The Court of Appeals of Indiana will hold oral arguments at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law on Thursday, April 3 inside Baier Hall.
The event is part of the court’s Appeals on Wheels series and is open to the public. Arguments begin at 1:45 p.m. and are expected to conclude around 2:45 p.m.
“The Appeals on Wheels program is the best trust-building tool we have as a judiciary,” said Anne Fuchs, the Court’s director of communications. “The court brings real oral arguments to communities around the state so the public can understand how the judiciary really works. We want them to have experiential knowledge of the courts and to get to know the people ‘behind the robes.’
A panel of three judges will hear arguments in State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. DiPego et al., a case involving an Indiana woman struck by an unidentified person on an electric scooter in Baltimore, Maryland. Michelle DiPego, the woman struck, asked her insurance company, State Farm, to cover her injury-related expenses through the company’s uninsured motorist provision, but State Farm denied the request.
The dispute largely centers on whether an electric scooter qualifies as a “land motor vehicle,” the term used in DiPego’s insurance policy. Although her policy did not expressly include or exclude an electric scooter from the definition of “land motor vehicle,” Indiana has expressly excluded electric scooters from the statutory definition of “motor vehicle.”
The trial court determined that the DiPegos were entitled to coverage under the uninsured motorist provision of their policy as a matter of law and therefore granted summary judgment to the DiPegos. State Farm appealed the judgment, claiming that an electric scooter is not a “land motor vehicle” under either the uninsured motorist policy or Indiana law and that the DiPegos failed to show that the scooter was uninsured.
“It is an honor to once again host the Court of Appeals of Indiana for its traveling oral arguments series,” said Indiana Law Dean Christiana Ochoa. “The event offers a unique opportunity for our students, the Indiana University community, and local citizens to see our courts in action.”
Expected to hear arguments are Judges Nancy H. Vaidik, Paul D. Mathias, and Leanna K. Weissmann.