This is the first Indiana case to apply the “moving vehicle” rule set forth in Kovatch, which stated that if an employee is injured “the effects of such a fall are compensable if the employment places the employee in a position increasing the dangerous effects of such a fall, such as on a height, near machinery or sharp corners, or in a moving vehicle.”
Herzog v. State, No. 25A-CR-3169, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Aug. 18, 2026).
Requiring the State to amend a probation violation petition to allege that the arrest, new charges, or new case, is now a conviction, rather than merely proceeding on the petition that alleged a pending charge, amounts to merely a matter of form over substance rather than preserving due process.
EHF-INDIANA4, LLC v. M&M Investment Group LLC, et al, No. 25A-TP-2505, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Aug. 13, 2026).
If a company falls behind on property taxes and the property is sold through a tax sale, the auction price is the baseline for just compensation. The Fifth and Eighth Amendments do not require the government to pay former owners based on the hypothetical fair market value of their property.
Boyd v. State, No. 25A-CR-2071, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Aug. 5, 2026).
Where a human law enforcement officer lacks probable cause to enter a vehicle to search, there is no reason why a canine officer should be permitted to enter a vehicle to search, whether that entry is instinctive or not.
Watters v. State, No. 25A-CR-3310, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Jul. 31, 2026).
When a defendant in the probation context wants to waive counsel, the record must show that the probationer was made aware of the nature, extent, and importance of the right to counsel as well as the necessary consequences of waiving such a right.