Ohio

Health Care Law follow-up

Posted on August 13, 2010
Following up on yesterday's health care post, USAToday yesterday began an article, "Six weeks before the nation's health care delivery system begins a huge transformation, confusion reigns?..Many key parts of the new law, signed by President Obama in March, take effect in several stages beginning next month and continuing through 2015...

FTC, states sue bogus health insurers

Posted on August 12, 2010
Cincinnati.com also reported this morning that "The Federal Trade Commission and 24 states, including Ohio & Indiana, filed 54 lawsuits or regulatory actions against companies selling 'medical discount plans' alleged to be bogus." The plans, which David Vladeck, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, and state officials said were marketed to an estimated 47 million uninsured

Kentucky immigration resolutions

Posted on August 12, 2010
Cincinnati.com this morning reported that "two Northern Kentucky fiscal courts took different paths reaching similar conclusions on a nationally controversial issue yesterday." "Kenton County Fiscal Court endorsed the Arizona immigration law by a 3-1 vote at its meeting yesterday morning, while...

Ohio Supreme Court Rules of Judicial Conduct amendments

Posted on August 12, 2010
Taking action in response to the decision by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals last month in Carey v. Wolnitzek that struck down similar rules in Kentucky, the Ohio Supreme Court has amended portions of two of its Rules of Judicial Conduct governing disclosure of political party affiliation and solicitations of campaign contributions by judicial candidates...

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Some recent Spreme Court decisions already having impact

Posted on August 09, 2010
"The United States Supreme Court term that just ended produced an unusually large number of cases that have had nearly instant impact in courtrooms and on practitioners across the country," Tony Mauro at Law.com wrote this morning, mentioning Citizens United v...

Call for review of death row cases in Ohio

Posted on August 09, 2010
Several high-ranking officials in Ohio, including former Attorney General Jim Petro and Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer, are calling for a comprehensive review of all death-row cases and a possible a moratorium on executions while that review's carried out, USAToday...

Ohio Supreme Court adoption rulings may boost birth father's rights

Posted on August 09, 2010
The Columbus Dispatch also carried a story yesterday about two recent Ohio Supreme Court rulings in favor of birth fathers that some observers say are putting putative-father laws on shaky ground. (See In re Adoption of G.V. and In re Adoption of P.A...

Virginia AG state immigration opinion

Posted on August 04, 2010
The State of Virginia, a Washington Post article yesterday relates, joined the national debate over immigration, with Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II's having issued an opinion that authorizes law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of anyone stopped by police for any reason...

Free Program: Low Cost/No Cost Public Records Searching

Posted on August 03, 2010
On Thursday, August 19 at 12:30 p.m., Mary Lynn Wagner, Director of Information Resources at Keating Muething & Klekamp, will present low cost/no cost strategies for effectively investigating potential witnesses, potential jurors, and potential clients...

Ohio "unauthorized practice"/ attorney registration rules

Posted on August 02, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court on July 6, 2010 adopted amendments to the Rules for the Government of the Bar relating to the Unauthorized Practice of Law (Gov. Bar R. VII), effective September 1, 2010, except Section 2(A)(1)(e) which will be effective January 1, 2011...

Ohio judicial regulations lawsuit

Posted on July 29, 2010
Contending that "Ohio is the only state in the union in which judicial candidates participate in partisan primary elections, but are then restricted to non-partisan statuses in general elections," suit was filed in U.S. Southern District Court yesterday contesting the issue...

Ohio Supreme Court criminal justice system study

Posted on July 27, 2010
"In 2008, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, then-Supreme Court of Ohio Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer and state House and Senate leaders launched an effort by the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center and the state of Ohio to develop a data-driven strategy to reduce spending on corrections while improving public safety in Ohio...

New Library of Congress DMCA rules

Posted on July 27, 2010
The Associated Press reports that iPhone owners will now be able to legally unlock their devices so they can run software applications that haven't been approved by Apple Inc., this being part of an announcement from the Library of Congress yesterday afternoon...

Kentucky domestic violence offender tracking law

Posted on July 26, 2010
"Amanda's Law" in Kentucky was passed & signed in April, and went into effect July 15th.. Hailed especially by advocates and victims, it amended several portions of that state's domestic violence and abuse statutes, included the use of monitoring-related restrictions and sanctions in domestic violence cases...

States/Federal Government initiate Affordable Health Care Act Provisions

Posted on July 23, 2010
Ohioans with pre-existing health conditions, such as cancer or diabetes, can apply for coverage under a new high-risk insurance pool beginning Aug. 1, USAToday reported this morning. That pool is a key piece of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, with programs being in place until 2014 when health insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny coverage to people in poor health.

