I N T H E

Indiana Supreme Court

Supreme Court Case No. 23S-CT-378

Brent Taylor,

Appellant-Plaintiff,

–v–

Allen County Board of Commissioners, et al.,

Appellees-Defendants.

Decided: December 13, 2023

Appeal from the DeKalb Superior Court 

No. 17D02-2207-CT-35

The Honorable Monte L. Brown, Judge

On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals 

No. 23A-CT-131

Per Curiam Opinion

Chief Justice Rush and Justices Massa, Slaughter, Goff, and Molter concur.
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 23S-CT-378 | December 13, 2023 Page 2 of 3

Per curiam. 

Brent Taylor sued the Allen County Board of Commissioners, the Allen 

County Public Defender’s Office, and two individual Allen County public 

defenders.

The trial court dismissed Taylor’s action against the Allen County 

Board of Commissioners and granted judgment on the pleadings to the 

Allen County Public Defender’s Office and the individual public 

defenders. Taylor appealed the trial court’s order. Following extensions of 

time, his appellant’s brief and appendix were due to be filed by June 9, 

2023. Taylor timely filed a “Motion to File Appellant’s Brief and 

Appendix” on June 7 and tendered his brief and appendix with that 

motion. The Clerk then issued a Notice of Defect that specified three 

issues with Taylor’s brief and appendix that he needed to correct. The 

Notice of Defect gave Taylor, who is housed in the Indiana Department of 

Correction, twenty business days to submit corrected documents. Three 

days after the Clerk issued the Notice of Defect, the Indiana Court of 

Appeals issued an order dismissing Taylor’s appeal with prejudice. Taylor 

now seeks transfer and asks this Court to review the dismissal of his 

appeal.

Discussion & Decision

Indiana Appellate Rule 23 addresses correction of documents that are 

not compliant with the appellate rules: “Individuals who are incarcerated

. . . and are not represented by an attorney must correct defect(s) no later 

than twenty (20) business days from the date of the Notice of Defect.” Ind. 

Appellate Rule 23(D)(1)(a). Indiana Appellate Rule 45 allows for an appeal

to be summarily dismissed when an appellant’s brief is not timely filed.

App. R. 45(D). The record here indicates that Taylor timely tendered his

brief and appendix, and he had twenty days from the date on the Notice 

of Defect to cure the defects in those documents, making them due by July 

19, 2023. The record also shows the Notice of Defect’s deadline had not yet 

expired at the time Taylor’s appeal was dismissed.
Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 23S-CT-378 | December 13, 2023 Page 3 of 3

Conclusion

Under these circumstances, we find Taylor’s appeal was prematurely

dismissed. We grant transfer, vacate the Court of Appeals’ order 

dismissing Taylor’s appeal, and remand for the Court of Appeals to 

resume jurisdiction over this appeal. See App. R. 58(A). 

Rush, C.J., and Massa, Slaughter, Goff, and Molter, JJ., concur. 

A P P E L L A N T P R O S E

Brent Taylor

Michigan City, Indiana

A T T O R N E YS F O R A P P E L L E E A L L E N C O U N T Y

B O A R D O F C O M M I S S I O N E R S

Theodore T. Storer

Alison M. Yeager

Beers Mallers, LLP

Fort Wayne, Indiana

A T T O R N E YS F O R A P P E L L E E S W I L L I A M L E B R A T O A N D

G R E G O R Y F U M A R O L O

John C. Theisen

Nathaniel O. Hubley

Theisen Hubley Law

Fort Wayne, Indiana