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As they do every November pursuant to local rule, the Judges of the Common Pleas Court for Cuyahoga County have elected a new Administrative Judges. This year, it is Judge Nancy A. Fuerst, whose term will begin on January 1, 2010. if (document.getElementsByTagName){var anchors = document.getElementsByTagName("a");var hostname = window.location.hostname.replace("www.","").toLowerCase();for (var i=0; i<anchors.length; i++){if(anchors[i].getAttribute("href")){var href =... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 09:33 am by Cleveland Law Library

Effective 1/1/11 (not 1/1/10), the Ohio Supreme Court will significantly chang the rules for out-of-state lawyers who want to be admitted to practice for a limited purpose in an Ohio case. Under amendments to Rule XII of the Rules for the Governement of the Bar, all pro hac vice admissions will have to go through the Supreme Court's Office of Attorney Services starting in 2011. All applicants will also have to pay a $100 fee and sign an "acknowledgement of Ohio's attorney disciplinary rules and... Posted on November 10, 2009 at 07:01 am by Cleveland Law Library

Public comments are being accepted until February 10, 2010 on proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankrutpcy and Criminal Procedure, as well as proposed style revisions to the Federal Rules of Evidence. Some of the proposed bankruptcy rule changes would clarify what information is needed for a proof of claim and allow limited extensions of time to object to a debtor's discharge. Most, if not all of the proposed criminal rule changes reflect the use of greater technology to allow video... Posted on November 10, 2009 at 06:48 am by Cleveland Law Library

Time for ODPI to check out: Due to a growing inability to maintain this blog in a consistent manner, ODPI is hereby discontinued. While it's extremely difficult to depart with many promising new developments happening here, a pretty strong intuition says this is exactly the right time for me personally to step aside from the Ohio abolition milieu. (Apologies for my neglect in not getting a statement posted sooner. It's been a struggle coming to terms with having to let go after much work trying... Posted on October 5, 2007 at 06:01 am by STaylor

More on US Supeme Court ruling to consider constitutionality of lethal injection: Robert Barnes has coverage for the Washington Post here. David Stout has this article in the New York Times. Jim Malone has this coverage for Voice of America. VOA excerpt: ...Whichever way the Supreme Court rules could have a far-reaching impact on the use of lethal injection to carry out capital punishment sentences in the United States. Richard Dieter is executive director of the Death Penalty Information... Posted on September 25, 2007 at 12:48 pm by STaylor

The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to hear the Kentucky case of Baze v. Rees, which challenges the constitutionality of Kentucky's standard 3-drug lethal injection protocol. This has potentially huge ramifications. Although the Supreme Court ruled last term that death row inmates have the right to challenge the constitutionality of methods of execution, this will be the first occasion for the court to actually consider whether lethal injection as practiced by most states violates the 8th... Posted on September 25, 2007 at 08:43 am by STaylor

It's that time of year again...this weekend the Ohio State Buckeyes will face the Michigan Wolverines in their annual Big Ten showdown. For more on the history of this impressive rivalry, check out this page, created jointly by OSU and Michigan Libraries. Posted on November 20, 2009 at 03:11 am by Library Staff

On Tuesday, The Original of Laura by Vladimir Nabokov was published, nearly thirty years after the author's death in 1977. The debate over whether this work should be published focused on the author's own wish that the manuscript be destroyed and his son, Dmitri's reluctance to destroy what could prove to be a major literary contribution. For more examples of works published posthumously, check Posted on November 19, 2009 at 05:04 am by Library Staff

Reading historical documents can be pretty interesting, but what about hearing historical speeches? Here is a compliation of quite a few historical audio recordings, including selections from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. and Winston Churchill.From Concurring Opinions Posted on November 18, 2009 at 05:09 am by Library Staff

The legal research provider, Lawriter LLC, has been acquired by SSN Holdings Inc. Lawriter became a subsidiary of Collexis Holdings in early 2008. According to a Sept. 6, 2009 blog post on The Cottonboll Conspiracy: "Collexis acquired Lawriter, which provides online legal research to a consortium of bar associations, for $9 million ... Collexis sold Lawriter to SSN Holdings Inc. for a little more than $2.1 million in cash ... ." Lawriter currently maintains the Ohio Revised Code web site for... Posted on October 26, 2009 at 04:34 pm by Ohio Legal Researchers

