“If equitable and legal causes of action or defenses are present in the same lawsuit, the court must examine several factors of each joined claim — its substance and character, the rights and interests involved, and the relief requested. After that examination, the trial court must decide whether core questions presented in any of the joined legal claims significantly overlap with the subject matter that invokes the equitable jurisdiction of the court. If so, equity subsumes those particular legal claims to obtain more final and effectual relief for the parties despite the presence of peripheral questions of a legal nature. Conversely, the unrelated legal claims are entitled to a trial by jury.”
B. Dickson
Howard Regional Health System v. Gordon, No. 34S02-1009-CV-476, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind., Aug. 10, 2011).
Claim against hospital for loss of childbirth records was one for medical malpractice. Health records maintenance statutes do not confer a private right of action for loss of records. Parents have no independent action for spoliation against the hospital.
Carpenter v. State, No. 49S02-1104-CR-198, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind., July 21, 2011)
“A complete review of Carpenter’s criminal history reveals that—although ample in number and clearly a recidivist—his crimes are of the type where a forty-year sentence is inappropriate.”
Moore V. State, No. 49S04-1101-CR-24, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind. June 28, 2011)
Defendant, a passenger in a car “in a state of intoxication caused by the person’s use of alcohol or a controlled substance,” was properly convicted of public intoxication, because a vehicle stopped along a highway is “public place or a place of public resort.”
Ind. Patient’s Comp. Fund V. Brown, No. 49S02-1106-CT-388, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind., June 29, 2011)
Under the Indiana Adult Wrongful Death Statute (“AWDS”), Ind. Code § 34-23-1-2, judgment can include expenses of administration, contingent attorney fees, and loss of services.