Ohio
Cincinnati Law Library Blog 
Summaries of appellate and U.S. Supreme Court decisions as well as reports on legislative action in Ohio and the U.S. Congress.
Post Frequency: 0.6/day Last Entry: November 19, 2009 at 15:09:00 Recent Entries: 202
By Chuck Kallendorf
Go to Cincinnati Law Library Blog, find other Ohio blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Search
Posts
Ohio execution method changed
Posted on November 19, 2009For those who haven't heard, the State of Ohio announced last Friday that it was adopting a single-drug method to execute capital crime inmates instead of the 3-drug "cocktail" employed by 35 other states in the nation using lethal injection ? "wading," as the Associated Press referred to it, "into largely uncharted territory...
"Special counsel" issue in Hamilton County, Ohio
Posted on November 19, 2009Two of Hamilton County, Ohio's three county commissioners last week filed a petition with the Ohio Supreme Court asking that the high court block an order issued by the same county's court of common pleas, directing the Board to terminate using an outside law firm to represent the County in matters relating to various riverfront developments, including its "Banks Project...
Juvenile Life Sentencing Update
Posted on November 09, 2009Aside from death penalty cases, a USA Today article this morning says, justices of the Supreme Court have never before found a penalty crossed the cruel-and-unusual punishment line. That may have changed this morning."Life sentences with no chance of parole are rare and harsh for juveniles tried as adults and convicted of crimes less serious than murder, and there are just over 100 prison inmates
Ohio Supreme Court upholds "intensive program prison" release
Posted on November 06, 2009In a case echoing State v. Bloomer back in June, in which the Ohio Supreme Court held that trial courts "had a statutory duty to provide notice to offenders of post-release control at the sentencing hearing, and any sentence imposed without such notification is contrary to law and void," possibly allowing the release of as many as 15, 000 former prisoners now under post-release supervision, it
PACER redaction policies
Posted on November 05, 2009For those who don't know what PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) is, first of all, it is "an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information from Federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts, and the U...
Kentucky Supreme Court sex offender residency case appealled
Posted on November 04, 2009On October 1, the Kentucky Supreme Court joined those of both Ohio and Indiana in holding that sex offender residency laws could not be applied retroactively. But, by the end of the month, articles were appearing that probation & parole officers were being told to essentially ignore that decision and view an offender's living within 1,000 feet of a school, day-care center or playground as a
Ohio Supreme Court's "special dockets" advisory committee
Posted on October 30, 2009Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer announced the creation of a 15-member advisory board charged with advancing the goals of Ohio's "specialized dockets program" last month. That board, chaired by Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Sage, who for the past 10 years has administered a substance abuse and mental illness docket that addresses felony-level offenders with a
Ohio reviewing mandatory supervision cases
Posted on October 29, 2009Last June 9th., the Ohio Supreme Court again addressed the consequences of a trial court's failure to either notify an offender about post-release control at the time of sentencing or incorporating post-release controls into its sentencing entry. Also at issue was the application of ORC §2929...
Ohio death penalty stays
Posted on October 23, 2009The United States 6th. Circuit and Southern Ohio District Courts, this week, joined to effectively postpone any executions in the state of Ohio at least until next Spring. On October 5th., the Sixth Circuit stayed the execution of Lawrence Reynolds scheduled for Oct...
MySpace evidence allowed by Indiana Supreme Court
Posted on October 19, 2009The Indiana Supreme Court addressed a "novel question" last Thursday in ruling that prosecutors properly introduced electronic evidence from an accused murderer's MySpace page. ( Case ) The defendant had contended that the trial court abused its discretary authority when it admitted evidence of his MySpace postings, claiming it was inadmissible character evidence, citing Indiana Rule of
U.S. Supreme Court SORNA retroactivity case
Posted on October 15, 2009The U.S. Supreme Court, on Sept. 30th., granted certiorari to a case from the Northern District of Indiana which raises several constitutional challenges to the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) with respect to retroactivity...
Kentucky sex offender residency statute unconstitutional when applied retroactively
Posted on October 15, 2009The Kentucky Supreme Court on October 1st. held that that state's sex offender residency restrictions prohibiting where offenders could live ? specifically near schools or daycare centers-- were unconstitutional when applied retroactively. (Court's Holding) ( Article) In its analysis the Kentucky high court referenced the Indiana Supreme Court's holding in State v...
Who can intervene in cases of "original jurisdiction"?
Posted on October 15, 2009Courts of "original jurisdiction" are those having priority over other tribunals to decide a case; Black's Law Dictionary defines an "intervenor" as "one voluntarily entering a pending lawsuit because of a personal stake in the outcome." That clear cut it's presumably not always...
Municipality Ten Commandments suit
Posted on October 07, 2009Suit has been filed against the City of Lockland, Ohio in federal district court for its display of the Ten Commandments outside of its town hall by a resident who "wants the sign removed and a court order to prevent any future displays of 'religious fables and myths'," a Cincinnati Enquirer article said this morning...
Ohio Supreme Court increasing filing fees
Posted on October 05, 2009The Supreme Court of Ohio has also announced increases in filing fees to $100 from the currently charged $40, effective October 16, 2009 (Court?s Announcement) Rule XV of the Rules of Practice will require a $100 filing fee for filing a notice of appeal or cross-appeal, for filing an order certifying a conflict in a court of appeals, and for instituting an original action...
Ohio Supreme Court Traffic Rule Amendments
Posted on October 05, 2009The Supreme Court of Ohio announced Friday the adoption of amendments to the Ohio Traffic Rules and a revised traffic ticket format. The amendments become effective Jan. 1, 2010, while actual use of the new ticket doesn't become mandatory until July 1, 2010, giving local law enforcement jurisdictions time to use current tickets until supplies run out before ordering and using the revised ticket.
Mandatory enhancements for repeat DUI offenders in Ohio
Posted on October 05, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court, last Wednesday, upheld a state law that imposes 10 additional days of mandatory jail time on a driver with a prior DUI conviction if that person refuses to take a chemical test after being arrested for a subsequent DUI violation...
Kentucky sex offender residency statute unconstitutional when applied retroactively
Posted on October 05, 2009The Kentucky Supreme Court last Thursday held that that state's sex offender residency restrictions prohibiting where offenders could live ? specifically near schools or daycare centers-- were unconstitutional when applied retroactively. (Court's Holding) ( Article) In its analysis of the case the Kentucky Court also referenced the Indiana Supreme Court's holding in State v...
Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana cell phone legislation update
Posted on September 22, 2009Three or four weeks ago we quoted a Columbus Dispatch article that commented that "the issue du jour for Ohio legislators appears to be making sure drivers keep their eyes on the road, not on a cell phone." At that time, Ohio had five bills related to cell phone texting & driving in its House, and a sixth in its Senate...
Federal sentencing guideline hearings
Posted on September 22, 20097th. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook last week joined a growing number of judges and prosecutors having the position that the federal sentencing guidelines are in need of revamping, especially in light of decisions made by the Supreme Court making them largely advisory several years ago beginning with U...
Notice of EEOC Proposed Rules
Posted on September 22, 2009A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was approved last Wednesday by a 2-1 vote. The 60-day public comment period on those proposed regulations will begin from the date when the notice appears in the Federal Register within the next couple of days...
New Ohio Juvenile Court "Youth Assessment System"
Posted on September 16, 2009Ohio juvenile courts have a significant new tool at their disposal that has been developed by the Ohio Department of Youth Services and University of Cincinnati?s Center for Criminal Justice Research.The Ohio Youth Assessment System is a "streamlined, web-based system for assessing young offenders in determining appropriate dispositions, treatment, and levels of supervision, designed, in part, to
Internal Revenue Service Health Savings Account Rules
Posted on September 11, 2009In final regulations issued, and effective, Tuesday, Sept. 8th., the Internal Revenue Service hopes to make it easier for employers to follow the rules for making comparable contributions to employees' health savings accounts (HSAs) -- as well as meet the consequences of breaking them...
Ohio estate tax legislation
Posted on September 10, 2009The Columbus Dispatch this morning reported that another effort is under way to kill what critics call Ohio's "death tax." The Ohio chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a national advocacy group, is leading a push for an initiated statute to repeal the estate tax, having started the process last week by filing an initial petition with more than 1,000 signatures of registered voters and the text
Ohio criminal trial/DNA testing legislation
Posted on September 10, 2009A Cincinnati Enquirer article this past weekend reported that a justice reform bill designed to prevent wrongful convictions and endorsed by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland also includes a controversial measure to expand the collection of DNA samples to those arrested on felony charges...