The Union of Concerned Scientists has released a report called Invasive Species in Ohio: Pathways, Policies and Costs. It covers economic impacts as well as the environmental costs, and is full of charts and data that illustrate the damage in the Great Lakes region of the U.S. In addition, the report discusses the inadequacy of federal laws and the weakness of Ohio's laws (see: Table 5 - Ohio's Incomplete Legal Authority). Posted on October 28, 2008 at 09:11 pm

Judgepedia is a wiki encyclopedia about judges and courts, brought to you by the same sponsors of ballotpedia. Judgepedia is a newer project, opening its doors in the spring of 2008. It has a Federal judiciary portal and a State Supreme Court portal. The State Supreme Court Elections page gathers all the upcoming judicial office changes for all fifty states. The Judges in the news section for Ohio contained a link to a newly released report The New Politics of Judicial Elections in the Great... Posted on October 25, 2008 at 01:17 am

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Below is copied an old email message I sent out to some friends. It is difficult to recall the precise emotions as I watched the Schiavo family and their tragedy rehashed ad nauseum in the media. In the end, I hoped the public awareness of Terri's situation would inspire some of us to take steps to avoid a similar fate. Only then can we say that Terrri's passing would not have been in vain and little more than a circus ring used by others in media and politics to push their own agenda.... Posted on April 13, 2006 at 06:15 am by FredMischler

The Deed is a document that transfers title in real estate. In the sale of a piece of property, the seller is the "grantor" and the buyer is the "grantee". There are 6 statutory forms for deeds in Ohio. General Warranty Deed Limited Warranty Deed Quit Claim Deed Survivorship Tenancy Transfer on Death Deed Executor or Trustee Deed The General Warranty Deed is used when the grantor will provide to the buyer warrantee promises that the grantor lawfully owns the property to be transferred, that the... Posted on April 4, 2006 at 08:40 am by FredMischler

Here's a post from the National Association of Tax Professionals, that says it as well as I think I can. Most of these arguments are good for a chuckle or two. It continually amazes me how people can put forth these ideas and appear to sincerely believe them. But, I guess that is all a testament to human nature, greed, and that we tend to believe what we want to hear. -- FM Lawsuit-Happy Tax Protesters Tax the Legal System The Verdict - Pay What You Owe National Association of Tax Professionals... Posted on March 21, 2006 at 10:37 am by FredMischler

Cincinnati, Ohio has a strong and growing bicycle community, and although it has been a beautiful warm and long Autumn, the winter weather continues to grow colder and dark. It is as important as ever to take the proper safety measures to avoid bike riding crashes and severe injuries. read more Posted on November 19, 2009 at 09:10 pm by mark

Cincinnati Lawyers Who Make House Calls At the Cincinnati lawfirm of McKenzie & Snyder, we understand how difficult it can be to get to lawyer's office. Physical limitations (e.g., low back, shoulder, knee, and ankle injuries), busy schedules, and transportation issues are just a few of the many hurdles people face when trying to schedule a consultation. McKenzie & Snyder makes the consultation process simple and comfortable by offering house calls. read more Posted on November 12, 2009 at 09:16 pm by mark

To find the Ohio BWC address nearest you, click on the link below and use the Ohio BWC office locator. [www.ohiobwc.com] read more Posted on November 11, 2009 at 11:20 pm by mark

I attended a production of The Exonerated earlier today. I've seen it before, a couple of different productions. I've seen it with star-power actors and with local folks. This time the performers were college students. The play is, of course, different depending on who's in it and who did the staging. But its simple power seems always to come through. Maybe because it is, ultimately, simple: Interwoven true stories of six people who were convicted of murders they didn't commit, sentenced to... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 08:10 am by Jeff Gamso

Return with us now to the wild west of Maricopa County, Arizona. The saga of Detention Officer Adam Stoddard continues. You remember him. He's the officer who, during a sentencing hearing, wandered over to where defense counsel's files were out on a table while she was at the podium with her client. , began reading the file, removed a paper, gave it to another officer to copy. All this within view of the judge and two prosecutors, none of whom gave it a moment's notice. Indeed, the only one who... Posted on November 18, 2009 at 04:01 am by Jeff Gamso

A couple of notes on perception. I. It must have been shortly before the bread pudding was brought out the other night that one of the guests at the dinner party mentioned, sort of in passing, that he and his partner of many years (who was out of the country and therefore not present) had recently gotten married. As one, we raised our glasses in congratulatory toast. I don't know where they went for the wedding, though it certainly wasn't held in Ohio. I'm also not much concerned about that... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 03:53 pm by Jeff Gamso

