The Converse Town Council will be looking into creating an ordinance for the use of golf carts as transportation within town limits. Town Marshall Roger Bowland told the council Thursday during its monthly meeting that currently people riding golf carts in town have been respectful of others, and as long as they stayed off the main streets, no laws were being broken.

NFP civil opinions today (1):

Term. of Parent-Child Rel. of S.F. and D.L., and Sherry F., David F., and David L. v. Porter Co. Dept. of Child Services (NFP), a 22-page opinion, Judge Crone writes:

Appellant Sherry F. (“Mother”) appeals the involuntary termination of her parental rights, in Porter Circuit Court, to her sons S.F. and D.L. We affirm.

Mother raises the following issues on appeal: I. Whether the trial court’s judgment is supported by clear and convincing evidence; and, II. Whether Mother was denied due process of law when the trial court failed to set a review hearing during the CHINS proceedings. * * *

In sum, we find clear and convincing evidence supports the trial court’s judgment terminating Mother’s parental rights to S.F. and D.L. Additionally, we conclude that the alleged procedural irregularity in the underlying CHINS proceedings did not serve to deprive Mother of due process during the termination proceedings. Accordingly, we find no error. Affirmed.

Nichole Higgins v. State of Indiana (NFP)

GARY -- Like a steep hill, the sloping, grass-covered walls rise 20 feet into the air on a strip of land east of Bridge Street and north of Interstate 90. Covered with water, the mound looks like a lake from the air. But the peaceful appearance of the structure does not appease Leonard White.

A solid waste specialist, White has worked on some of the country's most contaminated sites. He lives and grew up within a mile of the structure, officially known as a corrective action management unit -- a CAMU.

Nearly a century's worth of mud dredged from five miles of the Grand Calumet River lies buried inside the 37-acre structure.

The mud is contaminated with hazardous cancer-causing substances such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and oil distillation byproducts like benzene and naphthalene. To White, that means one thing.

"They can call it a CAMU," White said. "I call it a Superfund site."

The unit is lined at the bottom and on the sides with layers of material designed to keep the mud from leaking out. Water covers the top until it's drawn off, cleaned and sent back to the river. Some vegetation has also started growing at the CAMU. * * *

Dorreen Carey, director of environmental affairs with the City of Gary, said even environmentalists, who had wanted the cleanup of the Grand Calumet River for decades, were conflicted about dredging to protect Lake Michigan and the fish in the river because the contaminated sediment would be placed so close to a residential neighborhood.

"There was a lot of comments up front on where that was to be located," Carey said. "It was identified and decided by U.S. Steel and EPA. The city had some, but limited, authority to oppose the project. At the time, because the river, without being dredged, was a negative for the community and the environment, and because when you dredge and contain it within the CAMU you're protecting people from that negative health impact, that was considered a good thing. The actual location of the facility was, without entering into a large protracted lawsuit, really not something the city had control over."

In a 2007 Res Gestae article I wrote that the online Indiana Code currently meets none of the requirements for trustworthy state-level primary legal resources on the Web: (Are they official? Are they authentic? Are they permanently accessible? Are they secure?) Yet most users of the Indiana Code are unaware of this, and consider the online Indiana Code to be trustworthy. (Access the 2007 article here.)

The May 2008 issue of Res Gestae will publish my newest article, "How much can you rely on what is in the Indiana Code? Part I - Noncode sections"

The problems outlined in the 2006 and 2007 articles are peculiar to the online version of the Indiana Code. This new article looks at problems that transcend the medium used for publication – these new, insofar as these discussions are concerned, problems exist with both the online and the printed versions of the Indiana Code. This article will suggest to the Indiana attorney that:

(1) Simply finding a provision in the Indiana Code is not enough. Due diligence may require you to, at a minimum, study the provision's history in an annotated version of the Indiana Code, or look back to the original enrolled acts. This is the subject of Part I.

