WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015
IDS
Lawsuit asks for audit of BMV
INDIANA DAILY STUDENT | IDSNEWS.COM
By Daniel Metz dsmetz@indiana.edu | @DanielSMetz
As much as $60 million. As many as 4.5 million Hoosiers. As far back as 2002. For Garrett Ashby, it was about $50 the day he got his driver’s license. “I had to pay for the taxes on my first car,” said Ashby, a 22-year-old IU student from Noblesville, Ind. “I remember paying the taxes on the plate, they charge you a registration fee ... they just hit you with all of those. I remember walking out of there feeling like I had been robbed.” The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles is alleged to have mistakenly overcharged Hoosiers tens of millions of dollars in the past few years. In 2013, two class action lawsuits were filed against the BMV by Indianapolis-based law firm Cohen & Malad, LLP. The first lawsuit alleged the BMV overcharged Hoosier drivers under the age of 75 by as much as $29 million from at least 2007 until 2013 in mistaken fees and miscalculations in motor vehicle excise taxes. The first lawsuit was settled in 2013 in the amount of $30 million and the BMV is repaying overcharged customers through refunds and credits with incurred interest. The second lawsuit alleges the BMV overcharged as much as $38 million more, dating as far back as 2002. The combined total of alleged overcharges is an estimated $60 million. Irwin Levin, the recipient of the 2013 Consumer Advocate of the Year award from the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association, is the attorney from Cohen & Malad, LLP who is working with the lawsuit on behalf of Indiana residents that were overcharged. “Hoosiers’ ability to drive their cars cannot be held hostage to arbitrary fees imposed by the BMV,” Levin said in a press release. “The SEE BMV, PAGE 10
Explaining the BMV lawsuit “Hoosiers’ ability to drive their cars cannot be held hostage to arbitrary fees imposed by the BMV. The BMV does not have the authority to charge fees at its discretion ... The BMV needs to be held accountable, and Indiana residents deserve restitution.” Irwin Levin, Cohen & Malad, LLP lawyer working with the lawsuit on behalf of Indiana residents who were overcharged
$60 million The combined total of the alleged overcharges by the BMV.
2002 The year the BMV allegedly started overcharging.
4.5 million The highest number of Hoosiers possibly affected by the alleged overcharging.
5-3
SLIDING INTO 6 IU wins 6th straight in home opener
Freshman’s speed propels IU past Eagles
By Andrew Vailliencourt
By Michael Hughes
availlie@indiana.edu | @AndrewVcourt
michhugh@indiana.edu | @MichaelHughes94
Pitching led the way for IU on Tuesday to secure a win in the team’s first home game of the season. In his first career start, IU freshman Brian Hobbie shut down the visiting Eagles of Eastern Michigan to help IU win 5-3 at Bart Kaufman Field. He pitched four innings and allowed zero runs on one hit while striking out seven. “I thought he was great, he just fatigued a little bit,” IU Coach Chris Lemonis said. “He probably hadn’t been out there as a reliever as much. We’ll try to get his pitch count up.” Hobbie also picked up his first win of the year. “Getting past the first inning and getting a zero, it really helps you out just mentally to have confidence,” Hobbie said. “It was nice just to be out in this atmosphere, all the fans cheering for you, it’s a lot different than the away games.” Sophomores Thomas Belcher and Kent Williams combined in relief to pitch into the eighth where senior Luke Harrison took over and got his third save of the season. “It’s nice to know if you can’t throw a lot of innings, throw a few good ones and you have a good bullpen behind you,” Hobbie said. The scoring started early for the Hoosiers, as senior outfielder Will Nolden got an RBI on a groundout, followed by an RBI double from
As freshman third baseman Isaiah Pasteur sped through first base, he couldn’t help but feel good. He was 2-for-2 in his first home game and had just beaten a throw to first base for an infield single in the fourth inning. But then he heard his first base coach Shawn Roof. “Roof was definitely yelling at me to get down the line,” Pasteur said. “Once I noticed it was a passed ball, though, I just went for it.” By the time Pasteur realized the ball was up the right field line, the Eastern Michigan second baseman was positioning himself for a throw. But Pasteur took off toward second base anyway. He beat the throw, but only after sliding a few feet past second base along the wet turf at Bart Kaufman Field. “We haven’t really played out here in the rain much,” Pasteur said. “I’ve been told to slide early and I thought I did but I just kept going through the bag.” Pasteur finished the game 2-for2 after adding a walk before senior Ricky Alfonso pinch hit for him in the seventh inning in IU’s 5-3 win Tuesday against Eastern Michigan. Pasteur’s first hit was a two-out RBI double in IU’s two-run second inning. “I really liked that first swing,” IU Coach Chris Lemonis said. “He stayed on that ball nice.” The double was Pasteur’s first extra-base hit this season in his fourth start at third base. Entering the game he was hitting .231 with no extra base
SEE HOME OPENER, PAGE 7
PHOTOS BY BEN MIKESELL | IDS
Top Freshman outfielder Logan Sowers slides into first base to avoid a tag during IU’s home opener against Eastern Michigan on Tuesday at Bart Kaufman Field. Middle Junior shortstop Nick Ramos is introduced prior to IU’s home opener. Bottom Senior designated hitter Scott Donley watches the ball after making contact. Donley hit his first home run of the season on the way to the Hoosiers’ victory against Eastern Michigan.
