In general, an individual cannot appeal a trial court’s decision until there is a final judgment in the case. A final judgment is one that disposes of all pending issues in a case. There are, however, exceptions to the “final judgment rule.” As one may imagine, a judge typically does not decide all issues in a case at one time. In fact, judges make numerous rulings in cases. There are times when a judge will make ... Read More
19
Sep2019
28
Aug2019
Indiana is fortunate to have an intermediate appellate court where every litigant with a final order can appeal as a matter of right if they have a good-faith basis the trial court erred.1 A significant amount of the entire civil docket is family law, so there are thousands of family law final orders issued each year. If you do not prevail and are considering an appeal, the blog may assist you as it addresses the three strongest types of family law appeals, ... Read More
22
Aug2019
The trial court’s final order, such as in a divorce case, dividing the property and making a custody award can be enforced immediately. And it usually is. That said, a litigant who does not want an order enforced pending an appeal has two ways to stop its enforcement pending an appeal. In this blog, we cover stays that stop a trial court’s final order from being enforced.
As a first step, which ... Read More
21
Aug2019
The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects individuals from illegal searches and seizures. This means that when police officers illegally conduct searches or illegally seize items, evidence obtained as a result of the illegal search or seizure cannot be used against the individual to convict them. Most illegal searches occur in the absence of a search warrant, but, not every warrantless search will justify a Fourth Amendment violation. There are exceptions ... Read More
14
Aug2019
Most litigants to go court expecting to “win” their case. However, most domestic (divorce or paternity) cases are not one side really winning or losing because so many issues are being decided, such as physical custody, legal custody, child support, and in divorce cases, property division. So it is unlikely any particular litigant “wins” every issue. Most litigants accept the trial court decision. However, there is a right to appeal. This is where the concept of special findings comes ... Read More
09
Aug2019
The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects individuals from random police searches. The United States Supreme Court has found that, implicit within the Fourth Amendment is a preference for a valid warrant before conducting a search. Specifically, the Supreme Court has stated that “searches conducted outside the judicial process . . . are per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment – subject only to a few . . . exceptions.”1 Therefore, if a ... Read More
25
Jul2019
The Indiana Court of Appeals made it abundantly clear that if you want to interfere with a criminal proceeding by refusing to testify and do so with a grant of immunity, you will go to jail. A key new case on this rule is the topic of this blog post.
In Michael Leroy Tunis v. State of Indiana, 2019 Ind. App. LEXIS 322, Tunis was called upon to testify against Samuel Jude Clark in Clark’s trial for alleged ... Read More
16
Jul2019
Most of us have heard the term Miranda warning at some point in our lives, but what are Miranda warnings? When do they matter? In a nutshell, Miranda warnings come into play when an individual is taken into police custody. Police are to give an individual his or her Miranda warnings before interrogating the individual. Miranda warnings, such as the right to remain silent, are designed to put an individual on notice of his or ... Read More
08
Jul2019
The vast majority of us have been pulled over at some point in our lives. Whether it be for speeding or a random traffic stop, being pulled over is often an unpleasant situation. For some of us, being pulled over led to further complications, such as police conducting a search of your vehicle. But can police just pull you over whenever they feel like it? Can they search your vehicle? The short answer is, it ... Read More
03
Jul2019
Double Jeopardy is a term that most have heard of before, whether it be from personal experience, a book, or television show. But what is this concept of “double jeopardy” and how is it applied? In a nutshell, double jeopardy protects a person from being convicted of the same crime twice. Both the U.S. Constitution and the Indiana Constitution have clauses protecting against double jeopardy. While the definition of double jeopardy seems straight forward, its ... Read More