(2) In certain areas of the law, the Indiana Code no longer may be relied upon for all the substantive law of the State on a particular topic. You will need to look elsewhere, and it may not be easy. This will be the subject of Part II.

This Thursday, May 15th:

9:00 AM - Anthony A. Hopkins v. State of Indiana - Hopkins was previously convicted of several offenses and found to be an habitual offender. See Hopkins v. State, 759 N.E.2d 633 (Ind. 2001); Hopkins v. State, No. 49A02-0209-CR-780, slip op. (Ind. Ct. App. Sept. 30, 2003), trans. denied (Ind. Jan. 8, 2004). Hopkins admitted the elements in the habitual offender charge; the trial court did not advise Hopkins of certain rights discussed in Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 243 (1969). In post-conviction proceedings, the Marion Superior Court determined that Hopkins' admission was not tantamount to a guilty plea, and denied post-conviction relief. The Court of Appeals reversed in Hopkins v. State, No. 49A05-0705-PC-279 (Ind. Ct. App. Dec. 31, 2007), vacated. The Supreme Court has granted a petition to transfer the case, thus vacating the opinion of the Court of Appeals, and has assumed jurisdiction over the appeal. Attorney for Hopkins: Cassandra J. Wright, Indianapolis, IN. Attorney for State: Ellen H. Meilaender, Indianapolis, IN.

9:45 AM - Todd Jensen v. State & Richard Wallace v. State - Richard Wallace v. State: In 1989, Wallace pleaded guilty to an offense against a child. After having served his sentence, he was informed that he was required to register for life as a sex offender, and following a jury trial, the Marion Superior Court entered a judgment of conviction for the class D felony of failing to register. The Court of Appeals rejected Wallace’s arguments that the duty to register violated the prohibition against ex post facto laws, and affirmed the conviction in Wallace v. State, 878 N.E.2d 1269 (Ind. Ct. App. Jan. 9, 2008), vacated. [See ILB summary here - 2nd case.] The Supreme Court has granted a petition to transfer the case, thus vacating the opinion of the Court of Appeals, and has assumed jurisdiction over the appeal. Attorney for Wallace: Kathleel Sweeney, Indianapolis, IN. Attorney for State: Zachary Stock, Indianapolis, IN.

Todd Jensen v. State: In 2000, Jensen pleaded guilty in the Allen Superior Court to various offenses against children, and was required to register as a sex offender for a period of 10 years pursuant to the statute then in effect. In 2006, after Jensen had been released from probation, the trial court determined that Jensen must register for life pursuant to changes in the registration statutes. The Court of Appeals reversed on grounds that imposition of a lifetime registration requirement in Jensen’s case violated the prohibition against ex post facto laws. Jenson v. State, 878 N.E.2d 400 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008), vacated. [The ILB entries on the Dec. 26, 2007 COA decision are here, here and here.] The Supreme Court has granted a petition to transfer the case, thus vacating the opinion of the Court of Appeals, and has assumed jurisdiction over the appeal. Attorneys for Jensen: Randall Hammond, Randy Fisher, Fort Wayne, IN. Attorney for State: J.T. Whitehead, Indianapolis, IN.

Webcasts will be available here.

This week's oral arguments before the Court of Appeals

None scheduled

GURGAON, India -- When Aashish Sharma graduated from law school two years ago, his father had visions of seeing him argue in an Indian court and eventually become an honorable judge.

Instead, Sharma, 25, now sits all day in front of a computer in a plush, air-conditioned suburban office doing litigation research and drafting legal contracts for U.S. companies and law firms. He is part of a booming new outsourcing industry in India that employs thousands of English-speaking lawyers such as him to do legal work at a small fraction of the cost of hiring American lawyers. * * *

Legal process outsourcing is being called the next big thing in Indian business. It marks India's climb up the chain of outsourcing jobs -- from low-end, back-office service functions in call centers to high-value, skilled legal work.

