Indiana Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard announced today that he will be retiring from his post in March 2012. The Chief Justice is an Evansville native, a former Vanderburgh County Judge, and the former executive assistant to Mayor Russell Lloyd. He was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court in 1985 by then Governor Orr, and he became Chief Justice in 1987. He is the longest serving state court Chief Justice in the entire country. He is also the only Chief Justice from Evansville. (more…)
Litigation Blog
Indiana Chief Justice Shepard to Retire
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011What is Mediation?
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011Mediation is a process through which parties in a dispute reach a compromise voluntarily. Judges and arbitrators do not decide cases in mediation, but rather, the process relies upon a third party neutral who assists the parties in settling their case.
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Mediating the Difficult Case
Thursday, September 8th, 2011I am both a litigator and a mediator, and in both of these roles, I am often told that there is absolutely no way that a case will settle in mediation. In my role as a litigator, my client is the one frequently telling me that the case will not settle, and as a mediator, it may be one or both of the attorneys making the same comments. However, in my experience, many of these “impossible to settle” or difficult cases do, in fact, settle. (more…)
Avoiding Electronic Discovery Disasters
Thursday, June 16th, 2011Business managers are required to initiate a “litigation hold” if the business is sued, or if a lawsuit is “reasonably anticipated.” A “litigation hold” is the business manager’s instruction to all personnel that relevant information (whether in paper or electronic form) must be preserved for the actual or anticipated lawsuit. It is good business practice to delegate the responsibility of initiating litigation holds to a particular person or department. (more…)
Warning: Prescription Medications Can Lead to Drug-Related Criminal Charges, Too!
Thursday, May 26th, 2011In today’s era of late-breaking news, we are constantly seeing stories of drug-related arrests and court cases. The public display of mug shots has become nearly a daily occurrence, and we are almost numb to it. It portrays a culture we view as remote, and we are so glad that we are not part of it. But you may be closer to it than you think. Picture this scenario: (more…)
A Windfall Attorney Fees Contract Provision is Unenforceable
Thursday, April 28th, 2011Typically, parties to a lawsuit are responsible for the payment of their own attorney fees, expenses and costs associated with the legal action. The exception to this general rule is if a contract or statute allows the prevailing party to recover that party’s attorney fees, expenses and costs. That is why parties often include a contract provision that allows the prevailing party to recover attorney fees, costs and expenses for enforcing the contract. However, there have been occasions where Indiana courts will strike down an attorney fees provision of contract if it is ambiguous or otherwise unenforceable. (more…)
50/50 Ownership Short Circuits a Lawsuit
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011In a recently reported opinion, the Indiana Court of Appeals faced a situation where there were two 50% owners of an LLC. This LLC was member managed and did not have managers or officers. Thus, the actual owners made the decisions. (more…)
Collecting Judgments: One More Place to Look
Thursday, October 14th, 2010Once you have obtained a judgment against someone through court action, you are cast onto the often far more difficult course of actually trying to collect it. Sometimes the debtor has gone out of business or simply disappeared. Sometimes the debtor is well meaning but completely broke. You cannot find bank accounts, hard assets, accounts receivable or anything else to attach to collect your judgment. Here is one more place you might look for funds from which to collect your judgment. (more…)
DISAPPEARING NOTARIES
Monday, August 2nd, 2010A recent article in the Indianapolis Business Journal noted a shocking decline in the number of notaries in Indiana in the last few years. In years past, a notary public stamp on a document seemed to be ever present and often was the distinguishing characteristic of a document with high importance. However, in 2007, the Indiana Secretary of State’s office noted almost 23,000 expirations, but only approximately 17,000 renewals or applications for new notaries. This marked a 22% decline for 2007. In 2009 the decline accelerated to 30%. This year the decline to-date is 41%. The chief legal counsel for the Indiana Secretary of State indicates that he believes the decline reflects that the type of authentication notaries do is falling out of fashion. Many companies now accept photo I.D. or confirm over the telephone or Internet. He indicated that notary publics were more popular in the days when companies and people relied heavily on postal mail. However with the increase in multiple forms of personal communication being available, the mail is not the exclusive source to authenticate the identity of someone’s signature on a document. If you have questions about notaries in Indiana, contact a Bamberger attorney.
Author: Laura A. Scott (bio)
Phone: 812.452.3557
email: lscott@bamberger.com