E-Verify Rules
Posted on September 10, 2009A Wall Street Journal article, last Tuesday, reported that "agencies across the federal government were to start ordering contractors to use an electronic immigration system to verify the legal status of their roughly 3.8 million workers, barring an emergency stay from a federal appeals court in Virginia...
Ohio Supreme Court on post-release controls
Posted on September 02, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday released a Hamilton County appellant from post-release controls because he had completed serving his sentence in prison, and, pursuant to a 2007 precedent, declared he was no longer subject to resentencing. (See State v...
Ohio school inspection rules rescinded
Posted on September 02, 2009Ohio's 2009 budget, as has recently been reported, contained provisions recinding "Jarod's Law" rules, which had been in effect since 2007, returning the conduct of school inspections to two inspections a year with the rules in effect before 2007 to be once again used as the guideline/standards...
Ohio breastfeeding case
Posted on September 01, 2009In a case originally accepted to seek a review of whether Ohio law prohibits an employer from discriminating against a female employee because, or on the basis of , a new mother's lactation, the Ohio Supreme Court last Thursday none-the-less upheld its appeals court decision that the woman "was simply and plainly terminated as an employee at will for taking an unauthorized, extra break...
Proposed Ohio attorney "safekeeping" rule changes
Posted on August 31, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court has announced that it will be accepting public comment on a proposed rule change to an attorney's duty to safeguard client funds and property in which third persons claim an interest until Sept. 30. The proposed amendments to Professional Conduct Rule 1...
PACER assessment/update
Posted on August 26, 2009The Federal Judiciary announced Monday that it has undertaken a year-long, comprehensive program assessment to identify potential enhancements to new & existing services access services. ( Here )
Ohio Supreme Court cases & advisory opinions
Posted on August 26, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday held that a request for copies of public records involving a juvenile were improperly denied without sufficient explanation as to the denial, but that a chief of police had acted reasonably because a judge had sealed the case...
Cellphone/Texting legislation
Posted on August 26, 2009It's almost axiomatic ? philosophically, at least ? that mankind's technological advances & evolution will always out-pace his own. Somewhere along the line, the law often comes in. An article in last Thursday's Columbus Dispatch said, "the issue du jour for Ohio legislators appears to be making sure drivers keep their eyes on the road, and not on a cell phone with legislators having introduced
State traffic standards
Posted on August 21, 2009USAToday.com last Wednesday morning reported that many "states were trying to put the brakes on bad driving by targeting 'super speeders,' lane hogs and those guilty of multiple moving violations." "The moves," the article says, "come as a growing body of evidence suggests that aggressive driving ? including speeding, tailgating, changing lanes without signaling, ignoring traffic signals and
The Consumer Financial Protection Agency
Posted on August 21, 2009Healthcare reform has been getting most of the attention on Capitol Hill and in the national press lately, but for home buyers, sellers, and mortgage applicants, the legislative ballgame will really get underway later in September, when Congress begins work on the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency...
Federal court records:PACER/"RECAP"
Posted on August 18, 2009Carolyn Elefant, a practicing solo attorney in Washington, D.C., yesterday posted that "PACER, the federal government's system for Public Access to Court Electronic Records, was originally intended to make court filings more accessible to litigants and the public at large...
Revising Federal "cookie" policy
Posted on August 12, 2009The Office of Management & Budget (OMB) is in the process of "considering options for revising the federal government's prohibition on web-tracking technology such as 'cookies,'" with a goal of protecting the privacy of persons visiting federal government web sites while simultaneously making those sites more user-friendly & allow enhanced analytics...
Are Briefs Copyrightable?
Posted on August 11, 2009Our thanks to the Cleveland Law Library, the Law Librarian Blog, and the Volokh Conspiracy for this one. "Briefs filed in court are part of the proceeding's official record, but distribution of them by Lexis, Westlaw and other commercial online service providers may infringe on the copyright of their authors," the Law Librarian Blog reported back on July 24th...
Quick Clear Law
Posted on August 11, 2009Removal of highway obstruction: "Ohio Quick Clear Law"ORC 4513.66Effective Date: 2008 SB129 12-30-2008Ohio Department of Transportation on QuickClearBest Practices
Copyright, Trademarks & 'Fair Use' Eastern Pa. case
Posted on August 10, 2009A U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania decision last week made some "important new law and set a few significant precedents in the area of copyrights and trademarks that will help to define the doctrine of 'fair use' for years to come," a Law...
Ohio casino update
Posted on August 07, 2009A week after the Ohio Supreme Court rejected election issue claims of track owner Scioto Downs' to have the Ohio?s "casino issue" taken off the ballots in November, the Associated Press reported this morning that a bipartisan political committee has now launched its own campaign, claiming "economic development claims made by the Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee to push the casino proposal are
Ohio casino legislation/litigation update - 2
Posted on August 03, 2009An attempt by Franklin County horse racing track owner Scioto Downs to have the proposed casino constitutional amendment taken off the ballots in Ohio this November was rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court last Friday. The Court unanimously held the petition both failed to raise a legitimate constitutional argument and went as far as to acknowledge the efforts made to address areas where there
FTC "Red Flag Rule" enforcement delayed
Posted on August 03, 2009The Federal Trade Commission is delaying enforcement of "identity rules affecting lawyers" until Nov. 1st., according to a Law.com article last week. Enforcement, which has already been put off twice before, was to begin Saturday. "Lawyers, doctors and other professionals have protested the FTC's broad interpretation of 'creditors' to include businesses that bill clients some time after
Ohio Supreme Court civil considerations
Posted on July 31, 2009In the first of two civil considerations this week, the Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday found that a law firm, being an entity as opposed to an individual, does not engage in the practice of law, and therefore cannot directly commit legal malpractice; also holding that law firms can't be held liable for legal malpractice unless one of its principals or associates is found liable...
Pleading Standard in Federal Civil Procedure
Posted on July 30, 2009"Congress is preparing to wade into the growing debate over the pleading standard for civil lawsuits after two recent Supreme Court decisions effectively upended long-standing precedent," a National Law Journal article said last week. The article continued by saying that, "United States Senator Arlen Specter, had introduced a bill designed to return that standard to what it was prior to 2007,
Ohio Personal Injury Median Awards
Posted on July 29, 2009The August 2009 installment of LRP?s Personal Injury Verdict Review relates one of their recent studies, based on award data from 2002 thru 2008, shows that the compensation median for personal injury trials in Ohio is $13,000, with plaintiffs receiving damages in 49% of cases going to trial...
Ohio Supreme Court expands parameters for legal intern representation
Posted on July 28, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court announced yesterday adoption of amendments to Rule II of the Rules of Government of the Bar of Ohio, permitting "legal interns to represent individuals in fourth-degree and fifth-degree felonies, and juveniles if the crime would be a fourth- or fifth-degree felony if committed by an adult, as long as a supervising attorney accompanies that intern in all proceedings...
Ohio unauthorized practice "right of action" prior to Sept. 2004
Posted on July 27, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court last Thursday held that "there was no legal basis for a private lawsuit based on a claim of unauthorized law practice in Ohio prior to September 2004, when the General Assembly amended R.C. 4705.07 to expressly recognize such a cause of action...
Senate "conceal-carry" amendment defeated
Posted on July 24, 2009The Washington Post yesterday carried an article about an amendment to a bill currently in the Senate that would have allowed gun owners to carry their weapons across state lines, which fell just short of passage, revealing deep divisions among Democrats there...
ABA "Red Flags Rule" Litigation
Posted on July 24, 2009There've been a couple Law.com articles this week about the American Bar Association's considering a suit against the Federal Trade Commission to prevent that agency from enforcing new identity-theft regulations scheduled to go into effect on August 1st...
Ohio casino legislation/litigation update
Posted on July 23, 2009Updating Ohio's gambling picture a bit, the Cincinnati Enquirer Tuesday morning reported that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner had ruled last Monday that proponents wanting to build four casinos in Ohio, including one here in Cincinnati, had more than enough signatures on petitions to have the issue put on the ballot this November...