In the past three years, the legal outsourcing industry here has grown about 60 percent annually. According to a report by research firm ValueNotes, the industry will employ about 24,000 people and earn revenue of $640 million by 2010.

Indian workers who once helped with legal transcription now offer services that include research, litigation support, document discovery and review, drafting of contracts and patent writing. The industry offers an attractive career path for many of the 300,000 Indians who enroll in law schools every year. India and the United States share a common-law legal system rooted in Britain's, and both conduct proceedings in English.

The explosion of opportunity here was triggered by what are known as "e-discovery laws," a set of U.S. regulations established in 2006 to govern the storage and management of electronic data for federal court actions. Overnight, the volume of information to be stored, archived, filtered and reviewed for litigation swelled. But there were not enough affordable lawyers or paralegals to do the work in the United States.

"The new e-discovery rules sent American companies scurrying all over the place. Neither the corporates nor the law firms in America are geared to do this kind of work at short notice. And that is where the Indian players come in. We can bring together a large number of skilled lawyers in no time at all and at one-fifth the cost," said Srinivas Pingali, executive vice president at Quatrro, which also offers technical support, credit card fraud management, consumer research and architectural services for American clients, among other work. * * *

"Ninety percent of a lawyer's work is legal research and drafting, and all this can now be offshored to India," said Russell Smith, who worked in a Manhattan law firm called SmithDehn before moving to India to set up an outsourcing company in 2006. "A large portion of our fees in the U.S. is because of office rent. It is often a big decision to hire one attorney in the U.S. In India, we can hire 10 at a time and train them all at once." * * *

"My people in India can do everything from here, except sign the opinion letter and appear in an American court," he said.

Smith's Indian office recently researched and drafted the motion papers for the dismissal of a libel case against the producers of HBO's "Da Ali G Show." Smith said that if it had not been for the cheaper option of outsourcing, the producers would have settled.

Statistics. The report notes:

Thousands Taking Advantage of Free Public Access. Public information on cases logged into Odyssey is available at no charge via the Supreme Court’s website (www.courts.in.gov).

During March 2008, more than 5,500 unique visitors used the website, viewing more than 216,000 pages. The convenience of the web-based access is evident by the number of users viewing documents 24 hours a day. While there were an average of 24,000 page hits between 3-4 p.m., there were also 860 hits between 3-4 a.m.

During March, when the Court reported 5,500 unique visitors, for instance, the ILB had 33,841. On the other hand, during March, when the Court reports 216,000 "page views", the ILB had 54,679. (Here is a link to the ILB's counter [corrected]. There does not appear to be a link to the Court's counter.)

Page view figures are difficult to interpret. What is a "page"? Some counters count "hits" as pages. On the other hand, according to one tracking site:

a page view is each time a visitor views a webpage on your site, irrespective of how many hits are generated. Pages are comprised of files. Every image in a page is a separate file. When a visitor looks at a page (i.e. a page view), they may see numerous images, graphics, pictures etc. and generate multiple hits.

Counties to be Covered. Currently the Court CMS project is covering Monroe County and Washington Twp. in Marion County. DeKalb, Allen, Huntington, Hamilton, Madison, Clark, Harrison, Floyd are listed as to be added in the next two years.

As discussed in this ILB entry from March 30th, JTAC has been unwilling to allow private companies to tap into the new Monroe County CMS. One of these companies, Doxpop, which has a network of 136 courts in 45 Indiana counties, had previously included Monroe County in its network. Since the JTAC CMS system was installed, however, Doxpop has been denied access, as detailed in the March 30th entry. The situation continues to remain unresolved.*

Will this continue to be a problem with the new list of counties? Are there overlaps? I've compared the JTAC list against the list of counties Doxpop currently serves. The counties in boldface in the JTAC list are currently part of Doxpop's network: DeKalb, Allen, Huntington, Hamilton, Madison, Clark, Harrison, Floyd. Interestingly, Allen County (civil cases only) was just announced by Doxpop last week.
____________
*Instead it is becoming much more onerous for counties to receive approval per Trial Rule 77(k) for public posting of Court Records on-line. The ILB has been told that the paperwork burden the counties and the provider have to submit to the Division of State Court Administration annually has increased substantially. I'm also told that the county courts are being told that "if the courts in your county elect to use the (JTAC) Odyssey case management system, you will not need to go through the renewal process set forth below ...".

