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COA: Lawyer’s $3.4M fee wrongly applied in child support
Dave Stafford for www.theindianalawyer.com
A trial court miscalculated the impact of a Merrillville lawyer’s $3.4 million legal fee in a personal injury case on his child support obligation, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Friday.
Gregory W. Brown of Brown & Brown in Merrillville was awarded $3,457,000 in attorney fees for his representation of Kristen Zak of Dyer, who was awarded $32.5 million in damages for debilitating injuries resulting from a 2006 crash involving a J.B. Hunt Transport semi on Interstate 65 in Jasper County.
After the 2015 verdict, Brown established a structured settlement for his attorney fee in that case so that he would receive $100,000 annually from 2017 through 2024; $150,000 annually from 2025 to 2029; and $494,500 annually for eight years thereafter. A special judge in Lake Superior Court ruling on paternity, custody, visitation and child support was largely affirmed Friday by the Indiana Court of Appeals, but the panel found the trial court clearly erred in calculating child support in view of Brown’s fee in the Zak case.
Lake Superior Special Judge John Sedia found that under the settlement, Brown would receive less than one-third of the principal amount of the fee before the younger of his two minor children’s 19th birthdays. The children were born in 2007 and 2011.
“Whether or not Father structured the agreement in this manner in an attempt to minimize his child support obligation, to provide for himself during his retirement years, or for tax liability allocation purposes, or for all three reasons, is not relevant to the analysis the Court must make in determining Father’s income to calculate child support. (Minor children) C.B. and S.B. are entitled to benefit from the full amount of Father’s fee, including the interest it would generate,†Judge Terry Crone wrote. “The structured settlement agreement provides for this, as its total payments, principal and interest, amount to $5,506,000 over twenty years, or one thousand forty weeks. This extrapolates to a weekly income over the life of the agreement of $5,294.â€
The trial court ordered Brown to pay $600 a week in child support beginning in November 2017 based on an arrearage it calculated dating to 2015, which the Court of Appeals found was in error because Brown didn’t receive the first payment from the structured settlement until February 2017.
“Therefore, we reverse and remand with instructions to recalculate Father’s weekly gross income prior to that date accordingly,†Crone wrote in a 31-page order in In re the Paternity of C.B. and S.B.; Gregory W. Brown v. Kara Davis, 45A03-1711-JP-2810.
The panel otherwise affirmed that Brown had not waived his right to appeal and that the trial court’s custody and parenting time rulings were not erroneous. The COA panel noted the trial court “patiently endured seven days of extremely contentious hearings on the paternity and contempt petitions from February through October 2017.â€
In its ruling, the panel in a footnote observed, “Father’s statement of facts is inappropriately argumentative and contrary to the applicable standard of review in violation of Indiana Appellate Rule 46(A)(6)(b),†and that both parties had violated appellate rules by including copies of multiple exhibits in appendices. “We caution the parties not to include nonessential information in the appendix in future appeals,†Crone wrote.
Women’s golf to host Braun Intercollegiate
Home tournament set for Monday and Tuesday
 The annual Charles Braun Jr. Intercollegiate will take place on Monday and Tuesday at Oak Meadow Country Club as the University of Evansville women’s golf team welcomes 12 other squads to town.
This year’s tournament will consist of one round on Monday, Oct. 22 and the final 18 holes on Tuesday, Oct. 23. A shotgun start commences play on each day at 10 a.m. CT. Par will be 72 and the yardage is 6,032. Supporters and fans are welcome to come and cheer on the Aces throughout the event.
Participating teams include: Butler, Central Michigan, Eastern Illinois, Evansville, Green Bay, UIC, Illinois State, Indiana State, IUPUI, Northern Kentucky, Southern Illinois, Tennessee State and Valparaiso.
UE is coming off of a huge outing at the Chi-Town/Ted Rhodes Fall Invite as the Purple Aces took the team championship while senior Sydney Anderson was the medalist.
All five of the Purple Aces team golfers finished in the top 12 as UE won the championship by eight strokes over Green Bay. Evansville tallied a 620 while the Phoenix finished with a 628. CSU Bakersfield finished in third place with a 643.
Anderson shot an even 72 in the last round, the lowest round of the tournament, on her way to the individual championship. Following her 79 on day one, Anderson finished the two rounds with a 151, defeating Green Bay’s Katie Warpinski by one shot.
Madison Chaney came home in fifth place. The senior carded a 79 in the final 18 and finished the event with a 156. Alyssa McMinn tied for 7th place. She posted an 80 in the opening round improved by two shots in the final round, registering a 78.
Sophia Rohleder came home in a tie for 9th place with a 2-round tally of 160 while Lexie Sollman took 12th place with a 162. Sollman made a huge leap for UE; she finished the first day with an 85 before firing off a 77 in the final 18 holes. Caitlin O’Donnell notched a 180 playing as an individual. After shooting a 93 in round one, she lowered her score by six, notching an 87 in the last round.