Retiree Benefits Bankruptcy Protection Act Holds Over ERISA Plans

Posted on July 20, 2010
"In a huge win for labor," a Law.com article yesterday reported, "the U.S. 3rd. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a corporation in bankruptcy cannot terminate its retirees' health and life insurance benefits -- even if its ERISA plan explicitly reserved its right to unilaterally terminate such benefits -- unless it can show that doing so is a necessary part of its reorganization plan? "The

Calls for Probe of Federal Sentencing Patterns

Posted on July 20, 2010
Marcia Coyle's National Law Journal article, yesterday morning, has covered a few bases in the legal community's blogsphere, but we're referencing it, too, because of its foreshadowings. "..widely disparate sentences don't make sense, ignore federal sentencing guidelines and are a sign of a potentially very big problem, according to the U...

New Child Labor Regs Taking Effect Monday

Posted on July 16, 2010
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued what it is calling "the most ambitious and far-reaching revisions to the child labor regulations in the last thirty years." The new regulations, which take effect next Monday, July 19, 2010, make a variety of changes to how DOL will interpret the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, Thompson-West Publications says in a newly released

Arizona/DOJ immigration law update

Posted on July 15, 2010
"The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that '[t]he States enjoy no power with respect to the classification of aliens.' Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 225 (1982)," an amicus brief filed by Michigan attorney general Mike Cox yesterday in behalf of his, eight additional states, & the Northern Mariana Islands, in support of Arizona?s immigration law reads...

Impact of Pro Se Representation Not Good

Posted on July 13, 2010
Law.com this morning looked at a survey conducted by the Coalition for Justice, an arm of the ABA that focuses on access to the courts, that attempted to measure the impact of the economic recession. Roughly 1,000 state-level trial judges responded to the survey, which posed questions about their dockets, self-representation and the impact on the courts, the ABA?s press release said...

New Jersey assesses DUI/DWI-test consents

Posted on July 12, 2010
As result of a two-car accident/ DWI case appealed to that level, the Supreme Court of New Jersey, last February, considered a case "challenging the conviction of a non-English speaking driver for refusing to submit to an alcohol breath test -- the Court analyzing the interplay between the state's implied consent law, N...

Federal same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional

Posted on July 09, 2010
U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro in Boston, Massachusetts, yesterday ruled that a federal ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional because it interferes with an individual state's right to define marriage., CNN reported this morning. "As irrational prejudice plainly never constitutes a legitimate government interest, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the protection under the Fifth

Hamilton County looking at cell phone ban in courtrooms

Posted on July 06, 2010
Alarmed at what they say are observers in their courtrooms regularly using cell phones to take pictures of witnesses, jurors and victims, Hamilton County's 16 Common Pleas Court judges, who preside over felony cases like rape, assault and murder, are considering banning cell phones when their courts are in session, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Sunday morning...

New Ohio criminal law rules/procedure

Posted on July 01, 2010
Some major changes in Ohio criminal procedure become effective this morning. As the Cincinnati Enquirer puts it, "On Tuesday, a package of reforms, spearheaded by the Cincinnati-based Ohio Innocence Project and approved by Ohio lawmakers, takes effect?...

Public Defender Issues

Posted on June 29, 2010
"State officials in Ohio have demanded improvements in Hamilton County's Public Defende's Office for years, but they've boosted scrutiny in the past few months," the Cincinnati Enquirer reported last Sunday morning, "after the county failed to use $1...

Ohio Supreme Court adopts amendments on notice of appeal timing; domestic violence/ stalking forms

Posted on June 29, 2010
The Supreme Court of Ohio announced yesterday the adoption of an amendment to the Rules of Practice that addresses when the clock starts ticking to file an appeal in the Supreme Court after a party seeks reconsideration of a decision of an appeals court, or when a party seeks a full review by all members of an appeals court, also known as an en banc review...

"Domestic partner" update

Posted on June 25, 2010
Things don?t always happen this co-incidentially, but we need to update and, indeed, expand a bit, last Wednesday's posting about Ohio expanding its "immediate family? definition to include ?domestic partners,? and some of the implications that could follow there...

Ohio expands some domestic partner benefits

Posted on June 23, 2010
Ohio's Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review approved amending part of the state's administrative code to allow non-union state employees to take bereavement or sick time for issues related to a live-in partner, despite reservations from its chairman, Republican state Sen...

Ohio uniform domestic relations forms

Posted on June 22, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court's announced the adoption of new uniform domestic relations forms, which will enable judges, parents and families, and attorneys to be literally on the same page in divorce and dissolution proceedings. Before this measure there were no standard forms for Ohio domestic relations courts, with all of the state?s 88 counties having their own separate sets of court forms in

Ohio Supreme Court asks comments on juvenile protection order rules

Posted on June 22, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court is asking for public comment on a new rule that would authorize juvenile courts to issue civil protection orders against juveniles and standardized forms with instructions about how to petition the court for a protection order. The Court?s announcement says the forms were proposed in response to Am Sub HB 10, which authorized juvenile courts to issue and enforce civil

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