Last week I gave a seminar on allied offenses, and the guy who spoke ahead of me - a law professor - did a talk on Crawford. Most of his presentation was devoted to a recap of recent Ohio cases on the subject, and he confessed that he found it difficult to understand some of those cases in light of the language of Crawford and the Supreme Court's subsequent decisions in that line. (One of the decisions he mentioned was State v. Young, a particularly dreadful decision, as I noted here.) After he... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 03:41 am by Russ Bensing

Last year in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court declared that the 2nd Amendment provided for an individual, rather than collective, right to bear arms. That left open the question of whether the Amendment applied to the states, DC being Federal territory. On Monday, lawyers for four Chicagoans filed a brief arguing that the Amendment did indeed apply to both state and local laws, and that Chicago's gun laws - which ban weapons almost as effectively and completely as the DC laws... Posted on November 18, 2009 at 03:53 am by Russ Bensing

A possible new starring vehicle for Damon Wayans, the court looks sympathetically, if naively, upon those faced with the prospect of re-entering society after a prison sentence, and the "one stab, one count" theory goes by the wayside. Marcus Carter was apparently a homeless person with attitude: when his soon-to-be victim refused his entreaties, Carter wound up rushing him with a pair of scissors. A wrestling match ensued, with the victim getting much the worse of it: some minor cuts to his... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 03:49 am by Russ Bensing

What are the appropriate sanctions for the State's failure to provide discovery? In Taylor v. Illinois, 484 U.S.400, 108 S.Ct 646 (1988) the United States Supreme Court held these factors to be important to the court's consideration in fashioning sanctions: (a) The reason for non-disclosure; (b) Any prejudice to the party seeking disclosure; (c) The relevance and importance of the non-disclosed materials; (d) The ability of the party reasonably to make disclosure; (e) The relevance and... Posted on November 18, 2009 at 11:31 am by Charles Rowland

Brown, Rowland, Babb & Campbell is proud to offer a full spectrum of services, including: DUI/OVI (Charles M. Rowland II); Felony and Criminal Law (Mark J. Babb); Divorce and Family Law (Patricia N. Campbell) and Wills & Estates (Richard T. Brown, of counsel). Our newest service is a response to the needs of our community for exceptional bankruptcy services. Please visit www.DaytonBankruptcyAttorney.com and learn about Zachary Bushatz. Zachary Bushatz was raised in Marion, Ohio. He... Posted on November 18, 2009 at 07:10 am by Charles Rowland

A drunk driving charge can affect you in ways that you may not expect. Listed below are some of the more vexing issues associated with an Ohio DUI (OVI). 1. Child Custody - If you are involved in a custody dispute, or have a vindictive spouse who would like to start one, a DUI/OVI conviction can be used against you in domestic relations court. Automatic suspensions may make it difficult to exercise visitation with your children. You may also find a court who will refuse to let you transport the... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 09:09 am by Charles Rowland

Dr. Gregory Ramey, a child psychologist at Dayton Children's Hospital and author of the Family Wise Column in the Dayton Daily News, as well as a guest contributor to the Ohio Family Law Blog, will be presenting a parenting seminar at 6:30 p.m., December 3, 2009, at Dayton Children's Outpatient Care Center in Springboro. Don't miss it! Dr. Ramey will discuss "Kids and their Technological Worlds" and will provide recent research on internet usage, cell phones, and television, and some concrete... Posted on November 18, 2009 at 02:00 am by Robert L. Mues

As we are now into the month of November, it is not too early for divorced and divorcing parents to look ahead to the upcoming Christmas Holiday. Here are some "tips" regarding the "nuts and bolts" of handling the Christmas holiday season. Read and examine the Parenting Time Schedule for your particular County which should be attached as part of your Final Decree or Court Judgment. The Domestic Relations Court and Juvenile Court of each County have differing schedules. If your parenting time... Posted on November 14, 2009 at 02:00 am by Anne Shale

Here is a list of links to various online assessment tools that might be valuable for those interested in learning where they might score in areas that can frequently impact a marriage. Originally, I just intended to post an online depression assessment tool since many people going through a divorce suffer from some degree of depression. But once I started on the project, as you can see, the list kept growing. Here they all are: Depression Screening Test Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology... Posted on November 7, 2009 at 05:03 am by Robert L. Mues

The United States Supreme Court in Herring v. New York stated that a defendant has a right to make a closing argument. But in State v. McCausland, 2009-Ohio-5933, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled today that the trial court does not commit reversible error when no closing argument is made by a defendant who neither requests closing argument or objects when the trial court goes on to the next step in the proceeding instead of offering an opportunity for closing argument. If a defendant (or their... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 06:54 am by Robert Alan Brenner