Cabrera to deliver keynote address in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month
The University of Southern Indiana will host “On the Shoulders of Giants,†a keynote address from Jimmy Cabrera, a professional motivational speaker, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, October 24 in Carter Hall. This event, which is presented as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, is free and open to the public.
Cabrera has been a professional speaker for 36 years, speaking in both the educational and corporate communities. He was ranked as one of the top three Hispanic Motivational Speakers in the nation by Market Data Enterprises. Throughout his career, he has spoken to well-over 1.5 million people. Some of his clients include NASA, Exxon, and Disney World. He is a member of the National Speakers Association, Greater Houston Speakers Association, and the American Society of Training and Development. He is the author of “What’s In Your Backpack? Packing for Success in Life†which outlines eight powerful success tools anyone can apply to their life.
Cabrera is a disabled Vietnam War veteran and received an Honorable Discharge award from the U.S. Navy in 1969. He was born and raised in Texas, and now resides in Houston with his wife Laural.
The event is sponsored by the USI Multicultural Center. Following Cabrera’s presentation, attendees will have an opportunity to buy a signed copy of Cabrera’s book. Refreshments, including authentic Latin American cuisine, will be available for attendees after the address.
For more information, please contact Cesar Berrios at 812-228-5002 or cdberrios@usi.edu.
Eagles Return Home for Festival Year Fiasco
The University of Southern Indiana men’s and women’s cross country teams return home this weekend for the Festival Year Fiasco at Angel Mounds.
Heading into the weekend, junior Austin Nolan (Evansville, Indiana) claimed his first career National Runner of the Week honor for the week of October 8 after a first-place finish at the Conference Crossover in Romeoville, the third Screaming Eagle to ever win the award.
The men’s team reappeared in the USTFCCA National Poll at No. 25 after spending a week out of the rankings all together. They are tied with Edinboro (Pa.) and Western Oregon in that position.
USI will meet stiff competition yet again with the chance to prove itself to a national audience against Bellarmine, Indianapolis, Illinois-Springfield, Cal Poly Pomana, Lindenwood, Lewis, and Trevecca Nazarene.
TAKE NOTE:
- Austin Nolan earned National Runner of the Week for the week of October 8
- USI men’s team fell three spots to No. 5 in the Midwest Region after a 10th-place finish at the Conference Cross-Over
- The men’s team fell to No. 25 in the latest USTFCCA National poll
- USI is still the top-ranked GLVC team in the Midwest Region ahead of No. 8 Missouri S&T and No. 10 Illinois-Springfield
- The USI women’s team dropped from both the Midwest Region and Top 25 National Polls
- Four of the seven opponents USI will face this weekend are ranked in their respective regions from both the men’s and women’s sides
The women’s 6-kilometer race will be starting at 10 a.m. CT while the men’s 8-kilometer is slated for a 10:45 start.
Judge: Insurer has no duty to defend false sex assault claim
Olivia Covington for www.theindianalawyer.com
lt against a Butler University student who subsequently sued the university and his accuser.
Christian Ayala sued Butler University, several university employees and fellow student/accuser Jane Smith after he was expelled from the Indianapolis school in May 2015. Ayala’s expulsion came after he and Smith engaged in consensual sexual activity in his dorm room, but an embarrassed Smith told her friends she had been sexually assaulted by Ayala.
Smith told her friends in the early morning hours of April 19 that Ayala had assaulted her shortly before, and on April 20 Butler opened an investigation into her allegations. However, Smith later admitted that she never gave Ayala any indication that she did not consent to their conduct, a fact that was attested to at a May 2015 hearing.
But before the school’s investigation began, Smith’s father “placed extreme pressure on Butler to expel Ayala.†The school ultimately expelled the freshman on May 18, 2015, and he was subsequently rejected from seven universities despite having a B+ average.
Ayala responded with a suit alleging civil rights violations, defamation, breach of contract, negligent infliction of emotional distress and other tort claims, though Smith was eventually dismissed as a defendant. However, her participation in the investigation and subsequent lawsuit was still at issue Wednesday in Christian Ayala, a/k/a John Doe v. Butler University, et al.; Unitrin Preferred Insurance Company v. Privilege Underwriters, Inc., 1:16-cv-01266.
Wednesday’s ruling on cross-motions for summary judgment, handed down by Southern District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, concerned a dispute between Unitrin Preferred Insurance Company and Privilege Underwriters, Inc., or PURE, both of which issued insurance policies to the Smith family at some point in time. The PURE policy went into effect on April 29, 2015, so Unitrin argued PURE had a duty to defend Smith in Ayala’s lawsuit and, thus, should reimburse Unitrin for the costs it incurred in defending her.
