The trial court properly did not instruct the jury regarding spoliation of evidence when plaintiff inspected and took pictures of the evidence, and the evidence was available for over a year after the incident.
Civil
Wysocki v. Johnson, No. 45S03-1407-CT-459, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Oct. 15, 2014).
Liability under the Crime Victims Relief Act is a ”matter of the factfinder’s discretionary judgment of whether the defendant is criminally culpable.”
Evansville Courier & Press v. Vanderburgh County Health Dept., No. 82S04-1401-PL-49, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Oct. 7, 2014).
Death certificates with the cause of death are public records and should be available to anyone requesting access.
Zavodnik v. Harper, No. 49A04-1307-PL-316, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Sept. 30, 2014).
Litigants do not have a license to abuse the litigation process. Pro se litigants must play by the rules. Litigants do not have an unfettered right to proceed in forma pauperis. Courts may place reasonable limits on filings by abusive litigants. Judges should not disqualify themselves because of a baseless demand.
In re N.R., No. 21S01-1409-AD-592, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., Sept. 25, 2014).
“[A]lthough a party forfeits its right to appeal based on an untimely filing of the Notice of Appeal, this untimely filing is not a jurisdictional defect depriving the appellate courts of authority to entertain the appeal.”