Dept. of Labor reorganizations
Posted on July 21, 2009There apparently hasn't been an official announcement as of yet, but there's been confirmed mention that the Department of Labor is going to be abolishing its Employment Standards Administration as of November 8, 2009 in an internal reorganization which will result in the Wage & Hours, Workers? Compensation, Office of Federal Contract Compliance, and Labor Management Standards all now reporting
Grant of new Ohio Parole Board hearings
Posted on July 16, 2009220-some Ohio inmates are getting new parole board hearings according to a USAToday.com article yesterday, following a Franklin County court ruling earlier this year. Cynthia Mausser, chairwoman of the Ohio Parole Board, said the new hearings are being held to apply parole board guidelines the way the judge, in Franklin County, determined they should be in an inmates' class-action lawsuit,
Judicial Conference testimony to House Judiciary Committee
Posted on July 15, 2009Chief Judge Julie Carnes, chair of the Judicial Conference Committee on Criminal Law, yesterday told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism & Homeland Security that "as well-intended as the proponents of mandatory minimum legislation may have been, these kinds of sentencing statutes have created what the late Chief Justice Rehnquist aptly identified as 'unintended consequences...
Washington Federal Appeals Court expands lawmaker protection
Posted on July 13, 2009In an opinion unsealed last Thursday, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington ruled that statements made by politicians during congressional ethics committee investigations can't be used against them in further criminal actions. The case involved former Representative Tom Feeney and a golfing trip he made to Scotland, paid for by Jack Abramoff...
Tri-State weekend update
Posted on July 13, 2009A quick sweep of the weekend to get us ?up & running,? as it were, with Tri-State events reveals that Ohio has finally a budget for the year after Ohio House Speaker Armond Budish, along with Gov. Ted Strickland and Senate President Bill Harris reached a compromise agreement Friday afternoon that includes the authorization to put video lottery machines at seven horse racing tracks, including
Personal Injury Jury Verdicts
Posted on July 10, 2009"According to a recent Jury Verdict Research study based on verdicts rendered from March 1998 thru March 2009, median wards for paralysis were higher for younger plaintiffs than older. Plaintiffs age 17 and under received a median award of $15, 500, 000, while those age 50 and older only received $3, 358, 428...
Ohio Supreme Court on "allied offenses"/"lesser included offenses"
Posted on July 09, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court released two decisions Tuesday, between the two of which reasoned that while a defendant cannot be convicted with two "allied offenses of similar import," he could be charged with a "lesser included offense" for which he had not been indicted...
Ohio bedbug legislation
Posted on July 08, 2009An article in July 4th.?s Cincinnati Enquirer relates to a bill State Representative Dale Mallory introduced the first part of last month, "to put bedbugs on par with roaches, rats and other vermin so health departments can take more decisive action against property owners...
Ohio bills introduced
Posted on July 07, 2009Five bills were introduced in the Ohio General Assembly last week that might be of some interest to local practitioners: SB 150 IMMIGRATION LAW - To provide that a board of county commissioners may direct a sheriff to take custody of persons who are being detained for deportation or who are charged with civil
Ohio Supreme Court Public Access Rules
Posted on July 06, 2009A quick reminder from the Ohio Supreme Court that new rules for public access to court records (Sup. R. 44-47) took effect last Wednesday. ( July 2nd. Announcement ) Administrative Counsel Allan Asbury said, "These rules are designed to ensure that Ohioans continue to have open and ready access to court records, and were carefully crafted for more than two years in a process that involved
Ohio Supreme Court abortion cases
Posted on July 02, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court decided two abortion cases yesterday. In the first, Roe v. Planned Parenthood Southwest Region, it was held that the parents of a teenager who had had an abortion at a clinic were not entitled to abuse reports or medical records kept by the clinic of other minors treated there...
Ohio death penalty conviction upheld
Posted on July 01, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday unanimously upheld the aggravated murder convictions & death sentence of James Trimble for the 2005 shooting deaths of his girlfriend, her seven-year-old son, and a Kent State University student who he had taken hostage while fleeing the scene from police...
Ohio Supreme Court Rules of Procedure
Posted on June 30, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court reminds us this morning that several amendments to the Rules of Procedure for appellate, civil, criminal and juvenile matters take effect this week. Justices voted 7-0 in approving the amendments earlier this week. The proposed amendments were published for two rounds of public comment...
Ohio Transportation Laws Implemented
Posted on June 30, 2009We didn't see this locally, but the Columbus Dispatch ? courtesy of "bing" ? carried word of some new traffic rules going into effect tomorrow. "Beginning Wednesday, July 1st. 2009, drivers seeing a tow truck at the side of the road will have to move over and/or slow down, just as they have to for stopped police or fire vehicles...
Pending Ohio Legislation
Posted on June 30, 2009There's been some media attention made the past couple of days about three bills pending in Ohio's legislature, so we thought we'd re-cap them for those who might be interested.The Columbus Dispatch, over the weekend, had an article discussing a bill introduced in the Ohio Senate that would allow emergency medical workers to draw blood from drunken-driving suspects...
Ohio Supreme Court adopts disciplinary changes
Posted on June 23, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court announced yesterday the adoption of several amendments to the Rules for the Government of the Judiciary (Rule II) concerning grievances filed against Supreme Court justices and/or alleging campaign misconduct by any Supreme Court candidate (including incumbent justices)...
Public comment on new revised Ohio probate forms
Posted on June 23, 2009The Supreme Court of Ohio will accept public comment until July 21 on proposed new and revised probate court forms that concern adoptions, change of name proceedings and protecting incapacitated adults. The new and revised forms:Incorporate changes because of updates in adoption law...
DNA testing for convicts not constitutional right
Posted on June 19, 2009The Supreme Court yesterday afternoon held that convicted inmates had no constitutional rights to further DNA testing ?in hopes of proving their innocence long after having been found guilty of crimes and having had started serving their sentences.? ( MSNBC article) (USAToday article)That case was District Attorney's Office for Third Judicial Dist...
Washington Supreme Court withdraws ruling over judicial conflict
Posted on June 18, 2009Robert Ambrogi, on Law.com's Legal Blog Watch this morning, has a post about the Washington Supreme Court's withdrawning a landmark ruling in a public records case in response to complaints that the opinion could benefit a separate suit filed by one of the justices who decided the case...
Bankruptcy Reform Act challenges
Posted on June 16, 2009The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention & Consumer Protection Act, which went into effect in April 2005, is said to have made some of the most substantial amendments to bankruptcy law since that code was enacted in 1978. It's also caused debate and controversy...
Texas sentences mentally retarded teen to 100 years
Posted on June 11, 2009An 18-year old Texas teenager with "profound mental disabilities" was sentenced to 100 years in prison yesterday after pleading guilty to five counts of sex abuse, including aggravated sexual assault, toward a 6-year-old neighbor, USAToday reported this morning...
Teenager convicted of aggravated murder
Posted on June 04, 2009Todd Kendal Washington, age 17, was convicted of aggravated murder, felonious assault, and aggravated robbery yesterday, having pistol-whipped and robbed one victim on Aug. 22, and shooting & killing a second victim in front of the victim's girlfriend and two 4-year-old twins on Sept...
Supreme Court right-to-counsel decision
Posted on May 27, 2009The United States Supreme Court yesterday overruled a long-standing police interrogation precedent set almost 25 years ago. (See ScotusBlog report) In its 1986 holding in Michigan v. Jackson, the Court had formulated the rule "forbidding police to initiate the interrogation of a criminal defendant once he/she has invoked his right to counsel at an arraignment or similar proceeding," reasoning
Revised Federal Forms
Posted on May 22, 2009Who?d believe that, at one point, at least, there were over 500 forms in use in the federal judicial system. But after two years or work, U.S. District Judge Harvey Schlesinger?s work group gotten thru them all, eliminating unused or duplicate formats, refining others, and updating the language to reflect rule changes in still others...
New Kentucky Rules of Attorney Conduct
Posted on May 20, 2009The Supreme Court of Kentucky on April 16th. announced comprehensive revisions to its Rules of Professional Conduct, to become effective July 1, 2009. This is the first time in nearly 20 years that such vast changes have been made, and include a new rule that requires attorneys knowing of professional misconducts of other attorneys or judges to report then to the Court...
Ohio Court Rule Revisions
Posted on May 20, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court and lawyers practicing in this state also have a number of Court Rules going into effect on July 1st., among them Rules of Appellate, Civil, Criminal, Juvenile Procedure, and Rules of Evidence as follows:Appellate Rules 22 & 43; Crim 10, 24, 43 & 59; Civ 4, 16, 26, 33, 36 & 37, 45 and 86Civil Rules 10 & 86; Evidence 104, 106, 404, 411, 602-604, 606, 610-612, 701, 703, 801,
"Open Discovery" in Ohio
Posted on May 20, 2009"Open discovery" is essentially full disclosure of all evidence, reports, etc., between opposing parties in a legal action. In civil matters it's one story and pretty much matter of fact, but that's not the case in criminal cases where there's been debate between the factions for more than a decade...