But Pratt agreed with PURE that the only actionable conduct taken by the Smiths — Jane’s false accusation and her father’s demand that Ayala be expelled — occurred on April 19 and 20, before the PURE policy took effect. Thus, PURE did not owe a duty to Smith, so it could not be compelled to reimburse Unitrin’s costs.
“The allegations against Jane Smith in the underlying complaint assert actionable conduct on April 18-20, 2015, before PURE’s insurance policy took effect,†Pratt wrote. “Butler’s conduct in April and May 2015 is not attributable to Jane Smith, and thus, does not fall under PURE’s insurance policy.â€
Pratt also terminated Unitrin and PURE from the litigation on Wednesday, finding all of their claims had been adjudicated. Ayala’s complaint against the university is part of a trend of male college students suing their schools after claiming to be falsely accused of sexual misconduct. Indiana Lawyer reported at least six such lawsuits have been filed against Indiana colleges and universities in recent years.
SIGNS BY GAVEL GAMUTÂ
GAVEL GAMUTÂ By Jim Redwine
SIGNS
October is a wonderful month, cool, warm, wet, dry, crisp and colorful. I was enjoying this marvelous gift of nature while I traveled home from work last Friday. As I passed Larry Williams’ McKim’s IGA grocery store in Mt. Vernon, Indiana I was reminded of another reason October is special. All along the Main Street edge of the store were signs of candidates for public office.
Large signs, small signs, red signs, blue signs red-white-and-blue signs. Off-color signs professionally produced signs and some that looked as if they were produced by a committee. They reminded me of that marvelous protest song from the Sixties, “Signsâ€, that was written by Les Emmerson and performed by the one-hit wonder group named The Five Man Electrical Band.
You may recall the lyrics: “Signs, signs everywhere a sign, blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind; Do this (vote for me), don’t do that (vote ‘wrong’)â€. I love the ecumenicism of McKim’s policy on political signs. All shapes, colors, and candidates are welcome. No office seeker nor any party is preferred or ostracized. This is democracy as it was intended.
Each election cycle I am cheered by seeing signs appear slowly but increasingly from about Labor Day to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The profusion of signs gives me the same good feelings Easter eggs and Christmas presents do. They restoreth my faith in our self-government.
Having put up political signs myself and having to take them down after a loss (not fun) or after a victory (no problem), I truly appreciate the spirit of public service that encourages anyone to run for a political office. People who have not done so may cynically believe others seek office for private gain or public acclaim. My experience is that most public offices pay not much more than minimum wage and require maximum ability to absorb unwanted and usually unwarranted criticism.
So, sign waivers and candidates, Thank You!, for being willing to serve in our citizen-controlled government. That’s the only way it will remain so.
For more Gavel Gamut articles go to www.jamesmredwine.com
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Home Invasion in Northern Vanderburgh
- Two Evansville men were arrested after an alleged home invasion in the town of Darmstadt late yesterday evening.
On October 18, 2018 at approximately 8:54 PM deputies were dispatched to an address in the 1200 block of Wortman Road, in Darmstadt, to investigate a reported residential burglary in progress. The victims advised that a subject they knew as Hunter Bennett and another male showed up and just entered their residence uninvited. The male victim was in the shower, when the suspects arrived. The female victim was asked to get her husband. The female went to the bathroom to tell her husband that Bennett was there asking for him. A short time later a black male, later identified as Kendrick Stevison, entered the bathroom and started punching the male victim. The female victim attempted to intervene in the altercation and was also seriously injured.
After several minutes of fighting the suspects began to flee from the residence. The male victim grabbed his shotgun from behind his bedroom door and gave chase. The victim fired two bird shot shotgun shells at the tires of their vehicle as they fled. The victims reported that the men got away with prescription medication from their home.
Based upon the broadcasted bulletin of the vehicle’s description Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Deputies spotted the suspects traveling south on US 41 near State Road 57. Deputies followed until additonal units could arrive to asisst in stopping the suspected robbers. The suspects surrendered to deputies after being stopped and were transported to the Sheriff’s Operations Center for interview.  Once the interviews were completed, two subjects were transported and booked into the Vanderburgh County Jail.
ARRESTED:
Matthew Hunter Bennett (pictured above), 22, of Evansville is charged with Robbery resulting in bodily injury as a Level 3 Felony, Burglary resulting in bodily injury as a Level 3 Felony, and Theft as a Level 6 Felony
Kendrick Dashawn Stevison (pictured above), 30, of Evansville is charged with Robbery resulting in bodily injury as a Level 3 Felony, Burglary resulting in bodily injury as a Level 3 Felony, and Theft as a Level 6 Felony
Presumption of Innocence Notice: The fact that a person has been arrested or charged with a crime is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.