whether the school board provided the principal with appropriate process when it terminated his employment as an administrator. In a case of first impression, we hold that the teacher'...
On Petition To Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 45A04-1312-CT-632. RUCKER , Justice . While on duty a security guard shot and severely injured a person with whom he was romantically involved. The injured party filed a complaint against the security guard's employer under the theory of respondeat superior. The trial court granted the employer's motion for summary judgment. Concluding there are genuine issues of material fact precluding summary disposition, we reverse the...
PER CURIAM . The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission charged Respondent, David J. Steele, with eight counts of misconduct involving among other things theft of client funds, retaliatory disclosures of clients' confidential information, pervasive dishonesty, and a pattern of conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice. Respondent's 2003 admission to this state's bar subjects him to this Court's disciplinary jurisdiction. See IND. CONST. art. 7, 4. Respondent already is...
On Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 22A01-1403-PL-135 DICKSON , Justice . Following the denial of his homeowner's fire insurance claim, the plaintiff commenced this action against the company that issued his policy, the insurance agency, and the insurance agent. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of all the defendants. We reverse in part the grant of summary judgment favoring the agency and agent, but otherwise affirm as a partial summary judgment. In...
Attorney Discipline Action PER CURIAM . The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission charged Respondent, David J. Steele, with eight counts of misconduct involving among other things theft of client funds, retaliatory disclosures of clients' confidential information, pervasive dishonesty, and a pattern of conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice. Respondent's 2003 admission to this state's bar subjects him to this Court's disciplinary jurisdiction. See IND. CONST. art. 7,...
DICKSON , Justice . In accord with a recent decision of the United States Supreme Court, we uphold the actions of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles in the processing of applications for personalized license plates. This is a direct appeal from a trial court summary judgment declaring unconstitutional the statute that authorizes the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles ("BMV") to refuse to issue personalized license plates ("PLPs"). The trial court found that the statute and its related...
On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 49A02-1310-CR-867 RUSH , Chief Justice . The State prosecuted three co-defendants on identical charges in the same trial. In a companion case, we reversed the convictions of two of those three co-defendants — Billy Young and Marquise Lee — and remanded to the trial court with instructions to enter judgments of acquittal. Young v. State, 30 N.E.3d 719 (Ind. 2015). We now apply that holding to the third co-defendant — Latoya...
On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 48A05-1407-CR-321 RUSH , Chief Justice . Indiana Evidence Rule 704(a) generally allows witness opinion testimony to "embrace" an ultimate issue — but as a matter of constitutional right, only a jury may resolve an ultimate issue. And Evidence Rule 704(b) explicitly prohibits, in criminal cases, witness opinions concerning the ultimate issue of guilt. In Defendant's trial for drug dealing, the detective who observed a...
On Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 02A04-1404-DR-178 DICKSON , Justice . This appeal challenges an award of attorney's fees in a dissolution of marriage case by a family law arbitrator under the Family Law Arbitration Act. We affirm the fee award. The parties were married in 1993 and are the parents of one child, a daughter, born in January 2007. Dissolution proceedings began in 2012, and a year later, the parties signed an agreement to arbitrate under the Family Law...
On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 49A02-1404-CR-286. Aadil Ashfaque appeals the trial court's denial of his motion to dismiss charges of dealing in and possession of a synthetic drug, namely XLR11 [(1-(5-fluoropentyl)indol-3-yl)-(2, 2, 3, 3-tetramethylcyclopropyl)methanone]. For the reasons set forth in our companion decision of Tiplick v. State, also issued today, we find no constitutional or statutory infirmity to these charges, but nevertheless dismiss them...
On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 49A04-1312-CR-617 MASSA , Justice . Christopher Tiplick faces criminal charges for possessing, selling, and dealing in the chemical compound designated XLR11, and dealing and conspiracy to commit dealing in look-alike substances. He sought dismissal of all counts, on the grounds that: (1) the charging information failed to reference the Indiana Board of Pharmacy's Emergency Rule 12-493(E), which criminalized XLR11; (2) the...
MASSA , Justice . A jury found William Clyde Gibson III guilty in the murder of his late mother's elderly friend and recommended the death penalty, which the trial court imposed. In this direct appeal Gibson raises six issues, which we rephrase as whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying: his request for a fourth continuance, his request to dismiss an entire venire panel, his request to ask a case-specific question during voir dire, his request to dismiss several jurors for...
DICKSON , Justice . Defendant Christopher Helsley was convicted for the April 2001 murders of Brad Maxwell and Marsha Rainey in Pike County and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. In this direct appeal following a second guilt phase trial, he challenges his sentence. We affirm. The defendant's sentence of life imprisonment without parole gives this Court mandatory and exclusive jurisdiction over this appeal. Ind. Appellate Rule 4(A)(1)(a). Seeking a reduction of his sentence to...
On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 49A02-1404-CT-276. RUSH , Chief Justice . In Indiana, there are two rules under which a person can recover for negligent infliction of emotional distress. One of these—the bystander rule—requires, in part, that the person claiming emotional trauma meet certain "circumstantial" factors, which this Court has previously held are questions of law. Specifically, under our precedent, the claimant must demonstrate that the scene...
RUCKER , Justice . In a companion case today we remanded to the trial court for further proceedings the sentences imposed on felony murder convictions of two teenage co-defendants—sixteen-year-old Blake Layman and seventeen-year-old Levi Sparks. See Layman v. State, No. 20S04-1509-548, ___ N.E.3d ___, 2015 WL 5474389 (Ind.2015). For the same reasons explored in that consolidated appeal we also remand for further proceedings the sentence imposed on a third co-defendant—eighteen-year-old...
RUCKER , Justice . In this consolidated appeal juvenile cohorts Blake Layman and Levi Sparks challenge their convictions for felony murder in the perpetration of a burglary. We remand this cause to the trial court for further proceedings. Facts and Procedural History On the morning of October 3, 2012 sixteen-year-old Blake Layman and seventeen-year-old Levi Sparks were present at the home of sixteen-year-old Jose Quiroz. At some point, the trio discussed committing burglary in the...
On Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 07A01-1406-PL-265 DICKSON , Judge . This appeal challenges a summary judgment ruling that a county board of commissioners lacked authority to amend an ordinance that previously established a county-wide fire protection district. We reverse. This is the third appeal involving the Brown County Fire Protection District ("District"). In 2007, the Brown County Board of Commissioners enacted an ordinance under the Fire District Act, Ind. Code...
On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 55A04-1211-PL-586. MASSA , Justice . We are asked to resolve a matter of first impression with respect to Indiana's fifty-year-old General Wrongful Death Statute; specifically, whether attorneys' fees are recoverable as a form of damages when the decedent is survived by a spouse and/or dependents. Finding that they are not, we reverse the attorneys' fee award. Facts and Procedural History The relevant facts are undisputed....
