Bob Kasarda of the Northwest Indiana News reports:

After several years of planning and discussion, officials in Porter County are going ahead with the creation of a drug court.

The court, which is expected to start up sometime after the first of the year, will offer qualified individuals the opportunity to wipe their records clean by successfully completing a program aimed at helping them overcome drug and alcohol problems, while improving other areas of their lives.

Porter Superior Court Judge Julia Jent, who has been active in domestic violence programs, will preside over the new Porter County Alcohol and Other Drug Court.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has reached an agreement with 24 airlines to monitor the drinking water aboard flights. Earlier testing showed that 15 percent had contaminated water. The EPA is currently developing specific regulations for onboard drinking water quality, and is maintaining a website about the issue, including ongoing test results. The Monterey Herald has more.

Steve R. Akers of Bessemer Trust has recently released an article entitled IRS Guidance Regarding Circular 230–Effect on Estate Planning Practitioners. This article provides a comprehensive explanation of the impact of the regulations that were effective earlier this year.

Andy Gammill provides this report in the Indianapolis Star:

The city of Lawrence’s suit against the company that runs its waterworks was the opening salvo in a steady stream of lawsuits that has rocked the Northeastside community.

Lawsuits in the past year — more than a dozen major ones — range from allegations of unconstitutional demotions, to claims that the City Council districts are discriminatory, to an accusation that the mayor fired the Parks Board illegally.

Last week came the kicker: mayor of Lawrence vs. the City Council. Just about everyone in city government is a defendant or a plaintiff in one case or another. Some are both. “Lawrence is litigious with a capital L,” said City Councilwoman Linda Treat, a Democrat who usually votes with council Republicans. “Lawrence has become the litigious city of the state. For a small town, we’re trooping up there.”

Jackson Circuit Judge Bill Vance questioned attorneys about jury selection in the murder case against Anthony R. Stockelman on Wednesday, reports the Jackson County Tribune.

Vance suggested the court may need to conduct jury selection in a larger room because of the interest in the trial and the number of prospective jurors that could be needed to impanel a jury.

Since a recent remodeling project, seating in the circuit courtroom was reduced to about 90.

The Indiana State Department of Health has filed an administrative action against the license of Hoosier Care II, Inc. d/b/a Hanover Nursing Center in Hanover, Indiana. State health officials said that they are seeking that the facility’s license be placed on probation and have issued an emergency order for placement of a monitor and a ban on admissions at the facility, which is charged with violating state rules governing long-term care facilities.

The charges are based on the findings of a survey by the Indiana State Department of Health that was completed on September 21, 2005.

Included in the findings, the survey stated that the facility failed to assure freedom from verbal, physical, and mental abuse for four cognitively impaired residents on secured dementia units. According to the survey, facility nursing staff punched the face, bent the thumbs of, choked, and verbally abused the residents. Facility staff who witnessed the physical and verbal abuse delayed reporting or failed to report the abuse observations, per facility policy, while the nursing staff who abused the residents continued to work on the dementia care unit.

This finding resulted in an immediate jeopardy designation. A follow up survey was conducted on October 12, 2005, which indicated that the immediate jeopardy was removed.

The Indiana Lawyer is expanding its online content and may soon put several legal blogs out of business. You no longer have to wait every two weeks for the latest from IL.

Digital IL is your weekly update on legal news in the state of Indiana. The e-mail will be sent every Wednesday, keeping you up-to-date on late-breaking and timely news. Then, you can read further on many of the topics every other Wednesday in Indiana Lawyer.

To learn more and to subscribe to the new service, click here.

Keith Rhoades of the MD Times reports:

With the goal of being home for Halloween, employees displaced from the Morgan County Courthouse will begin moving back home later this week.

Superior Court I Judge G. Thomas Gray said officeholders have come up with a schedule for moving the courts, the prosecutor’s office, and clerk’s office back to their normal offices.

Morgan County offices moved out of the courthouse and into the county administration building and jail more than a year ago, after courthouse workers raised questions about air-quality at the courthouse. All employees moved out of the courthouse while the building was tested, and later cleaned of molds and pigeon droppings.

Judge Gray asked the public to “bear with us” during the move back. The judge said courts would be tolerant with people during the move.

The magistrate’s court and the microfilm department have already returned to the basement of the courthouse, and the jury commissioner is back in her office on the third floor.

Judge Gray said during the courts’ move, they will not be available for business. Their phone lines will be shut off until they are ready to resume business in the courthouse. The exception is Superior Court III, which – because of the high number of small claims it processes – will continue to do business throughout its move back to the courthouse.

The magistrate’s court will handle initial hearings and take care of any emergency needs, such as protective orders and search warrants.

Circuit Court Judge Matthew Hanson will move Thursday, followed by Superior Court I on Friday.

On Monday, the office for Superior Court III will be moved. Next Tuesday, Superior Court II will be moved back to its first floor home. A week from today, the prosecutor will move and a day later clerk’s office will return to the courthouse.

Richard D. Walton of the Indianapolis Star provides this report:

A woman hired Indianapolis attorney John H. Freeman IV to represent her son in delinquency proceedings. When Freeman didn’t show at a hearing, the mother was forced to negotiate a plea with the prosecutor.

Another woman hired Freeman to advocate for her granddaughter in school expulsion proceedings. After Freeman failed to appear, the girl was suspended.

And when a dissatisfied criminal suspect demanded a refund, Freeman replied with a threatening letter, the Indiana Supreme Court said. “Please do NOT EVER in your life send me another letter,” Freeman wrote. “If you do I will have to make trouble for you while you are locked up!”

The high court, finding Freeman committed “serial neglect” of his clients, has suspended him from practicing law for one year, effective Dec. 1. The court found that Freeman’s conduct “often left his clients abandoned and forced to fend for themselves. His demonstrated lack of competence warrants a substantial suspension.”

The court found Freeman, who was admitted to the practice of law in 1994, failed to perform requested services, attempted to withdraw from a case without informing the client and failed to inform clients of his billing practices.

You can read the per curiam opinion In the Matter of John H. Freeman IV online (pdf).

The Marion Chronicle Tribune has an article titled, “ILS offers free legal services for seniors.”

The Marion-Grant County Senior Center is hosting attorneys from Indiana Legal Services Inc. on the second Wednesday of every month to provide legal help to people 60 and older.

The first session was held Wednesday, when attorney Price A. Jackson Jr. traveled from Indianapolis to meet with concerned Grant County senior citizens to discuss health care, housing and consumer issues.

ILS, a nonprofit law firm that provides free civil legal assistance to low-income individuals throughout the state, became associated with the senior center after Center Director Carolyn Williams asked Marion attorney Warren Haas about finding representation for center clients.