Just after 10:09 p.m. on Aug. 2, 1998, sheriff's Deputy Tom Lehman was dispatched to investigate reports of a fire at the Fourth Street entrance of the Tippecanoe County Courthouse.
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He didn't know what to make of learning that a pickup truck had driven into the building. More confusion set in when firefighters found an explosive device in the truck's bed.

"We were trying to figure out why someone would do that," Lehman recalled recently. "What in the world could they have been thinking?"

For the past year, Lehman, now a sheriff's detective, has been working with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to find the person or people responsible for the attempted bombing.

Investigators have just three months before a 10-year federal statute of limitations for arson and related crimes runs out, said David Capp, interim U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana.

"Our time is clicking," he said.

No suspects were ever publicly named. No one has been charged.

But Lehman said investigators looked at "a lot of people" considered persons of interest.

Authorities since last spring have been going over all documents related to the initial investigation, making sure that each lead has been followed up.

"There was so much confusion around that time, to be honest," Lehman said. "We're trying to make sure that nothing has been overlooked."

Capp, who was with the U.S. Attorney's Office when the attempted bombing occurred, said the idea was that fresh sets of eyes would perhaps find details that had been missed.

He said investigators have been working regularly on the case. More information could be released soon.

"What we really need is for any member of the public who thinks they might know something to contact us -- even if in their minds, that information is insignificant," Capp said. "We want to talk to them and can keep things confidential, so they don't have to be concerned about that."

Lehman said authorities are working to put together a hot line to report tips anonymously. They also are trying to figure out the exact amount of reward money available for anyone who may have information that could lead to a conviction.

The next year, metal detectors were installed in the courthouse, placed at the front of County Court 2 -- now Superior Court 5 -- and Superior Courts 1 and 3.

Additional security updates were made after a series of bomb threats following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In 2003, all but two entrances were closed, with the public entering on Fourth Street.

The public entrance was switched to Columbia Street in August 2006.

People entering the courthouse are required to empty their pockets, go through a metal detector and send their personal belongings through an X-ray machine to be examined for potential weapons.

The University of Southern Indiana board of trustees opted not to vote on a resolution Saturday that would have extended employment benefits to same-sex domestic partners.

University President H. Ray Hoops earlier had submitted the resolution to the board agenda. He said USI is the only four-year public university in the state that does not provide the benefit.

The vote originally was slated for the end of Saturday's meeting, but trustee Ted C. Ziemer Jr. addressed the board at the beginning, asking that the item be removed from consideration.

"I would object to voting on this resolution at this time so that all relevant information can be gathered," Ziemer said. "I have some concern this resolution would be unconstitutional and illegal under state law, and I think we need time for our administrators to get legal opinions." * * *

Opposition had surfaced quickly after word spread of the proposal.

Keller Schroeder & Associates, a local technology consulting company, sent a letter to the university asking it to reject the resolution.

Also, Glen Kissel, assistant professor of engineering, said as of midday Friday, more than 2,500 e-mails opposing same-sex domestic partner benefits had been sent to Hoops and the board of trustees, as well as to Gov. Mitch Daniels. He said the e-mails came from supporters of the American Family Association of Indiana.

Kissel was among several at the meeting who said they were pleased the trustees opted not to address the resolution.

"I think it was wise to delay the decision until more consideration can be given," said Mike Lockard, a USI alumnus.

