Keith D. Harper v. S&H Leasing LLC

── Keith D. Harper v. S&H Leasing LLC ── Court: Indiana Supreme Court Date: April 09, 2026 Author: Loretta Rush Category: General IN THE Indiana Supreme Court FILED Supreme Court Case No. 26S-PL-111 Apr 09 2026, 9:31 am CLERK Keith D. Harper, Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals and Tax Court Appellant-Defendant, –v– S&H Leasing, LLC; K&K Real Estate Holdings, LLC; Thomas Hagen; Brian Brisco; and Jeremy Noetzel, Appellees-Plaintiffs. Argued: December 4, 2025 | Decided: April 9, 2026 Appeal from the Elkhart Superior Court No. 20D02-2108-PL-200 The Honorable Stephen R. Bowers, Judge On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals No. 24A-PL-1606 Opinion by Justice Slaughter Chief Justice Rush, and Justices Massa, Goff, and Molter concur. Slaughter, Justice. The Crime Victim’s Relief Act allows trial courts to award treble dam- ages to victims of certain criminal offenses in a civil claim against the wrongdoer. To prevail under the CVRA, a plaintiff must prove the de- fendant committed all elements of the criminal offense. Here, the parties dispute whether Defendant committed criminal conversion of money. Un- der the plain text of the criminal-conversion statute, all agree he did. But, for purposes of the CVRA, Defendant argues there is an extra element unique to conversion cases—disputed funds must be “special chattel”, i.e., a determinate sum entrusted to the defendant for a certain purpose. We hold that money need not be “special chattel” for criminal conver- sion or, what follows, for civil claims under the CVRA. The definition of a crime is limited to its statutory elements. The special-chattel requirement is not an element of the criminal-conversion statute. Thus, we affirm the trial court’s judgment awarding treble damages and remand with instruc- tions. I A In 2008 and 2009, Keith Harper organized two companies with his then- wife, Kathryn Summers: S&H Leasing, LLC, which buys and sells used vehicles to consumers; and K&K Real Estate Holdings, LLC, which owns S&H’s real estate. Harper hired Brian Brisco in 2014 and Thomas Hagen in 2015; both helped expand S&H into a large and profitable retail operation. Harper and Summers rewarded S&H’s success by gifting Hagen five shares and Brisco three shares of S&H. In 2017, Hagen and Brisco bought additional shares of both LLCs, after which Harper owned 34% of the LLCs; Hagen and Brisco each owned 33%; and Summers no longer owned any shares. Under the operating agreements, Harper remained the sole manager of both LLCs and had “full and complete power and authority to make all decisions and to take all actions incident to the management and conduct of the [LLCs’] business and affairs”. Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 26S-PL-111 | April 9, 2026 Page 2 of 14  In 2020, Harper sold 10% of his ownership in the LLCs to Jeremy Noet- zel, another employee of S&H and a certified public accountant who pre- pared tax returns for the two LLCs. Beginning in 2021, the relationship be- tween Harper, on one hand, and Hagen, Brisco, and Noetzel, on the other, fractured. Harper became “more and more volatile”. He came to work in- toxicated, damaged company property, and was confrontational with em- ployees. Hagen, Brisco, and Noetzel met with Harper and voted to amend the LLCs’ operating agreements, remove Harper as a manager, force him to sell his shares in the LLCs, and terminate his employment with S&H. Harper re