GAME 2 TODAY IU (9-4) vs. Eastern Michigan (6-11) 4 p.m., Bart Kaufman Field
SEE FRESHMAN, PAGE 10
Journalist talks about rape story IU alum Andrew West
talks making of ‘Walter’
By Alyson Malinger afmaling@indiana.edu | @aly_mali
After Florida State University quarterback Jameis Winston was let go of all charges related to the campus rape, journalist Walt Bogdanich stepped into a 1 1/2-year investigation about rape on college campuses. Walt Bogdanich, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times investigations editor and reporter, discussed investigating sexual assault on college campuses Tuesday at the Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union. Bogdanich shared stories and lessons learned from starting his investigation of campus rape and why this field of journalism is necessary in this time of technological influence. “Investigative journalists have a low threshold of indignation,” Bogdanich said. “Getting lashed out on is considered an occupational hazard.” Bogdanich recalled the time he was part of a $6 billion lawsuit filed to him by a powerful company, according to Bogdanich, Philip Morris Cigarette Company. The company was suing him for libel for discussing
By Adam Smith adbsmith@indiana.edu | @adbsmithIU
VICTOR GRÖSSLING | IDS
New York Times investigative editor Walt Bogdanich speaks about his latest work in the area of sexual assault on college campuses. The presentation was the second of the IU Media School’s spring speaker series.
the addictive qualities of nicotine. Bogdanich discussed how these addictive qualities were manipulated by the company to sway customers to think otherwise of the health risks associated with cigarettes. The lawsuit ended when Bogdanich was able to prove all the points he posed. To be an investigative journalist, Bogdanich said he is guided by two unwavering principles. One is the
information that he needs is written down somewhere, he just has to find it. The second part is every person that has the information he seeks has a motive to give it to him. “You must be creative, be sensitive, but don’t be passive.” Bogdanich said. Starting the investigation into SEE BOGDANICH, PAGE 10
For Andrew West, Brenden Hill and Paul Shoulberg, the Wells-Metz Theatre is a place to reminisce. Some places around the theater were old haunts for the alumni, and others were places they never had the chance to see during their time at IU. The three IU alumni hosted a free Q&A Tuesday about their feature-length film “Walter” that IU Cinema screened later the same day. The movie opens for a limited nationwide premiere Friday. The alumni also talked extensively about the road from IU to where they are now in their careers. “Walter” producer Hill, a 2006 IU Department of Theatre and Drama graduate, said he carried his memories of the University with him when he moved to Chicago the fall after graduation. While in Chicago he started a theater company named Purple Bench Productions
with three other IU alumni. The name, he said, came from the purple benches that now sit outside of the Wells-Metz Theatre. “It represented this place where all the people I worked with and collaborated with would meet,” Hill said. One of those people Hill worked with during his time at IU was Shoulberg, who was an MFA student in IU’s playwriting program while Hill was an undergraduate. Hill said he really wanted Shoulberg to let him use one of his plays for Purple Bench Productions, but Shoulberg repeatedly turned Hill down. Shoulberg said he was really defensive of his work at the time because he had faced negative criticism in the past. “I sat in a room writing tons of plays, but not letting anybody do anything with them,” he said. His story fed into one of the main points the alumni made: you SEE WEST, PAGE 10