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Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Ind. Decisions - Court of Appeals issues 2 today (and 6 NFP)

For publication opinions today (2):

In Term. of Parent-Child Rel. of S.F. and J.F., and Michael Farley v. Allen County Child Services, a 15-page opinion, Judge Barnes writes:

Michael Farley appeals the termination of his parental rights to his children, J.F. and S.F. We reverse and remand.

Issue. Farley raises three issues. We address the dispostive issue, which we restate as whether Farley was denied due process when the trial court conducted an independent investigation and did not allow Farley an opportunity to respond. * * *

Because of the trial court’s independent investigation and the trial court’s failure to provide Farley an opportunity to respond to the Health Department’s report, Farley was denied due process. We reverse and remand with instructions for the trial court to conduct another trial.

In Marlene Decker v. David K. Zengler, et al, a 12-page opinion, Judge Sharpnack concludes:
The Siblings and the Estate have produced no evidence that, at the time Helbling and Decker created the joint accounts, Helbling did not intend for Decker to have a right of survivorship, or that Helbling’s intent later changed and she notified the financial institution in writing to this effect. Accordingly, there is no genuine issue of material fact about these issues. The Siblings and the Estate have failed to overcome the statutory presumption in favor of a right to survivorship, and we therefore hold that Decker is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law. See, e.g., Freidline v. Shelby Ins. Co., 774 N.E.2d 37, 42-43 (Ind. 2002) (holding that the trial court correctly entered summary judgment in favor of defendant and denied plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment where plaintiff failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that defendant breached its duty to act in good faith).

For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the trial court’s grant of the motion for summary judgment filed by the Siblings and the Estate and the trial court’s denial of Decker’s motion for summary judgment and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

NFP civil opinions today (0):

NFP criminal opinions today (6):

Brian E. Kemp v. State of Indiana (NFP)

David D. Darr v. State of Indiana (NFP)

Shan Vandervliet v. State of Indiana (NFP)

Sylvester Anderson v. State of Indiana (NFP)

William Long v. State of Indiana (NFP)

Jerry Larkey v. State of Indiana (NFP)

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 2, 2008 11:33 AM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions