“The Indiana Trial Rules apply to will contest actions, and the failure to file an answer or responsive pleading in accordance with Trial Rule 7 may result in a default judgment.”
Supreme
Lucas v. U.S. Bank, N.A., No. 28S01-1102-CV-78, ___ N.E.2d ___ (Ind., Sept. 15, 2011)
“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.”
Branham v. Varble & Chastain, No. 62S01-1103-SC-14, ___ N.E.2d ___ (Ind., Aug. 30, 2011)
Self-represented parties in small claims court do not forfeit the generic exemption statute and the Social Security exemptions even if the litigants do not know enough to plead them; even if an information of contempt has not been filed, a court does not err when it orders a party to return for status checks a limited number of times; orders to seek employment or to seek better employment are not a proper part of a proceeding supplemental.
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.”