Supreme Court Juvenile Life Sentencing Update
Posted on May 15, 2009Our post last Monday about the U.S. Supreme Court's agreeing to hear the two Florida juvenile life sentence cases in determining whether life in prison is an acceptable consequence for juvenile offenders, has more information that we'd like to pass along in anticipation of the Court's consideration this Fall...
Juvenile Life Sentences to U.S. Supreme Court
Posted on May 11, 2009In September 2005, the Supreme Court declared the death penalty "cruel & unusual punishment" for juvenile offenders under the age of 18 and unconstitutional in Roper v. Simmons. This, the Court had said, by its "having established the propriety, and affirmed the necessity, of referring to 'the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society' to determine which
New Federal Statutory Deadlines
Posted on May 11, 2009President Obama signed H.R. 1626 last Thursday amending 28 federal statutory deadlines, making them consistent with the time-computation amendments to the Rules of Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil, and Criminal Procedures approved by the Supreme Court last March 26...
Ohio Supreme Court upholds Statute of Fraud Requirements of Signed Agreements
Posted on May 08, 2009The Ohio Supreme yesterday held that "a party's breach of an alleged promise to sign an agreement does not eliminate the requirement under Ohio's statute of frauds that a contract is enforceable only if it is in writing and has been signed by the party against whom enforcement is sought...
Attorney-Client privilege in Ohio public records law
Posted on April 23, 2009Investigatory reports prepared by law firms on behalf of public agencies are attorney-client privilege and not subject to mandatory disclosure under the state's public records act, the Ohio Supreme Court held Tuesday.[ Opinion ] "ORC §149.43(A)(1)(v)," part of Ohio public records law, "excepts 'records the release of which is prohibited by state or federal law' from the definition of 'public
'Abandonment' of Ohio state highway easements
Posted on April 23, 2009Exclusive authority to abandon or vacate portions of a state highway in Ohio, lies with the Department of Transportation; a court local court of common pleas does not have jurisdiction in deciding whether a state highway easement has been abandoned the Ohio Supreme Court held lastTuesday...
Amendments to late Ohio attorney registration rules of court
Posted on April 21, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court announced the adoption of amendments to its rules on attorney registration and registration fees Monday. The biggest change was the shortening of the amount of time an attorney on active or corporate status has, after missing his, or her, bi-annual registration deadline, to file their late paperwork and fees before being suspended, from 90 days to 60 days...
Ignition Interlock Device Legislation
Posted on March 20, 2009Ignition interlock devices are back in the news this passed week.New Mexico was the first state to mandate their use back in 2005, and Alabama, South Dakota, and Vermont still don't carry the restriction; but in between there is a vast array of legislative applications to the concept, the National Conference of State Legislatures shows...
Federal Judicial Conference's New Ethics Code
Posted on March 18, 2009The United States Judicial Conference yesterday adopted a revised Code of Conduct for federal judgeships taking effect on July 1, 2009. The revised Code, condensing the original seven rules, or canons, to five and rewording the language into "plainer, clearer English," builds on the dictate of its first canon that judges should uphold the integrity & independence of the judiciary...
Classification of Government Documents Legislation
Posted on March 18, 2009According to Ohio Representative Steve Driehaus, there are over 107 different classifications for government documents, and each department or agency has its own system of classification and restricting access to even unclassified material.Legislation Driehaus has proposed, though, would change some of that or at least make it more uniform...
New & Improved Ohio Supreme Court Website
Posted on March 10, 2009As mentioned last week, the Ohio Supreme Court unveiled its new website design yesterday."Visitors will notice a more user-friendly design targeted to a larger judicial audience," the Court's announcement read. Court Administrative Director Steven C. Hollon also noted that users should also be aware of the slightly revised URL or website address to http://www...
Ohio Supreme Court indigent defense rules for capital cases
Posted on February 20, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court earlier this week announced amendments to rules governing the appointment of counsel for indigent defendants in capital cases. In Ohio only lawyers qualified & registered by the Supreme Court can be appointed to defend an indigent person in death penalty cases...
Ohio Supreme Court note on 'Special Project Funds'
Posted on February 09, 2009Near the beginning of the year Ohio Attorney General?s office issued an opinion relating a municipal court's use of its "special project funds." Last week, the Ohio Supreme Court's information office related that that opinion "may have implications for courts that have established special project funds...
Ohio Supreme Court to hear Commercial Activity Tax case
Posted on February 05, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday agreed to hear a petition challenging the constitutionality of the state?s Commercial Activities Tax when it?s applied to food sold by wholesalers and in groceries. (See Docket ) The Ohio Grocers Association had sued the state back in 2006, contending that the tax was constitutionally prohibited when applied to the wholesale sale of food and the retail sale
Ohio Supreme Court Rules of Procedure
Posted on February 04, 2009The Ohio Supreme Court, in an informational release Monday morning, announced it will continue to be accepting public comment on a set of revised amendments to annual updates to appellate, civil, criminal, and juvenile Rules of Procedure thru March 3, 2009 ( Release ) Initially published for comment on Oct...
New Presidential Website
Posted on January 21, 2009Barrack Obama became the nation?s 44th. President of the United States at noon yesterday before the eyes of probably almost the entire world. In the Wall Street Journal he was courted as ?calling for a new era of responsibility.? Today?s his first day at THE OFFICE --- Now 26 hours old ?Nobody said this would be easy or all fun...
Social Security Administration's Online Retirement Application
Posted on January 07, 2009The Social Security Administration ? in part envisaging the prospect of having some 80 million baby boomers becoming eligible for retirement in the not-too-distant future at the rate of some 10,000 a day for the next 20 years -- yesterday introduced another new service that will allow applying for retirement benefits online...
Ohio Supreme Court Public Access Rules
Posted on December 23, 2008The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday announced adoption of its rules regarding public access to court records? its first formal policy guiding what court records the public can and cannot see, according to the Toledo Blade?ending, or at least putting on hold for a time, a debate reaching back some six years or more that initial addressed privacy matters & identity theft concerns as more courts began
New Ohio Jury Instructions
Posted on December 15, 2008Sometimes announcements get overlooked or are not widely spread around, even though of importance to many people. In case you missed it?.. Ohio Jury Instructions (OJI) were reorganized by the Ohio Judicial Conference back in November to simplify their use by judges and practitioners...
White-collar crime influxes
Posted on November 24, 2008Top white-collar criminal defense attorneys are beginning to receive steady flows of inquiries from clients embroiled in the ongoing credit crisis, the National Law Journal reported in its November 10th. issue. (Subscription) ?700 billion dollars can?t go out the door without someone going to jail,? Abbe Lowell, head of the white-collar crime defense practice section of McDermott, Will &
Ohio Supreme Court documenting state's Pro Se work
Posted on November 20, 2008The prodigy of Henry Campbell Black describe pro bono activities as ?being or involving uncompensated legal services performed, especially for the public good,? and former American Bar Association President Jerome Shestack, ten years ago back in August 1998, included them among his six determinant components of legal professionalism along with ?ethics and integrity, competence combined with
John McCain on matters of law
Posted on October 27, 2008The National Law Journal, as it has in the past, invited the major presidential and vice presidential candidates to write about the legal issues facing the next administration and to offer their views on such topics as the rule of law, the federal court system, judicial appointees and priorities for the U...
New Federal Rule Pre-empting State Tort Claims Relating to Seatbelts
Posted on October 10, 2008The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a new final regulatory rule ?amending the definition of ??designated seating positions,?? as used in the Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS), to indicate more clearly which areas within the interior of a vehicle meet that definition? The amendments establish ?a calculation procedure for determining the number of designated
Failure to advise that state has to prove case 'beyond reasonable doubt' voids guilty plea -- Ohio Supreme Court
Posted on October 09, 2008The Supreme Court of Ohio today ruled that, ?before accepting a guilty plea to a felony offense, Ohio trial courts must strictly comply with Ohio Criminal Rule 11(C)(2)(c) by orally advising the defendant of five specific constitutional rights the defendant will waive (give up) by pleading guilty...
Public Comments to Ohio Supreme Court Proposed Rule on Retired Judges
Posted on October 07, 2008The Ohio Supreme Court has made public an amendment proposal to its rules of court relating to retired judges handling civil actions or proceedings in the state. ( Press Release ) The proposed amendment to Judiciary Government Rule VI (C)(2) would conform the existing rule to the Supreme Court?s holding in Barnes v...