Today the Ohio Supreme Court decided a case on sealing of criminal records. Here is the syllabus by the Court: "[w]hen an applicant with multiple convictions under one case number moves to seal his or her criminal record in that case pursuant to R.C. 2953.32 and one of those convictions is exempt from sealing pursuant to R.C. 2953.36, the trial court may not seal the remaining convictions." Read the Ohio Supreme Court's decision in State v. Futrall, 2009-Ohio-5590, by clicking here. Watch the... Posted on October 29, 2009 at 10:42 am by Robert Alan Brenner

Ohio's Second District Court of Appeals reversed convictions for rape and gross sexual abuse of a child under thirteen because of hearsay and confrontation clause problems. Most interesting was the Appellate Court's interpretation of what is included in "statements for purpose of medical diagnosis or treatment." The complainant, who did not testify at trial, received counseling from a school psychologist. The complainant first told the psychologist she had been raped, but later she told the... Posted on October 20, 2009 at 01:34 pm by Robert Alan Brenner

Tech is HOT.... and chances are, if you have a technology-based or tech-related business, you've already at least heard about the enchanting world of venture and angel capitaltists as a source of funds for your business. Or perhaps you've even explored the possbility of various "grants" from government or private associations. But what if you're a successful, but perhaps more ordinary, outfit needing additional capital to operate or to expand and prosper? Where do you go in a time when credit... Posted on November 13, 2009 at 12:25 pm

Mostly because I feel like it and this is MY blog, today's post has nothing more than a selection of links to stuff I found today (after working hours, of course) that sorta cheered me up and which I thought might amuse others as well. Lately I've been a bit grumpy and a tad more depressed than usual, perhaps in part due to my capitulation to the realization that we really are entering the long Winter months I despise so much. And work has recently been both busier/wearing and less... Posted on November 2, 2009 at 04:07 pm

/**/ Is the law and determinations in individual cases of corporate veil piercing an "unprincipled hodgepodge of seemingly ad hoc and unpredictable results"? Often it may seem so. Now, however, Political Science professor Christina Boyd and Law professor David Hoffman have teamed up to take a look at actual cases to learn how these sort of cases actually work in practice. As someone who has always thought that theory and practice are equally important in understanding and applying legal... Posted on October 28, 2009 at 08:32 pm

by Mehmet Munur The FTC news release notes that the Federal Trade Commission delayed the enforcement of the Red Flags rules until June 1, 2010. The FTC news release also notes the decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that the FTC Red Flags Rules did not apply to attorneys. The Federal Trade Commission v. American Bar Association order states that the memorandum will be published in the next thirty days. The FTC promulgated the Red Flags Rules under the authority... Posted on October 30, 2009 at 11:35 am by Mehmet Munur

By Mehmet Munur The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it had entered into a modified consent agreement with ChoicePoint due to ChoicePoint's inability to live up to the original consent agreement entered into in 2006. The FTC entered into a consent agreement with ChoicePoint was due to compromise of 163,000 financial records and at least 800 cases of identity theft. The breach was possibly a watershed moment in data breaches and brought attention to data aggregators. ChoicePoint... Posted on October 19, 2009 at 05:34 am by Mehmet Munur

By Mehmet Munur On October 6, 2009, Federal Trade Commission filed six complaints against companies falsely claiming that they were self-certified to the Department of Commerce EU Safe Harbor when their certification had lapsed. This FTC action should serve as a reminder to Safe Harborites either to keep up their annual recertification or to avoid misrepresenting that they are self-certified to the Safe Harbor. The EU Safe Harbor is one of the methods allowing US corporations to export data... Posted on October 7, 2009 at 08:51 am by Mehmet Munur

In a recent federal court case, a federal judge dismissed Continental Airlines' lawsuit against 9 of its employees alleging in essence that the employees faked their divorces so that they could loot the pension plan by obtaining early lump sum retirement benefits. According to the Houston Chronicle, Continental argued in pleadings before the Court that the defendant employees got divorced, collected their pensions and then remarried their spouses in order to collect the money in lump sums while... Posted on October 26, 2009 at 10:16 pm by Carol L. Gasper, Attorney at Law, LLC

Oh no! Recently a Western Pennsylvania couple found out that 49 years of marital bliss was a fairy tale. The clergy member who performed the wedding ceremony simply did not file the marriage certificate with the Court. When, 49 years later, the happy couple went to apply for pension benefits they could not produce the marriage certificate. While the couple sorts this out in Pennsylvania, I began to wonder what would happen in Ohio if a marriage certificate went missing or the validity of it... Posted on October 6, 2009 at 01:33 am by Carol L. Gasper, Attorney at Law, LLC

