There was an appearance of impropriety when the attorney for one side wrote a letter of recommendation for the trial court judge while the case was pending; trial court judge should have recused himself from the proceedings.
Bass v. State, No. 03A01-1606-CR-1493, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., April 27, 2017).
Trial court did not remedy defendant’s double jeopardy concern when it entered a judgment of conviction for the offense and its lesser-included offense (Class A misdemeanor OWI and Class C misdemeanor
OwI) and then merged the offenses purposes of sentencing.
KS & E Sports v. Runnels, No. 32S01-1704-PC-226, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., April 24, 2017).
A firearms seller is immune from a damages suit for injuries caused by another person’s misuse of a firearm, but the seller is not immune from a public nuisance claim seeking equitable relief.
Ryan v. TCI Architects/Engineers/Contractors, Inc., No. 49S02-1704-CT-253, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind., April 26, 2017).
By entering into a contract containing language that required general contractor to assume responsibility for implementing and monitoring safety precautions and programs for all individuals working on the site, and by agreeing to designate a safety representative to supervise such implementation and monitoring, the general contractor affirmatively demonstrated an intent to assume a nondelegable duty of care toward the subcontractor.
Johnson v. State, No. 32A05-1604-CR-703, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., April 19, 2017).
Under legislation amended in 2015, if the offender was released more than ten years before the current offense the conviction does not count for habitual offender purposes.