Ohio Supreme Court upholds expanded "Megan's Law" guidelines
Posted on October 03, 2008The Ohio Supreme Court has again upheld retroactive applications of the state?s amended sex offender reporting & notification rules this past Wednesday. ( Article ) Originally passed in 1996, Ohio?s sex offender registration & notification law was amended in 2003 and again twice last year in pertinent parts...
Kentucky AG fights state's early releases
Posted on October 02, 2008Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway filed suit yesterday to block the early release of prisoners that?s part of that state?s department of corrections cost-cutting plan passed by legislation last year.( Article ) Conway?s suit moves to enjoin early releases being made on several points, including that they are not being made limited to non-violent offenders, but without differentiating
Kennedy v. Louisiana
Posted on October 02, 2008The U.S. Supreme Court denied the State of Louisiana?s petition for rehearing after considering that state?s argument that ?the military penalty for rape, a congressional amendment of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in 2006, and a related executive order in 2007 ? not considered in its initial June 25th...
Proposed Federal Trade Commission Rules for Adjudicative Proceedings
Posted on September 29, 2008Marcia Coyle at the National Law Journal has an article posted this morning about the Federal Trade Commission?s proposing ?new rules to improve and streamline enforcement actions tried before administrative law judges? last Thursday. Part 3 and sections of Part 4 of the Commission?s Rules of Practice concern the process of administrative adjudication at the agency...
New Federal Evidence Rule 502
Posted on September 25, 2008Senate Bill 2450 ? signed by President Bush last Friday-- establishes a new federal rule of evidence that states ?the inadvertent disclosure of privileged material would not result in a waiver of attorney client and work product privilege as long as the party responsible for the disclosure took reasonable steps to prevent that release of material...
Ohio Supreme Court's gun control holding
Posted on September 23, 2008Last Thursday, reminiscent of the U.S. Supreme Court?s District of Columbia v. Heller decision back in June of this year, the Ohio Supreme Court struck down the City of Clyde?s ordinance banning the possession of firearms in public parks because it conflicted with a general state law permitting licensed individuals to generally carry concealed weapons...
Ohio Southern District Fair Housing/Sex Disrimination settlement....?
Posted on September 22, 2008Victims of a former Forest Park, Ohio landlord achieved a potentially major victory last week in the largest sex discrimination case in the history of the Fair Housing Act, but they may never see a dime of their victory, according to an article in last Friday?s Enquirer, because the defendant in that case has ?no asstes...
Commentary Period for New Ohio Protection Order Notification Forms
Posted on September 22, 2008The Ohio Supreme Court this morning announced that it will be seeking public comment on proposed judicial firearm notification forms for those charged with domestic violence or subject to protective orders. Portions of House Bill 562, which was passed by the General Assembly June 10th...
Ohio Supreme Court certified post-judgment interest rate question
Posted on September 18, 2008The Ohio Supreme Court resolved a certified question last Tuesday as to whether a bill adjusting post-judgment interest rates applied to final judgments entered prior to the bill?s effective date, but not paid in full pending appeals. The Court answered in the affirmative...
Wall Street's meltdown
Posted on September 17, 2008The Jurist reported yesterday morning that several members of Congress were speaking out about ?regulatory changes & investigations following the stock market drop propelled by Lehman Brothers? Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and the sale of Merrill Lynch Monday...
FBI Investigative Guidelines
Posted on September 17, 2008The Justice Department and FBI, last week, re-announced plans to implement new guidelines extending agency investigatory powers relating to terrorism. The University of Pittsburgh?s Jurist relates that ?the plan calls for a merging of the Guidelines on General Crimes, National Security Investigative Guidelines, and the confidential Supplemental Foreign Intelligence Guidelines...
Ohio "castle doctrine" law
Posted on September 12, 2008?Castle Law? is a doctrine of protection & self-defense having roots as far back as feudal common law. In its simplest form it?s the idea that you can protect your home and family from all invaders with whatever means necessary. Wikipedia has an excellent overview of the subject, noting that ?each state differs with respect to the specific instances in which castle doctrine can be invoked, and
New Ohio laws
Posted on September 12, 2008There are some 14 bills passed by the Ohio General Assembly which have gone into effect this week or will be next week, including Ohio?s ?Castle Doctrine? law (SB 184) which became effective Tuesday. Others include: SB183 IMPORTUNING requires the imposition of a mandatory prison term for the offense of "importuning" if an offender previously has been
Ohio "non-recourse" funding legislation
Posted on September 11, 2008Anthony Sebok devoted one of his FindLaw commentaries earlier this week to what he terms ?Ohio?s wisely correcting a mistake that was made by its Supreme Court five years ago.? ( Here ) ?In 2003,? he writes, ?in Ransman v. Interim Settlement Funding Corp...
Ohio "Next-of-Kin" Database
Posted on September 11, 2008The State of Ohio, last Monday, became one of a relatively small number of states having a ?next-of-kin? database built around its drivers license and state ID records. Florida has a like program, started two years ago. Ohio?s program was given birth to back in Nov...
Ohio Supreme Court oral argument streaming
Posted on September 10, 2008The Ohio Supreme Court has announced that, beginning Tuesday, Sept. 16th., it will begin a transition from streaming live oral arguments and other programs using the Real Media (.rm) format to Flash Video (.flv). The Court?s announcement says that ?Beginning with the Sept...
Ohio Supreme Court public record rules
Posted on September 10, 2008Ohio Supreme Court Justice Ann Lanzinger last week announced that the commission appointed by the Supreme Court on rules governing public access to court records approached its task balancing two important concepts: protecting the public?s right to know while at the same time protecting the individual?s right of privacy...
Ohio CAT unconstitutional when applied to grocers
Posted on September 05, 2008The 10th. District Ohio Court of Appeals last Tuesday ruled that the state?s commercial activities tax (CAT ), ?when applied to gross receipts from the wholesale sale of food and the retail sale of food for consumption off of the premises where sold, operates as, and is, an excise tax levied or collected on the sale or purchase of food, which is prohibited by Sections 3 and 13 of Article XII of
Is Ohio's personal income tax in danger of extinction?
Posted on August 28, 2008Is Ohio?s personal income tax in danger of extinction? We don?t really think so, but an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Tuesday morning, cites a Buckeye Institute study ?asserting that cutting the state?s $9.1 billion-a-year in income tax revenue would cause a doubling of all other state tax revenues in five years or less...
Ohio paid sick leave initiative
Posted on August 26, 2008Advocates have been pushing for paid sick days since the Family & Medical Leave Act was passed eleven years ago, requiring employers to give employees up to 12 weeks unpaid leave a year, an MSNBC article last Wednesday morning said. Proposed federal legislation would provide seven days of paid sick time for everyone working 30 hours a week or more...
Proposed FBI guidelines
Posted on August 25, 2008The University of Pittsburgh?s Jurist, last week, brought our attention to a letter from Senate Judiciary Committee leaders Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, asking he delay implementation of new FBI guidelines until Congress had a chance to review changes that had been made regarding racial profiling and investigative procedures...
Ohio DNA preservation bill
Posted on August 22, 2008Following up on one of Wednesday?s posts, we see that a bill has now been introduced in the Ohio Senate Wednesday that is designed to expand the use of DNA testing and to better protect biological evidence collected from crime scenes. ( Bill ) According to this yesterday?s Enquirer, the bill would also make police lineups and photo arrays ?blind,? better preventing misleading cues being given
Retention of DNA samples/evidence
Posted on August 20, 2008A Columbus Dispatch article this past weekend projects state lawmakers being scheduled to introduce a bill in the Ohio General Assembly soon, ?fundamentally changing how crime is investigated & prosecuted in the State, and making post-conviction DNA testing available to more convicts...
Ten Commandments vs. "moral relativist views"
Posted on August 20, 2008The U.S. District Court for Northern Ohio last week ruled that Richland County Court of Common Pleas Judge James DeWeese did not violate a federal court order by displaying a poster depicted as ?an editorial display contrasting the Ten Commandments with moral relativist views? in his courtroom...
Ohio EPA's clean interstate air proposal
Posted on August 01, 2008Chris Korleski, head of Ohio?s Environmental Protection Agency, testifying before the Senate subcommittee on Clean Air and Energy, last Tuesday, urged passage of a law which would allow the federal government to devise regional plans leading to reductions in air pollutants that cause a wide range of health problems...
