Say that you’re having a commercial building constructed and that you signed the builder’s form contract after negotiating no more than price. You were probably told that construction would take a certain amount of time, but deep in that contract there is most likely a “force majeure” clause excusing the builder for delays resulting from […]
UPDATE: Legal services became a little less essential with Exec. Order 20-18 effective April 7, 2020 and declaring that “face-to-face encounters” with clients should be postponed absent an adverse impact on the client’s financial or legal position. As the coronavirus threat intensifies it seems that governors everywhere are issuing “emergency” executive orders in response. Schools, […]
As of this writing I have heard of ten positive tests in Indiana for COVID-19. The ten were all outside the Calumet Region, but it is inevitable that Region dwellers will become afflicted. The cautious among us are already avoiding crowds. I would not attend an indoor sporting event with 15,000 or so others in […]
It was early October of 1975 after I had taken the Indiana Bar Exam in July. I was nearly 25, unemployed, and living in my parents’ home awaiting an envelope. The mail arrived with an envelope addressed to me that would dictate, in substantial part, my future being. I received that envelope with equal portions […]
UPDATE: See 2020 Appellate Case Notes (Graveyard Follies IV) for the Indiana Supreme Court split (3/2) per curiam decision reversing the COA and requiring the disinterment of the remains of Lowell Johnson. The initial “Graveyard Follies” review in the CLB came days after the November 23, 2016 COA Opinion in Salyer v. Washington Regular Baptist […]
This is the fourth CLB installment pertaining to convicted (but small-time) heroin dealer Tyson Timbs and his 2012 Land Rover. The first installment was an appellate case note on the October 20, 2016 COA affirmance (2/1) of the trial court’s holding against the state on its civil complaint for forfeiture of Timbs’ 2012 Land Rover […]
It was October 11, 2017 when I posted that featured article titled “Thoughts on the 25th Amendment.” The introductory paragraph noted the Mueller investigation and declared (in that context) that President Trump “will not be impeached.” Accordingly, the Article pertained to complaints that President Trump is unfit or unable to be President and should be […]
Introduction I have written (off and on) for some time relative to odd cops under state (not federal) law. My intent was that the citizen cop topic would be in the final installment of the series. However, recent events (see below) in Lake County have rendered the topic more timely and relevant. The subtitle quote […]
There I sat, minding my own business by checking my email after lunch on the 19th of August, when I made the mistake of opening an attachment to a Bar Association post in the form of a “Standing Order” from the Hon. Clarence Murray as senior judge of the Lake Superior Court Criminal Division and […]
This Article is inspired by the political insight of Tammany Hall and by the State of Indiana and its complicit judiciary. Let me begin with Tammany Hall, the political “machine” which long reigned over New York City by means of organization, patronage, and graft. In 1905 George Washington Plunkitt (a/k/a Plunkitt of Tammany Hall) was […]