Lockard said he agreed officials needed to study Indiana law further. He also said extending benefits to same-sex domestic partners "creates a separate class."

"What about heterosexual partnerships?" he asked.

Lockard said while other state schools may offer the benefit, many private colleges in the state do not, and he disagreed with the assertion it would attract better candidates to faculty positions.

"What is wrong with the faculty here now?" he asked. "I went to school here, and my daughter does now, and this is a fine school. It's not been a detraction up until now."

Kissel previously said he wanted the university to consider a more inclusive plan that would extend domestic partner benefits beyond same-sex relationships. After Saturday's removal of the item from the agenda, Kissel said he was pleased.

"I am very happy the discriminatory homosexual-only domestic partner benefit has been set aside," he said.

Chad Tew, associate professor of online journalism, said he has been active in trying to get the resolution in front of the trustees.

"I am very disappointed they tabled it," he said. "It doesn't mean it was defeated, so in that sense I am hopeful. I can tell you the majority of faculty are behind this, and we will work with the administration in any way to give the board the information they need.

"I don't buy that objection with relation to it being a legal issue. The states that have had problems have been those states with a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between man and woman, and that was defeated soundly in Indiana."

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens says the euthanized Kentucky Derby horse Eight Belles probably died more humanely than death row prisoners do.

Stevens's comments Friday night came a month after he voted with a majority of the Supreme Court to approve the most widely used method of lethal injection, while saying for the first time that he now believes the death penalty is unconstitutional.

According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Stevens told an audience of judges and lawyers that he checked into the procedure used to kill Eight Belles and was surprised to learn it is against the law in Kentucky to kill animals using one of the drugs in a three-drug lethal injection cocktail that many states, including Kentucky, use to execute prisoners. * * *

In its 7-2 ruling last month, the Supreme Court turned back a challenge to the execution procedures in place in Kentucky, which employ three drugs to sedate, paralyze and kill inmates. Similar methods are used by roughly three dozen states.

The argument against the three-drug protocol is that if the initial anesthetic does not take hold, the other two drugs can cause excruciating pain. One of those drugs, a paralytic, would render the prisoner unable to express his discomfort.

In his opinion, Stevens suggested that states could spare themselves legal costs and delays in executions by eliminating the use of the paralytic.

The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled that cosmetic laser hair removal, a growing trend nationally, is not "health care," clearing the way for two women's negligence lawsuits to proceed.

Tammy Ransbottom of North Liberty and Mary Maxie of Mishawaka last year sued OB-GYN Associates of Northern Indiana, of South Bend, over burns and permanent disfigurement they say they suffered during cosmetic laser hair removal. Specifically, they claim a nurse who performed the procedures, without a doctor present, had set the laser device too high.

OB-GYN Associates, a medical practice, asked St. Joseph County Circuit Court Judge Michael Gotsch to dismiss Ransbottom's suit, arguing the procedures were medical in nature and therefore were subject to Indiana's Medical Malpractice Act.

Such a finding would have required the plaintiffs to initially file their complaints with a three-physician "medical review" panel, under the auspices of the Indiana Department of Insurance. If the panel had found their claims were not frivolous, Ransbottom and Maxie could have filed suit in court, the process all claims of medical malpractice follow in Indiana. * * *

Attorney Vincent Campiti, representing Maxie and Ransbottom, said they are glad not to have to undergo the medical review panel process, which can take a year or two itself before a court case even begins. "This will mean a lot less expense; it's less time-consuming and it gives us immediate access to the courts," Campiti said.

Being allowed to pursue the cases as simple negligence lawsuits also exempts them from the $1.2 million damages cap to which medical malpractice cases are subject, Campiti said, while noting he has no idea whether his clients' damages will be that high.

CROWN POINT | A former probation department secretary forged a Lake Superior Court judge's signature to stop the garnishment of her wages, according to a Lake County police report.

The garnishment was ordered out of the woman's county paycheck last September to pay off a more than $21,000 debt she owed to Fairlane Credit LLC, court records show.