New York law applied in pollution indemnity
Posted on August 01, 2008Speaking of pollution, a New York Law Journal article this morning relates that the Manhattan Supreme Court has ruled that ?the interpretation of insurance policies indemnifying the General Electric Company against liabilities for hundreds of millions of dollars in claims from polluted sites around the country, including the Hudson River, should be decided under New York law...
3rd. Circuit affirms Child Online Protection Act unconstitutional
Posted on July 24, 2008The 3rd. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday ruled the Child Online Protection Act is unconstitutionally broad & vague, upholding last year?s ruling from the District Court in Eastern Pennsylvania. (Ruling) An Associated Press/New York Times article, yesterday, said the decision was ?another twist? in the decade-long battle over the Child Online Protection Act, (Title 14 Pp...
Kentucky Illegal Immigration Test
Posted on July 23, 2008A lawsuit filed, pro se, in Eastern Kentucky U.S. District Court, Monday, has observers on both sides of the issue saying it?s unique, if controversial, new spin on the volatile national debate over immigration policies by attempting to use the court system to deny services to certain peoples rather than allowing them, a Cincinnati...
Proposed IRA Disclosure Rules
Posted on July 22, 2008New regulations being proposed by the Labor Department would require employers to disclose more information?and in a clearer format?about fees & investments in company 401(k) plans, now the single most-popular retire-savings device for millions of Americans, a USAToday article this morning says...
Ohio Supreme Court hearing public highway easement question
Posted on July 17, 2008Last Wednesday, July 11th., the Ohio Supreme Court accepted a case that, by some, is being dubbed as ?far-reaching? in disputes over Ohio Department of Transportation highway easements. ( Docket ) The plaintiff in a Franklin County servient real estate matter claimed it had granted the Department of Transportation a perpetual highway easement in 1959...
Ohio Supreme Court clarifies requirements for trial court "final orders"
Posted on July 15, 2008In a case involving conflicting interpretations of an Ohio criminal rule of procedure, the Ohio Supreme Court last Wednesday held that: ?A trial court?s judgment of conviction in a criminal case is a ?final? order subject to review by a court of appeals under ORC § 2505...
Ohio "commercial docket" Rules of Superintendence/ Criminal & Civil Procedure, including EDD
Posted on July 11, 2008Not to be confused with our earlier entry, the Ohio Supreme Court also last Monday adopted a number of amendments to its Rules of Appellate, Criminal & Civil Procedures, as part of its annual updating based on recommendations from the Commission on Rules of Practice & Procedure...
Proposed Amendments to Ohio Rules of Superintendence of the Courts/ Access to Court Records
Posted on July 11, 2008A number of articles appeared in local papers last weekend about the Ohio Supreme Court?s Commission on the Rules of Superintendence endorsing a measure on June 27th. that would allow parties in a court case to redact ?personal identifiers? such as social security & bank account numbers, and the names of children...
International "Rule of Law"
Posted on July 07, 2008The World Justice Forum, convened in Vienna this past weekend, was envisioned as ?the founders project? for the World Justice Project, bringing together world leaders from 112 countries and a diversity of disciplines including former and present heads of state, CEOs of multinational corporations & labor leaders, and directors of key nongovernmental organizations...
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds FCC rules case
Posted on July 01, 2008The 6th. Circuit Court of Appeals last Friday upheld the Federal Communications Commission?s authority to set rules making it easier for new cable companies in a community obtain local franchises needed to compete. The ruling was a consolidation of a number of suits against the FCC, claiming it had overstepped its authority...
6th. Circuit Court of Appeals certifies abortion question to Ohio Supreme Court
Posted on June 27, 2008The 6th. Circuit Court of Appeals, last Monday, certified an almost 4-year old Planned Parenthood case centering around RU-486, a drug used to induced abortions, and the Ohio statute passed in June 2004 specifically prohibiting its use, to the Supreme Court...
Illinois Circuit Court Rules addition in "Measure of Damages per Shortened Life Expectancies"
Posted on June 26, 2008Illinois circuit courts in May added ?shortened life expectancies? to its measures of damage pattern jury instructions: 30.04.05 Measure of Damages?Shortened Life Expectancy This instruction is appropriate if there is evidence that plaintiff?s life expectancy has been shortened by the tort...
Supreme Court decides Pro Se compentency limits
Posted on June 20, 2008The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday held that defendants found mentally competent enough to stand trial are not necessarily likewise competent enough to represent themselves at that trial. (Case ) Coming out of the state of Indiana, the trial court had relied on a lengthy amassing of psychiatric reports, noting that the defendant had been diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia, and
Ohio DUI legislation
Posted on June 17, 2008The Ohio General Assembly last Tuesday passed sweeping legislation cracking down on DUIs in this state. (Text)(Analysis) The new law, once signed by Gov. Strickland, includes requiring repeat offenders to install $90-a-month ignition ?interlocks? on their cars ? the seventh state to have that kind of provision ? and creates a public, online ?habitual OVI offender? database for persons having
Walgreen's whistleblower lawsuit settlement
Posted on June 05, 2008Walgreen?s, the nation?s largest chain drugstore, yesterday agreed to pay $35 million in settlement to a federal whistleblower lawsuit which alleged it had substituted more expensive versions of three prescription drugs from July 2001 thru 2005 to Medicaid programs from 42 states and Puerto Rico...
Civil Liabilities vs. Governmental Agencies
Posted on June 04, 2008A pair of rulings from the Ohio Supreme Court today examined child abuse particulars regarding a governmental agency?s immunity to civil liability. The first case spawned from an incident back in March 2000 when a daycare facility came to suspect a four-year old girl was being abused...
Canton, Ohio weed control initiative
Posted on June 04, 2008The City of Canton, Ohio has a reasonably interesting situation happening at an opportune time. Its city council unanimously approved toughening its high-grass & weed ordinance on June 2nd., making violations for repeat offenders a fourth-degree misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $250, and up to 30 days in jail...
Ohio Court Interpreter Guidelines
Posted on May 29, 2008The Ohio Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Interpreter Services has published a ?Handbook for Judges Using Court Interpreters? to consider in cases where interpreters are needed. ?The need for court interpreters in Ohio has never been greater,? Interpreter Services Program manager Bruno Romero said in the Court?s announcement earlier this week...
Transracial adoptions
Posted on May 27, 2008An AP article this morning?s relates several leading child welfare groups urging an ?overhaul of federal laws dealing with transracial adoption, and arguing that black children in foster care are ill-served by the so-called ?color-blind? approached meant to encourage their adoption by white families...
Ohio Supreme Court upholds life sentence for rape committed as juvenile
Posted on May 09, 2008The Ohio Supreme Court Tuesday held that the imposition of the state?s mandatory life imprisonment sentence for the forcible rape of an underage victim did not violate the defendant?s due process rights even when he was only 15 years old at the time of his crime, but hadn?t been prosecuted until he was 21...
New Illinois civil jury instruction
Posted on May 07, 2008The State of Illinois has added the following ?Opinion Testimony? information to its civil jury instructions. (Website Here)
Review of Ohio Workers' Compensation final settlement cases
Posted on May 05, 2008The Ohio Bureau of Workers? Compensation is trying to figure out the impact of the April 16th. Supreme Court ruling that sided with an injured worker with a low IQ and limited reading skills who broke his leg in a fall at a Galion factory back in 1997...
Ohio Supreme Court OKs consecutive sentencing from seperate courts
Posted on May 02, 2008The Ohio Supreme Court unanimously held, yesterday, that a trial court sentencing a defendant has the authority to order that the sentence imposed for the current offense be served consecutively to sentences previously imposed by another court for the same offense...
Ohio death penalties
Posted on April 30, 2008After the Supreme Court?s Baze decision two weeks ago, some states weren?t wasting much time in getting their execution schedules back on track. Virginia almost immediately after the decision was made lifted its moratorium; Florida?s governor asked for ?a very short list? of death warrant applications to be considered, and Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas indicated they would be seeking execution
Ohio Supreme Court mental retardedness ruling
Posted on April 11, 2008The Ohio Supreme Court last Wednesday vacated the death sentence of an Akron man, ruling that he was mentally retarded under both Ohio and federal standards, and therefore cannot be sentenced to death. The case?s remanded to the Summit County Court of Common Pleas for resentencing under the statutory guidelines for non-capital cases of aggravated murder...
Hamilton County Proposed Local Foreclosure Rule
Posted on April 01, 2008The Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas is proposing the addition of a local rule of court pertaining to foreclosures. Rule 45 would have provisions for pleadings, receiverships, case management, bankruptcies and judgments, confirmations of sales ordering deed & distribution, and the distribution of excess funds...
