Indiana

Woman Charged with Killing Infant in Suicide Attempt While Pregnant Is Granted Bond

A Chinese immigrant jailed in Indiana for over a year on charges that she killed her viable fetus by eating rat poison in a suicide attempt while pregnant has lost her bid to have the controversial criminal case dismissed by the state supreme court. However, in letting stand a prior…

May 18, 2012 10:39 PM CDT

Ind. Attorney Gets 8-Year Max in Client Theft Case Involving Nearly $600K

An Indianapolis attorney and accountant has been sentenced to the 8-year maximum prison term after pleading guilty to two counts of theft from clients. Prosecutors in the Marion County case said Stacy H. Sheedy, 51, had drained a $501,000 family trust for which she was responsible since 2007 of all…

May 3, 2012 9:20 PM CDT

Shots Fired Into Home of 2nd Faegre Baker Daniels Corporate Lawyer; Firm Is ‘Extremely Concerned’

Police in Fort Wayne, Ind., are investigating whether there is any connection between a shooting early Tuesday into the home of a Faegre Baker Daniels corporate associate and the unsolved shooting of a corporate partner of the law firm in his own Fort Wayne home in March. Jeffrey A. Goeglein…

May 1, 2012 9:47 PM CDT

Lawyer Faces Wire Fraud Case; Feds Say He Used Client Funds to Cover Law Firm and Personal Expenses

An Indianapolis lawyer is facing a federal wire fraud charge after allegedly misappropriating $2.5 million in client funds by operating his construction liability practice in a manner akin to a Ponzi scheme over an 11-year period. William F. Conour, 64, is accused of keeping a majority of the settlement money…

May 1, 2012 7:06 PM CDT

ACLU Sues over Expulsion of Eighth Graders for Facebook Posts About Killing Ugly Classmates

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a First Amendment lawsuit over the expulsion of three eighth grade girls who posted Facebook comments about which classmates they would like to kill. The suit against Griffith Public Schools in Northern Indiana says the posts were just “teenage banter” and should not…

Apr 26, 2012 11:38 AM CDT

Probation Violation re Ex-Client Voyeurism Case Results in 15-Month Jail Term for Ind. Attorney

An Indiana lawyer had been sentenced to 15 months of probation and 3 months of electronic detention at home after his conditional guilty plea to voyeurism. A former client contended he recorded their sexual encounter without her consent. She also said he offered to trade legal services for sex. However,…

Apr 25, 2012 7:37 PM CDT

Recovering Faegre Baker Partner Says He Was Shot by Stranger

A partner of Faegre Baker Daniels who was shot Tuesday inside the attached garage of his home in Fort Wayne, Ind., is recovering and says the man who attacked him was a stranger. David J. Kuker, 45, a corporate practitioner who heads the law firm’s Fort Wayne office, was shot…

Mar 29, 2012 10:18 PM CDT

Federal Judge: Motley Rice, 2 Other Law Firms Must Pay $395K in Legal Fees re ‘Frivolous’ Suit

A federal judge in Indianapolis has ordered Motley Rice and two other law firms to pay nearly $395,000 in legal fees for bringing what the judge called a frivolous whistle-blower suit “based on a completely false story.” ITT Educational Services said it spent millions defending the False Claims Act suit,…

Mar 28, 2012 6:12 PM CDT

Leader of Faegre Baker Daniels Office in Ft. Wayne, Ind., Is Shot at His Home

David J. Kuker, a 45-year-old corporate and commercial real estate lawyer who leads the Ft. Wayne, Ind., office of Faegre Baker Daniels, is in serious condition after being shot at his home Tuesday morning. Nearby schools were on lockdown for a short time after the 8 a.m. incident, reports the…

Mar 27, 2012 8:28 PM CDT

Groupon-Type Deals Are ‘Fraught with Peril’ for Lawyers, Indiana Ethics Opinion Says

Updated: An Indiana ethics opinion takes a dim view of obtaining clients through Groupon-type arrangements. The opinion warns that such arrangements are “fraught with peril” and probably unethical, according to the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual of Professional Conduct. The opinion (PDF) by the Indiana State Bar Association Legal Ethics Committee bucks…

Mar 16, 2012 4:34 PM CDT

7th Circuit Revives Suit Claiming Girls Basketball Denied ‘Prime-Time’ Scheduling

A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals has revived a lawsuit that claims a girls basketball team in Indiana gets less desirable scheduling than the boys team in violation of Title IX. The Chicago-based panel held that the Franklin County, Ind., school system should face trial…

Feb 3, 2012 3:38 PM CST

Indiana Tech Will Build New Law School at Its Fort Wayne Campus

The Indiana Institute of Technology announced on Tuesday that its new law school, set to open in 2013, will be built at its current Fort Wayne campus. School officials said they considered three downtown locations, but one became condominiums, the second became an arts center, and the third could not…

Jan 25, 2012 3:01 PM CST

Federal Judge’s Footnote Hits Employment Lawyer for TMI in Legal Briefs

A federal judge has granted partial summary judgment to the Indiana State Department of Health in an employment discrimination case that takes the plaintiff’s lawyer to task for filing legal documents containing immaterial information. The Legal Writing Prof Blog notes the November opinion (PDF) by U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton…

Jan 25, 2012 11:30 AM CST

Judge Orders Jury Duty Slacker to Carry Sign in Front of Courthouse

An unemployed man admittedly wasn’t paying attention when an Indiana judge last month told a pool of potential jurors that they had to return to Lake County Superior Court after lunch. Now the unidentified 22-year-old has been ordered to spend two days carrying a sign back and forth in front…

Jan 24, 2012 10:51 PM CST

Lawyer Arrested, Charged with Stealing $600K from Guardianship and Family Trust Accounts

An Indiana attorney who is also an accountant was arrested today and has been criminally charged for allegedly stealing nearly $600,000 from two client accounts. Stacy H. Sheedy is accused of stealing $170,000 in less than a year from a guardianship account for an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s disease, after…

Jan 19, 2012 6:34 PM CST