Assets - Liabilities = Net Assets / Capital

IOW, Welch's appellate court nomination...

If you are completely stupefied at the Judicial Nominating Commission selecting Judge Welch as one of three options for the governor to appoint to the Indiana Appellate Court, then you don't understand the equation for net assets, the JNC's method for valuation, or you haven't counted some assets. 

When I saw the nominees, all I could do was chuckle... 

On and off... 

For a few hours...

I wasn't surprised at all.

• assets - liabilities = net assets
• assets > liabilities = positive net assets
• liabilities > assets = negative net assets 
• one person's liability is another's asset / the borrower is servant to the lender
• covering someone's liability owed to a third party, keeps the borrower a servant, but now to a new master   

CourtCall and Judge Heather Welch

The past year has been brutal on almost every company in every industry.

Only a handful of companies have thrived during the pandemic, benefitting even more than before. Netflix, while we all sat at home with nothing to do. The RV industry in my hometown giving people the means to safe freedom. PPE manufacturers. And obviously Zoom. But also the Zoom equivalent for courts, CourtCall. 

Trust me, this post will be much more interesting than you might think. Because very few active parties from Indiana's highest courts can find a plausible argument for ignorance. They all know.

Welch's Significant Cases- How Does She Do It?

The comment originates with Wayne Turner, whose firm Hoover, Hull, Turner, LLP regularly finds itself in Judge Heather Welch's court. In a December 2017 review of the then pilot project for Commercial Courts, Turner offered the following suggestion:

Help the higher volume Commercial Courts to clear their dockets of matters from non-Commercial Court cases; I don't know how Judge Welch keeps up, but she does it somehow.

That's not even considering her numerous ongoing obligations and contributions to the broader legal profession detailed in this post Welch's Amazing Professional Contributions.

Let's see if maybe we can solve Mr. Turner's mystery for him.

Welch's Amazing Professional Contributions

We previously detailed Judge Welch's amazingly busy courtroom that for some odd reason gets a large percentage of the most notable cases in Indiana courts. Yet with all that, Judge Heather Welch still finds a few minutes to give back to the profession:

How to Escape Judge Welch's Commercial Court

For Attorneys

Alright Indiana Jones / Batman and Robin / Bo and Luke, you have found yourself in Judge Welch's Commercial Court. That might be because:

• You contractually agreed, even if you didn't realize it, 
• The opposing party is falsely stating that you did sign a contract that never existed and Welch won't make them produce it with new trial court rules, 

Or maybe the opposing party isn't doing any of that since recent trial rule amendments give no greater weight to one venue provision over another, sort of, and subject to the judge's personal preference.

Most importantly, when a party 'familiar' to Judge Welch lands in her court, she has a history of ruling in their favor to keep the case by denying any motion to transfer or claim of improper venue.

So what's the key to escaping Welch's Commercial Court labyrinth? 

Kids in IHSAA Sports? Better Know Judge Welch

For Friends

...and Indy courts

...and an attorney that is frequently successful in Indy courts, even though it probably won't matter.

If you have kids in IHSAA sponsored sports, and you end up in court for any reason, no matter who files suit, you might be surprised to discover that court will be in Marion County (Indianapolis). You might be even further surprised that IHSAA might pick a specific judge, who is Judge Heather Welch.

Don't believe me? Have friend that is a litigation attorney read this post.

Valpo Law Closing: Injustice 1/3

This is post 1 of 3 on the closing of Valpo (Valparaiso) Law School - overview and disclaimer here.

Valpo Law School, its graduates, and the greater university, have earned their Crusaders nickname through decades of fighting for social justice. But as those fights grew in scope and consequence, opposition has similarly increased by those who profited from injustice.

Having now succeeded at flushing Valpo Law School down the toilet, a vortex may be developing that draws in a substantial amount of its prior foes and the entire system of justice. As the judiciary continues to lean toward favoring the 1%, the chance increases of a breaking point for widespread social revolt, sinking any remaining public trust down to (or even below) the other two branches.

Unfit, Incompetent, Biased? Should Welch CE Count?

I know, I said a post per week. This is a special post. It is less fact specific and more philosophical.

Right now, from 1:45pm to 5:15 pm, attorneys at the Indiana Bar Association Annual Conference in French Lick Indiana are sitting in a CE session on Rule 702 hearings. No idea what that is. But I do want to offer a question:

Are there minimum standards for someone to present continuing education to attorneys?

Here we have Judge Welch, who failed not once but twice to properly handle an Indiana Trial Rule 53.1 Precipe for transfer from her failure to rule in August / September of 2017. The second time, she denied a motion to correct error, which attached the exact instructions from the Supreme Court that the trial judge is not allowed to rule on this request. The detail and filings are in this previous post.

Is Fraud Legal? Maybe...

...if you are the one determining the law.

Today begins a new direction for this blog. I didn't plan this, especially on the first day of the Indiana State Bar Association annual meeting. But after reading Isaiah 58 this morning, and considering my need to refocus attention towards a personal matter, I will let official matters play out without trying too hard. But I scheduled previously prepared posts to be published each week for the next few months. I may accelerate or slow that down. We'll see.

So let's dig in.

Mary Willis, in her capacity as Chief Administrative Officer of the Indiana Appellate and Supreme Court, appears to have committed fraud. She backdated an order! The proof is still available!

Andy Hull on Mercy- Word and Deed

Let's dig into the tragedy and trial of Sharon Land, and Seth her schizophrenic son, who was denied Medicaid while IBM revamped Indiana's welfare system. One night he gouged out one of her eyes (already did his own), and broke her face bones. Guess who the court said was at fault?

Andy Hull's Word on Mercy
Andrew (Andy) W. Hull, appears to have found the below video tweet by NowThis very compelling. It was taken from Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) March 8, 2017 Congressional testimony.

TR 53.1 and 53.2 - Missed the memo...

Much to say on this issue and my experience.

Let me again caution here that I am not an attorney by education or licensed to practice law. So if you find yourself in any legal conflict, please talk to someone who can appropriately guide you. Hopefully the following will encourage you even more to seek qualified representation.

About the Rules

Indiana Trial Rules 53.1 and 53.2, are commonly called "The Lazy Judge Rule[s]." They are simply meant to give clear guidance for next steps to parties before a court that is not providing a timely ruling. If a judge has not ruled on a motion within 30 days, or determined an issue held under advisement within 90 days, or has other waivers of the deadlines, a party can request transfer out of that court, which I did. Welch's response, according to the Indiana Supreme Court, constitute breach of judicial conduct, maybe even breaking the law. And she did it twice!