Evansville Legal Issues Blog

A criminal record can have long-term consequences, such as blocking access to certain jobs. Although every citizen has the right to mount a strong criminal defense, 1.19 million people in Indiana or one in four adults in this state have an arrest or conviction record.

In 2015, Indiana released 16,074 people from prison. Obtaining family-sustaining jobs is important for returning these individuals to society after they served their sentences. The state General Assembly recently removed one obstacle to these citizens by restricting the impact of convictions for occupational licenses.

Families who suffer the loss of a loved one in Indiana cannot seek damages for the victim's pain and suffering. They cannot recover more than $300,000 from a negligent person for the loss of companionship and love from the deceased person. A recent nursing home neglect and wrongful death lawsuit seeks to overturn these limitations under the state's Adult Wrongful Death act.

The action was filed in Howard County against a Rochester nursing home facility after the death of patient who suffered a serious head injury. The victim's family names numerous corporations and individuals who were allegedly responsible for care at the facility. It is owned by a for-profit corporation based in Cleveland, Tennessee, which owns or manages over 220 skilled nursing homes across the country.

Fatal accidents caused by negligence can happen in the most unexpected places and even in locations that are supposed to be monitored and especially safe. In one case, the family of a nursing home resident filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Kokomo facility after a resident died from injuries suffered in a fall in the shower room.

Following a dramatic rise in pedestrian fatalities in 2015 and 2016, preliminary figures indicate that there was a drop of only one half of 1 percent in pedestrian deaths in 2017. The Governor's Highway Safety Administration, which issued this recent report, estimated that 5,984 pedestrians were killed in car accidents last year based on its review of statistics for the first part of the year.

According to earlier reports, the number of pedestrian deaths rose by 27 percent from 2007 to 2016. However, all other traffic fatalities dropped by 14 percent. Pedestrians now make up a larger proportion of traffic deaths, 16 percent in 2016, than they had over the past 33 years. The nation has not experienced this level of fatal pedestrian injuries for over 25 years.