No charges had been filed against the woman as of Friday. Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said there is insufficient evidence to prove it was the woman who forged the order.

The doctored order was discovered late last year when an attorney for Fairlane Credit LLC, the plaintiff in the credit case against the woman, complained it was not receiving its money.

Lake Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Tavitas had granted an order Sept. 6 to garnish the woman's wages to pay off the debt, court records show.

Thirteen days later, an order reversing the garnishment was filed in the clerk's office with what appeared to be Tavitas' signature, according to a document file stamped Sept. 19.

Tavitas and her magistrate were out of town at an Indiana judicial conference Sept. 19, according to Tavitas' secretary.

The woman used her position with the Lake County Criminal Court Probation Department to sign Tavitas' name and file stamp the order, a Lake County police report alleges.

MUNCIE -- Republican attorney Chris M. Teagle next week will succeed Democrat Wayne Lennington as judge of Delaware Circuit Court 5.

Gov. Mitch Daniels announced the appointment Friday afternoon, hours before a local roast of Lennington, who has resigned effective May 15 in the wake of a probe by a state commission that oversees judicial conduct, and a criminal investigation by local and state authorities.

Teagle, 48, was the only person who applied for the job, according to Brad Rateike, spokesman for the governor.

"(Teagle) was chosen because he possesses the qualities Gov. Daniels looks for in a good judge," Rateike said. "He is extremely intelligent, experienced, fair, and above all else, a man of integrity." * * *

Teagle also is the Republican nominee for the Circuit Court 5 bench and will face veteran lawyer Tom Cannon Jr., who won the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, in the Nov. 4 general election. * * *

Circuit Court 1 Judge Marianne Vorhees, the county's presiding judge, was glad the appointment came quickly. Other judges have handled a portion of Lennington's caseload since he agreed to give up jurisdiction of criminal cases after reports of investigations into his business dealings and judicial conduct.

"Hopefully, we can get back to some normalcy," Vorhees said.

Teagle's appointment is effective May 16, the day after Lennington's resignation takes effect.

Today Rick Yencer of the Muncie Star-Press reports:

Three generations of Lenningtons have practiced law or served as Delaware County judges over the past century.

On Friday, members of the Muncie Bar Association and county court system paid their respects to Delaware Circuit Judge 5 Wayne J. Lennington, who is retiring next week, with a good-hearted roast at Springwater Park.

More than 100 people, including friends and family of Lennington, heard plenty of courtroom tales about Lennington's life as a lawyer and judge.

Lennington, 77 -- who resigned this spring amid a judicial conduct review and criminal investigation into his business dealings -- said he was looking for a job, but is likely to continue practicing law. * * *

Attorney Charles "Chic" Clark, Lennington's legal counsel in dealings with the state disciplinary commission, recalled telling his client to let his attorney do the talking when news of the disciplinary settlement came.

"Less than 24 hours after that conversation, I was reading my newspaper and that dumb ---- made a quotation in the newspaper," Clark said.

Clark's next conversation was with Meg Babcock, counsel for the Indiana Judicial Qualifications Commission, who was upset with Clark over Lennington's remarks.

"Don't raise hell with me," Clark recalled telling Babcock. "He did it." * * *

One of the biggest laughs came just before Lennington's longtime friend, attorney Don Dunnuck, spoke.

Ralph and Vicki Craig, a member of Lennington's court staff, led in a donkey wearing a judicial robe and Lennington's trademark bow tie.

New Albany native Greg Zoeller said yesterday that he has filed his formal "declaration of candidacy" for state attorney general with the Indiana Republican State Committee.
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Zoeller is chief deputy to Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter, who has announced that he will not seek re-election. * * *

Each party selects a nominee for attorney general at its state convention. The Republican convention is June 2.

In addition to Zoeller, Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas has said he intends to seek the Republican nomination for the office.