Articles

Murky motive adds intrigue to Old National loan saga

In the buttoned-down world of banking, it doesn't get much stranger than this: An Indianapolis loan officer with a strong reputation is suddenly dismissed after his employer charges he falsified lending documents. The bank says the fraud exposes it to potential losses approaching $20 million. And here's the kicker: The employer hasn't accused the banker of committing the wrongdoing for personal gain.

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CMG Worldwide takes tussle over vintage baseball cards to court

New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig died in 1941 of a disease that came to bear his name. Six years later, second baseman
Jackie Robinson famously broke through baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers, earning the league minimum $5,000.
He died in 1972. Mark Roesler believes the best earning years still lie ahead for both legendary players, as well as many
others like them. But first he must untangle their image rights in federal court in Indianapolis.

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Ice Miller attorney departs, takes sports practice with him

Sports agent Andrew “Buddy” Baker has left locally based law firm Ice Miller and is taking with him the firm’s sports division,
IM Sports Services, which he wants to develop into a giant agency with a national reach. Baker’s new firm, Exclusive Sports
Group, starts with a list of high-profile clients.

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Winona trustee still fighting hospital creditors, ex-owner

Paul Gresk, the bankruptcy trustee overseeing the liquidation of Winona Memorial Hospital, is pushing for a showdown in court
to prove his claims that Winona’s former owner, Leland Medical Centers Inc., illegally transferred more than $4 million out
of Winona.

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Memory Gardens lawsuit seeks $20 million

An Indianapolis law firm has filed a class-action suit seeking more than $20 million from a pair of financial-services firms
it says facilitated the transactions that allowed a New Jersey couple to plunder cemetery trust funds. Cohen & Malad LLP filed
the lawsuit late last month on behalf of thousands of customers of Indianapolis-based Memory Gardens Management Corp., which
owns Memory Gardens in Greenwood, Lincoln Memory Gardens in Boone County and other cemeteries. The defendants are the company,
New York-based…

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Funeral operator slapped with criminal charges

The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office filed criminal charges today relating
to the status of trust funds set aside to pay funeral expenses and cemetery maintenance for a string of Indiana cemeteries.

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Funeral family asks court to intervene in dispute

A family that once owned Forest Lawn Memory Gardens and Funeral Home in Greenwood has asked
a Johnson County court to put the business into receivership amid questions about the status of trust funds set aside to pay
funeral expenses and maintenance.

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City law firm a key player in GOP wins

Three members of a small, young, downtown law firm played key rolls in Republican election wins this month, boosting the firm’s
profile as it tackles aggressive growth plans that include beefing up its lobbying business. John Lewis and Wilkins LLP set
up shop on Monument Circle in 2005 and since then has grown from the three attorneys to 11.

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Monroe photo ruling could sting CMG

Marilyn Monroe, one of celebrity licensing firm CMG Worldwide’s highest-grossing clients, has raked in more than $30 million
in licensing fees in the last dozen years–with roughly 25 percent of that landing in CMG coffers. But that spigot could slow
to a drip if a higher court upholds a ruling early this month by a New York federal judge.

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Entrepreneur sees niche for for-profit law school

But Mark Montefiori wants to create a law school to train perhaps hundreds more lawyers each year. He plans to share
with potential investors his vision for The Abraham Clark School of Law, named after one of the lesser-known signers of the
Declaration of Independence, May 10 at the Indianapolis Marriott North.

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Credit union ordered to pay ex-executive $3.4M

A Marion County judge has ordered an Indianapolis credit union to pay its former CEO $3.4 million, saying it wrongly froze the executive’s accounts after accusing him of financial improprieties three years ago.

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Levin builds reputation for pursuing class-action suits

Attorney Irwin Levin stood in a courtroom years ago for a pretrial conference when a colleague began to ridicule a rival firm’s slogan. Overhearing the diatribe, the judge asked Levin whether his law office had a mantra. Without hesitation, he quipped: “We’re going to kick your ass.” The room erupted in laughter. While Levin, 51, might have answered in jest, the managing partner of Cohen & Malad LLP indeed has built a national reputation for bloodying the noses of large…

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