NLRB & employer e-mail
Posted on March 26, 2008The National Labor Relations Board back in December settled a long-standing dispute between employers and unions over controversies regarding a companies e-mail policies. In its Dec. 16th. Guard Publishing decision the NLRB said that employers may lawfully control access & use of their internet e-mail systems and those systems can?t be used as ?weapons? by a union seeking to organize their
Ohio Supreme Court's Proposed Rules of Superintendence
Posted on March 24, 2008The Ohio Supreme Court?s Commission on Rules of Superintendence doesn?t have the constitutional authority to draw up rules on what court records the public should have access to, according to Cleveland attorney David Marburger. His comments were in response to a set of proposed rule amendments the Court now has under advisement...
EPA Clean Air Standards
Posted on March 14, 2008Just about a year ago the Environment Protection Agency was one of the Supreme Court?s ? and just about everyone?s ? favorite ?punchbag? .The world was waking up to the danger of global warming and a U.N. report was attributing ? ? with 90% certainty?the increase in average global temperatures since mid 20th...
U.S Judicial Conference's Rules for Judicial Conduct/Disability
Posted on March 13, 2008The Judicial Conference of the United States, Tuesday, approved the first-ever set of binding, nationwide rules governing the handling of conduct and disability complaints against federal judges. The rules mark a major milestone in the judiciary?s efforts to improve its self-regulation, first launched by the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist four years ago in response to criticism from
Ohio's smoking ban is constitutional
Posted on March 12, 2008Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Fred Nelson last Friday morning upheld the State?s statutory smoking ban, passed in November 2006. ( Decision )( Article ) Ohio?s ?Smoke Free Workplace Act,? said to be one of the strictest in the country, and the first in the Midwest, prohibits smoking in almost all indoor establishments...
Chapter 13 surrenders of collateral
Posted on March 11, 2008Last week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said that ?due to a glitch or gap in a recent revision of the Bankruptcy Code intended to benefit creditors, the law is now silent on what happens to the remaining indebtedness in the surrender-or-the-car situation, the bankruptcy court below holding that the congressional mistake in drafting the revision means the remaining indebtedness is completely
Ohio Supreme Court/Workers' Compensation Disability
Posted on March 06, 2008Since the beginning of time it was ?generally accepted,? Joan Verchot & Megan Roach of the Cincinnati office of law firm Dinsmore & Shohl recently wrote in the Workers? Compensation Journal of Ohio, ?that a claim could be terminated pursuant to a neutral attendance policy...
Computer Law Updates
Posted on March 04, 2008The week?s started out with several instances of computer law related material that?s perhaps not up an epiphany to all, but they were in the media spotlight over the weekend. First of all the New York Times, in what it?s referred to as ?as move legal experts said could represent a major test of First Amendment rights in the Internet era?, Saturday morning commented on the WikiLeak thing by
Sentencing Commission's Retroactive Crack/Cocaine Sentencing Guidelines
Posted on March 03, 2008Amendments to the Sentencing Commission?s crack cocaine guidelines and their retroactivity become effective today. That also allows the first group of prisoners eligible for modest sentence reductions to be released from federal prisons, as well., according to a press release by the Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a national activist group ?for fair and proportional sentencing laws...
Ohio Supreme Court holds Civil Rule available when no applicable Criminal Rule
Posted on February 22, 2008Ohio Sex Offender Residency Restrictions Not Retroactive
Posted on February 21, 2008The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday ruled that Ohio?s residency-restriction statute prohibiting certain sexually oriented offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school could not be applied to an offender who had brought his home and committed his offense before July 31, 2003, the effective date of the statute...
State Level Electronic Discovery
Posted on February 20, 2008With all of the excitement, or maybe trauma, over electronic discovery this past year, one might assume that EDD?s something reserved for massive litigation or federal cases alone. That?s not the case, as Brett Burney in a Law.com article yesterday morning conveys...
Proposed Rule Changes for Temporary/ Agricultural Workers
Posted on February 13, 2008The United States Department of Labor, for one, has been pretty busy the past few months it seems, with new rule proposals and an extension of the time period for comments for another.On December 13, 2007, rules were proposed ?to align the national apprenticeship system with the tools & flexibility needed for the 21st...
Ninth Circuit private corporation's sovereign immunity case
Posted on February 11, 2008The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last Wednesday, as part of a larger class-action suit, ruled that state sovereign immunity didn?t extend to private contractors hired by state agencies, and that the Court ?shouldn?t even undertake the test it uses when various government bodies seek immunity,? according to an article from Law...
U.S. Supreme Court False Claims Act case
Posted on February 08, 2008Congress passed the False Claims Act in 1863 in response to rampant fraud and other misdoings principally to do with the sale of war material & supplies during the Civil War. Codified ten years later in 1873, and then amended in 1943, 1982, significantly in 1986, and then again finally in 1994; the original provisions have come to be known more today in connection with so-called ?whistleblower? cases than guns & bullets...
Ohio Foreclosure Issues
Posted on February 05, 2008Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann?s efforts in the mortgage foreclosure arena hit some snags yesterday, with Hamilton County Magistrate Judge Michael Bachman not only rejecting Dann?s arguments, but commenting that the Court had ?significant concerns regarding the ethical implications of the Attorney General?s actions...
District Court Certified Class Action Suit re Title Insurance "reissue/refinance" Rates
Posted on February 04, 2008The Eastern Pennsylvania U.S. District Court last Friday certified a class action suit against Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company brought by homeowners who clam they were overcharged for title insurance on refinances because they were never informed of statutorily discounted premium...
Supreme Court differentiates stare decisis particulars
Posted on February 01, 2008The court of claims statute of limitations requires an automatic consideration of a lawsuit?s timeliness irregardless of Government waiver, the Supreme Court held last January 8.The case, John R. Sand & Gravel v. U.S., 06-1164, involved allegations of the holder of a mining lease that the EPA had taken land without just compensation thru activities on that land such as erecting fences...
Sixth Circuit "reasonableness of sentence" decision
Posted on January 30, 2008The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the sentences of two defendants who had plead guilty to coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purposes of producing visual depictions of that conduct, and possession of child pornography...
Sixth U.S. Circuit's Ross decision
Posted on January 30, 2008Last Friday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 2005 District Court case that has become something of a legal quagmire since its beginning in 1999, and potentially isn?t too close to being over, either (Decision)Hanna Hill was killed May 26, 1999...
Ohio Supreme Court rule amendments
Posted on January 25, 2008Comments to the set of proposed amendments to the Ohio Rules of Appellate, Criminal, and Civil Procedures issued last October, have been reviewed and evaluated by the Supreme Court Commission on Rules of Practice & Procedure. The Commission, back on Jan...
Southern Ohio District Court reassigns cases
Posted on January 25, 2008Five death penalty cases were reassigned from Judge Walter Rice?s docket yesterday by Southern Ohio District Court Chief Judge Sandra Beckwith.Judge Rice has faced criticism from supporters of the death penalty for some time who think his deliberations are too lengthy, making it difficult for local prosecutors to retry cases overturned by appeals, but Beckwith was quoted as saying that Rice had a very heavy docket and that it ?seemed logical to give him some relief,? not because of any complaints made of the judge?s handling of capital cases...
Ohio Southern District Court's "body parts" controversy
Posted on January 23, 2008The Ohio Supreme Court is going to be hearing another case that?s generated international attention for its ramifications for medical examiners, EMTs, funeral directors, and others. (Article)At issue, and filed as a class action naming the county commissioners offices of 87 of Ohio?s 88 counties, and all coroners, is whether an individual has a legal right to his/her relative?s or next-of-kin?s body parts and organs...
Wisconsin virtual schools
Posted on January 18, 2008In what?s believed to be the first ruling of its kind in the United States, the 2nd District Court of Appeals in Wisconsin last month ordered the state to stop funding the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, bringing focus to bear on a national policy debate as to whether virtual schools qualify for public funding or relegate to home schooling at parental expense...
Capital Punishment & Public Executions
Posted on January 11, 2008For those following, if you haven?t seen it yet, SCOTUSblog has the 70-page oral argument transcript from Baze v. Rees posted at their site. SCOTUSblog also ?wikis? major or more notable cases such as Baze.?The Supreme Court has never held that any method of execution violates Eighth Amendment ?cruel & unusual punishment?? sanctions, a National Law Journal article last year said...
Google patent case
Posted on December 28, 2007A PC World article, yesterday, summarized in some detail the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Hyperphase/Hyperphase Technologies v. Google on Wednesday.Hyperphase Industries sued Google in April 2006, according to the article, alleging Google?s ?AdSense? and ?AutoLink? toolbar functions infringed on Hyperphase patents relating to contextual linking and presentation of information...