Nothing is more precious than the time we spend with our children. Apparently some of Ohio's legislators have taken note. Ohio HB 40, introduced in late February of 2009 by State Representative Tom Letson and co-sponsored by 16 other State Representives, would require certain employers with 50 plus employees to allow a parent to exercise court-ordered parenting time without terminating employment, reducing pay, or taking other similar action against the parent. If passed, HB 40 would give... Posted on September 14, 2009 at 06:27 am by Carol L. Gasper, Attorney at Law, LLC

For many years, estate planning attorneys, bar associations and the Ohio Legislature have warned citizens to beware of Trust Mills. Now the Ohio Supreme court has sent a message to Trust Mills to beware of operating in Ohio. A Trust Mill is a company that has agents pushing a "one-type fits all" trust form for a substantial price. Trust Mills often focus on the elderly with scare tactics such as brochures and mailings warning that even modest estates will be consumed by estate taxes and probate... Posted on October 16, 2009 at 03:25 am by Bradley Wrightsel

The Ohio chapter of Americans for Prosperity is pushing forward with its proposal to repeal Ohio's estate tax. Ohio assesses a tax on residents' estates valued at $338,333 or more. The group successfully certified its petition with the Ohio Attorney General's office and the Ohio Ballot Board. The group now needs to collect 120,683 valid signatures of registered Ohio voters by the end of the year to have the legislature consider its proposal. If you are an opponent of the Ohio estate tax, you... Posted on September 22, 2009 at 03:28 am by Bradley Wrightsel

In our last post, we addressed that the IRS was receiving an overwhelming number of disclosures from wealthy taxpayers, regarding income earned, but not reported, on offshore accounts. The U.S. continues to aggressively pursue the people who use these schemes to avoid paying income tax and the financial institutions that have willingly assisted and advised on how to set up these accounts. The identities of many of these account holders have been revealed through the government's civil and... Posted on August 21, 2009 at 08:15 am by Bradley Wrightsel

Implementing Progressive Discipline to Improve Performance was the topic of my presenation yesterday at the 2009 HR Star Conference in Cleveland, Ohio. The Conference drew approximately 600 attendees. The room in which I was presenting was full. A responsive and active audience made giving this presenation a real pleasure. Here is the power point presentation I used. Posted on July 30, 2009 at 05:33 pm

Today is a good day to read the Declaration of Independence that we celebrate on July 4. The Declaration reminds us why the United States exist: Because we believe that all people "are created equal." For 233 years, United States citizens have fought, died, and lived to make certain that equal opportunity would be available to all Americans. So is there any greater principle upon which the success of America depends? On July 4, we celebrate our freedom. We only have freedom, howeRead More... Posted on July 3, 2009 at 05:17 pm

Most employers have realized they should have internet use policies for their employees, but those policies should now be updated to address the Web 2.0 and social media. The internet is rapidly being changed by the proliferation of interactive communication tools and websites. When employees use internet social media, the line between workplace conduct and personal conduct can be blurred. Wise employers should give their employees guidance about using these methods of communication. Read... Posted on June 18, 2009 at 09:57 am

The Ohio legislature yesterday approved a bill (SB 380) that would eliminate the window for early registration and absentee voting, among other things. Here's a snippet from my testimony in opposition to the bill last week, which draws upon the "Moneyball Approach to Election Reform" that I've advocated in the past: In considering election reform proposals, it is vital that legislative bodies take a careful, studied, and deliberative approach, one that collects and considers all the relevant... Posted on December 18, 2008 at 12:20 pm by Dan Tokaji

On Monday, I identified four problem areas to watch out for on Election Day: 1) lines at the polls, 2) voting equipment, 3) voter registration lists, and 4) provisional and absentee ballots. While machine breakdowns and polling place lines got the lion's share public attention on Election Day, a closer look reveals that voter registration was the election administration issue of 2008. Looking forward, it is imperative that policymakers consider changes to voter registration that would eliminate... Posted on November 7, 2008 at 09:43 am by Dan Tokaji

We now know that Barack Obama will be the 44th President of the United States of America. In the enormity of this moment in American history, the gritty details of election administration, upon which my Moritz colleagues and I spend so much of our time, seem positively trivial. But when the morning comes and vote tallies are in from across the country, there will be evaluate how well the infrastructure of our democracy held up to the unprecedented demands placed upon it this election season.... Posted on November 5, 2008 at 12:50 am by Dan Tokaji