How much is the Toll for the Road to Relief from Driver License Suspension?

It depends on which road you take.
In the September/October 2010 issue of the Indiana Court Times, we discussed the differences between a Petition for a Restricted Driver’s License under Indiana Code 9-24-15 and a Petition for Judicial Review of a Habitual Violator Suspension under Indiana Code 9-30-10. One of those differences is the type [...]

Passing Lady Justice’s Scales (Not to mention her books and papers)

In the story Brigadoon, a mythical Scottish village appears for one day every hundred years. Indiana’s city and town courts may come into existence, or disappear, once every four years.
Ind. Code § 33-35-1-1(a) permits a second or third class city or a town to establish or abolish a city or town court by ordinance every [...]

Passing Lady Justice’s Scales (Not to mention her books and papers)

In the story Brigadoon, a mythical Scottish village appears for one day every hundred years. Indiana’s city and town courts may come into existence, or disappear, once every four years.
Ind. Code § 33-35-1-1(a) permits a second or third class city or a town to establish or abolish a city or town court by ordinance every [...]

Authorization Required: Restricting Access to Criminal History Information

The Indiana General Assembly passed Public Law 194-2011 (HEA 1211) earlier this year allowing individuals to petition courts to restrict access to certain criminal records. This law creates two new proceedings by amending Indiana Code Title 35, Criminal Law and Procedure, Article 38, Proceedings Following Dismissal, Verdict or Finding. It allows a person [...]

Adult Guardianship, Mortgage Foreclosure, New Administrative Manual Chapters

Case Type Designation: The New Uniform Adult Guardianship Act
Effective July 1, 2011, the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act (UAGPPJA) became law in Indiana. Under the UAGPPJA, if an out-of-state court requests assistance in a guardianship or protective proceeding, an Indiana court has jurisdiction for the limited purpose of granting the request. The [...]

Roadmap for Relief from Driver License Suspension

There are several bumpy paths a driver may take that lead to the suspension of his privilege to operate a motor vehicle. There are also avenues available that a driver may take to attempt to regain that privilege. The question for many suspended drivers and the clerk and court staff that help [...]

How to Handle Expungements

In regards to court records, what is expungement? When is it authorized? How is it accomplished?
Black’s Law Dictionary tells us to expunge is “to destroy or obliterate; blot out; efface designedly; strike out wholly.”
Express authority for courts to order expungement of records in Indiana is rather limited. Statutory authority for expungement of arrest records is [...]

Update on Court Reform Grants

In late summer 2009, the Supreme Court awarded nearly $350,000 to 12 courts across the state for the study and implementation of various programs designed to help courts streamline their operations.  Under the Court Reform Grant (CRG) Program, grants of up to $30,000 are available for initial efficiency studies, while grants of up to $40,000 [...]

Indiana Supreme Court Gives Stamp of Approval to Lake County and Marion County Electronic Filing Plans

Courts process, file, access and eventually, store paper, lots of it.  It is cumbersome, time-consuming, labor-intensive, and expensive to make paper products, to copy documents, to mail pleadings and notices, to maintain open files, and to store closed files.  Lawyers, judges, and clerks, have all wondered: will this avalanche of paper ever end?
The answer is [...]

E-Filing and Administrative Rule 16

Courts have the authority to adopt a plan under Administrative Rule 16 to allow parties to utilize electronic filing of pleadings, motions and other papers.   Since January 1, 2006, courts could begin the process of establishing electronic filing or electronic service pilot projects by submitting a written request for approval of a plan with [...]

Update on Court Reform Grants

Last summer, the Supreme Court awarded monies from its Court Reform Grant Program for five study projects to courts in the following counties: Allen, Clark, Fountain and Warren, Hamilton, and Marion, plus one grant for an implementation project in Elkhart County.  The purpose of the grant program is to encourage courts to streamline court operations [...]

Court Reform Grants

REFORM:  to improve by alteration, correction of error, or removal of defects; put into a better form or condition.
Courts in eighteen counties have submitted 23 separate proposals to explore new ways of doing things.  From these thoughtful proposals, the Supreme Court selected six to become the first recipients of funding from the new Court Reform [...]

Commission on Courts to Indiana General Assembly: Time to Change Judicial Circuits and Add Some Judges and Magistrates

Will the “Swiss” cheese stand alone?  Last month, acting on a request from Switzerland County, the Commission on Courts took the first step toward dismantling a large part of the cross-county judicial structure in southeast Indiana. It recommended abolishing both the joint Jefferson-Switzerland Circuit Court and the joint Ohio-Switzerland Superior Court. The Commission will recommend [...]