Company-paid health benefits cuts OK'd for retirees, spouses, over 65
Posted on December 28, 2007The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Wednesday said employers could reduce or eliminate health benefits for retirees, their spouses, or any dependents once the retiree hits 65 and becomes eligible for Medicare.(See Final Rule)AARP had filed suit in Eastern Pennsylvania District Court earlier this year trying to block the new rules...
Tennessee death penalty stays of execution
Posted on December 27, 2007The Middle Tennessee U.S. District Court, , as have a number of others around the country, last Friday granted a stay of execution for Paul Dennis Reid pending the Supreme Court?s decision once hearing Baze v. Rees on Jan 7th.The District Court earlier this year had declared the state?s execution protocol for lethal injection unconstitutional and enjoined it from executing Edward Jerome Harbison...
Confrontation Rights at Sentencing
Posted on December 24, 2007SCOTUS had an interesting post last week about the Justice Department urging Supreme Court justices to allow lower courts continue to explore whether to apply the Sixth Amendment right of confrontation to sentencing hearings?including those involving the death penalty...
"West Memphis Three" habeas corpus writ
Posted on December 21, 2007In Spring 1993 three cub scouts were brutally murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelley, who were teenagers at the time, were arrested by police and found guilty of the crimes. Baldwin was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole...
Taxation of Railroad Property
Posted on December 21, 2007The Supreme Court, back on December 4th., decided that railroads could challenge state methods for determining the value of railroad property along with the manner in which those methods are applied, resolving a split in federal circuit court holdings as to whether a state?s property tax valuation methodologies could be challenged under the federal Railroad Revitalization & Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 (4-R Act)An article in CCH?s State Tax Review on Dec...
Death Penalty Updates
Posted on December 17, 2007Last week New Jersey continued setting about to abolish the death penalty ? now only awaiting the governor?s signature in a couple of days.According to the Toledo Blade , New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982, six years after Gregg v. Georgia...
Indiana Local Government Reform
Posted on December 12, 2007Indiana cities, townships & counties would be undergoing drastic reorganization & reform under 27 proposals from the governor?s Commission on Local Government Reform announced today.Conceived of back in May, just after the close of this year?s session of the Indiana General Assembly, Governor Mitchell Daniels created the Commission in July to develop recommendations to reform and restructure local government in Indiana...
U.S. Sentencing Commission makes cocaine rule amendments retroactive
Posted on December 12, 2007The United States Sentencing Commission unanimously voted to allow 19,500 federal prison inmates seek reductions in their crack cocaine sentences yesterday, making roughly 3, 800 persons eligible for release within a year after Tuesday?s March 3rd effective date for the decision...
Supreme Court's Kimbrough/Gall Sentencing Guideline Decisions
Posted on December 11, 2007Two significant cases were decided by the Supreme Court Monday, giving federal judges new authority to set sentences for crack cocaine crimes below federal guidelines in Kimbrough v. U.S., and impose sentences below specific guideline ranges while still having them be regarded as ?reasonable...
New Ohio Medicaid Agency
Posted on December 11, 2007Ohio Governor Ted Strickland yesterday signed an executive order establishing the Executive Medicaid Management Administration as a central coordinating body to administer the state?s Medicaid program across the several agencies now involved.?Federal law requires every state to appoint one agency to be responsible for applying for Medicaid grants or waivers, administering and/or amending that state?s plan, and ensuring that activities such as claim processing are conducted properly,? the order says...
2006 Prison/ Probation & Parole Reports
Posted on December 06, 2007The Justice Department?s latest prison statistics report was released yesterday, indicating that 3.2% of the U.S. adult population ? something like seven million men and women, or 1 in every 31 persons in the country ? were in prison, jail, on probation, or out on parole by the end of 2006; an increase of 159,500 over the year...
Right-to-Counsel Supreme Court Case
Posted on December 05, 2007As far back as 1932 the Supreme Court had been recognizing a defendant?s right to counsel as ?essential to the safeguarding of American freedoms,? leaving the extent of that, however, to the individual states. (Here)In 1963, Gideon v. Wainwright held that ?no one, regardless of wealth, education or class, should be charged with a crime and then forced to face his accusers in court without the guidance of counsel...
Alleged Accessory Denied Change of Venue in Knoxville Murder Trial
Posted on December 05, 2007A Knoxville, Tennessee attorney, who had described his client?s case as ?one of the most heavily publicized & misreported cases in recent local East Tennessee history,? was denied a change of venue last Saturday. ( Here )Eric Boyd?s attorney referred to the Internet as ?the largest unregulated source of information? ? spreading lies and helping create an urban legend surrounding the details of the final state of the victims? bodies?meant to outrage and taint any jury pool? last month, stating that ?literally thousands and thousands of internet blogs & news accounts have been published about the case, both partially factual and fictional...
Gun Control Background Check List
Posted on November 30, 2007Articles this morning from CBS News, the Chicago Tribune and Washington Post on the Justice Department?s list of mentally impaired individuals barred from purchasing handguns notes that list?s ?explosion,? notably from the California where some 200,000 additional names were added since last Spring?s shooting rampage at Virginia Tech...
Indiana Supreme Court death sentence case of mentally ill
Posted on November 29, 2007Indiana?s Supreme Court Tuesday upheld that state?s death penalty for a mentally ill man convicted in 1997 of abduction, rape, and murder. (Article)(Opinion)Citing Matheney v. State and Baird v. State, both 2005 cases, a majority of the justices disagreed that ?a person who is mentally ill suffers from the same ?diminished capacities? as a person who is mentally retarded,? referencing Indiana Code § 35-36-2-5 and § 35-50-2-9(a), both just recently amended.
Thanksgiving-- the day after & five months before
Posted on November 23, 2007Today we?re thinking the day after Thanksgiving should be a little more than a shopping day?and have even found something to maybe think about.We?re taught in grade school that Thanksgiving was a celebration between Virginia settlers and American Indians after a particularly difficult winter and all...
Supreme Court on Gun Control
Posted on November 21, 2007The big story so far this week, and, for some, longer than that, is the Supreme Court?s decision yesterday to hear the District of Columbia?s handgun case, presumably to define the limits of the constitutional ?right to keep & bear arms. It would mark the time the Court?s directly interpreted the Second Amendment...
Related Law Questions
Is it libel to write blog posts and/or online reviews about a local business that defames one's reputation?
Libel is the form of defamation expressed in fixed-- usually written form. Sland...
Can a city library prevent you from using thier facilities based on a school district being from another city reaching into your city?
that seems a little ridiculous that they would do that. libraries are supposed t...
#1 Online Legal Resource
On 08-28 at 21:13PM
Ten months later, Fed must reveal names of emergency lending recipients #FOIA
On 08-25 at 19:02PM
Squeaky Fromme, would-be Ford assassin and Manson devotee, released from prison
On 08-14 at 15:19PM
Likely unintended consequence of cash-for-clunkers stimulus is dampening of 2010 spending
On 08-14 at 14:34PM
Palm seeks to halt Palm Pre Android theme on copyright and trademark ground
On 08-12 at 17:30PM
Congressional investigation demonstrates Karl Rove lied about his active role in US attorney's firing
On 08-12 at 16:20PM
Family of New York City swine flu victim to sue city for failure to secure school #nyc #swineflu
On 08-12 at 12:59PM
Real Network's DVD copying software deemed to break DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions
On 08-12 at 12:57PM
Prepaid funeral operators indicted for $100 Million fraud
On 08-12 at 12:53PM
NY Jets join Cincinnati, Dallas, Green Bay, Houston & Seattle #NFL teams offering branded state lottery games
On 08-12 at 12:43PM
Are you the author of this blog? Adding USLaw.com to your Blogroll increases relevance. You qualify to display a USLaw Network badge.
Suggest changes to this blog's description or nominate another for inclusion. Register for updates.
Is it libel to write blog posts and/or online reviews about a local business that defames one's reputation?
Libel is the form of defamation expressed in fixed-- usually written form. Sland...
Can a city library prevent you from using thier facilities based on a school district being from another city reaching into your city?
that seems a little ridiculous that they would do that. libraries are supposed t...
 |
|
Contact Us | About Us | Celebrity Law Blog |
Our Partners | Disclaimer
| Law Blog Directory
| Law Jobs
| Law Tweets
| GoDaddy Hosting
All original material © 1999-2009 by USLaw.com. |