Ohio

IRS non-profit filing requirements

Posted on May 14, 2010
Thousands of small non-profits, from Little League teams to community soup kitchens, could lose their tax-exempt status on Monday because of an IRS filing requirement that was part of the 2006 Pension Protection Act, a USAToday article this morning said...

Ohio Provisions for Intimidation of Homeless Persons

Posted on May 14, 2010
A bill introduced in the Ohio House of Representatives last Wednesday would bring some 30 existing statutes of the Revised Code, including involuntary manslaughter, four types of assault, menacing & stalking, hazing, unlawful restraint, arson, vandalism, and three types of sex offenses under additional provisions "if the offender commits the violation with the intent to cause harm to any victim

Beuke appeal denied

Posted on May 12, 2010
Michael Beuke's motion for a restraining order from the Ohio Southern District Court, again stopping his execution tomorrow morning, was denied yesterday. ( Court's order ) Responding to the State's memorandum in opposition to Beuke's appeal, which raised the potentially threshold issue of whether Beuke had waited too long to request injunctive relief, it was posited that because the State of

Richard Nields

Posted on May 12, 2010
Richard Nields' public defender lawyers told the Ohio Parole Board last Monday that he had been an alcoholic with brain damage when he killed his live-in girlfriend during a 1997 argument in their Finneytown, Ohio home, Cincinnati.com reports. Nields is scheduled to be executed June 10th...

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Ohio equivalency evaluation of applicants educated outside the United States, but want to be admitted to practice law in Ohio.

Posted on May 12, 2010
Related to our earlier post, the Ohio Supreme Court also announced Monday that it will be accepting public comment on rule amendments clarifying requirements for equivalency evaluation of applicants educated outside the United States who want to be admitted to practice law in Ohio...

Amendments to Ohio Rules Governing Admission to Practice Law

Posted on May 12, 2010
Amendments to the State of Ohio's Rules Governing Admissions to the Practice of Law, specifically character investigation by admissions committees ( Gov.Bar I, Sec. 11 ) were adopted by the Supreme Court March 31st. and became effective on May 1st. The Supreme Court's announcement summarized the change as "expanding mandatory Supreme Court review of the character, fitness and moral

Ohio Uniform Power of Attorney Act

Posted on May 11, 2010
A bill seeking to adopt the Uniform Power of Attorney Act in Ohio was introduced in its Senate last week. Ohio power of attorney statutes came into being around 1831 with the advent of other "proof/acknowledgment/written instrument and reecording" statutes, and are now largely found in ORC Chapter 1337...

Ohio proposes inreasing retirement ceiling for judges

Posted on May 11, 2010
A resolution introduced in the Ohio House of Representatives yesterday is seeking "To eliminate the age at and after which a person may not be elected or appointed to a judicial office," in the state of Ohio. This would be another constitutional amendment for the voters to consider in November...

Ohio death row inmate claims tolerance to lethal injection drugs

Posted on May 10, 2010
In an interesting legal maneuver, Michael Beuke, who's scheduled to be executed Thursday for a 1983 violent crime spree that included aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder, three counts of aggravated robbery, and three counts of kidnapping, filed motion last week for another restraining order to stop that execution...

The Thomas J. Moyer Award for Judicial Excellence

Posted on May 07, 2010
The Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA) announced yesterday the creation of the Thomas J. Moyer Award for Judicial Excellence, in honor of the late Chief Justice. Mary Moyer, wife of Chief Justice Moyer, accepted the first award posthumously on his behalf...

Legislation stripping citizenship from U.S. terrorists

Posted on May 07, 2010
A CNN article this morning heralds ?Bill aims to strip certain Americans of their citizenship.? "A bipartisan group of legislators on Thursday introduced legislation in Congress to strip citizenship from any American found to be involved in terrorism...

Ohio Statute of Limitations on Child Sex Abuse Not Enhanced by Repressed Memories

Posted on May 06, 2010
On April 14, 2008, a Greene County, Ohio woman filed a complaint claiming she had been sexually assaulted and molested at least three times -- the last in the fall of 1984 ? but that she had repressed memories of the abuse until they surfaced 23 years later on April 20, 2007, triggered by the killings on the campus of Virginia Tech...

U.S. Supreme Court strikes down habeas corpus grant based on double jeopardy clause

Posted on May 06, 2010
Anna Christensen and Stanford's Alex Harris at ScotusBlog, last Tuesday reported on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Renico v. Lett , No. 09-338. "At issue in the case," they summarized, "was the trial judge's decision to declare a mistrial in respondent Reginald Lett's first trial on first-degree murder charges...

U.S. Supreme Court's new entrance

Posted on May 04, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court announced, yesterday, that it was closing its grand front entrance ? up the marble steps to enter the building under the facade that says "Equal Justice Under Law" -- to the arriving public. Instead, citing security reasons, visitors will have to enter a side entrance and go through screening devices that can check for "weapons, explosives and chemical and biological

Ohio Supreme Court Holds Prior DNA Testing Not 'Definitive' If New Testing Method Can Detect Information Old Test Counldn't

Posted on May 04, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court today ruled that, under ORC §2953.74, a state law that allows prison inmates to obtain new DNA testing of evidence from their trials under certain conditions, a prior DNA test is not "definitive" when a new testing method can detect information that could not be detected by the prior DNA test...

"Secondhand smoke" defense rejected in Eastern District N.Y. case

Posted on May 04, 2010
Law.com this morning reported that "a federal judge in Brooklyn has held that a baggage screener at John F. Kennedy International Airport who tested positive for marijuana cannot avoid being fired on the grounds that his test results were allegedly the product of secondhand smoke...

Ohio bills addressing sex offender notification "loophole"

Posted on May 03, 2010
In an attempt for Ohio to close a loophole in its sex offender notification law that left neighbors of a Cleveland man suspected of killing 11 women unaware of his criminal past, State Sen. Shirley Smith, a Democrat from Cleveland, has introduced a bill that would require county sheriffs to go back and look for sex offenders whose presence in a community had not been announced, the Plain Dealer

Former Franklin County Probate Court Judge Eric Brown sworn in as Chief Justice of Ohio Supreme Court

Posted on May 03, 2010
Former Franklin County Probate Court Judge Eric Brown was sworn as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio at a public ceremony at 11:30 a.m. today, at the Ohio Statehouse. (Announcement)On April 14, Gov. Ted Strickland named Judge Brown to the vacancy on the Supreme Court following the late Chief Justice Thomas J...

Significant budget cuts hit Kentucky judicial syatem

Posted on April 30, 2010
Massive cutbacks amounting to some $7 million in self-imposed reductions hit the Kentucky court system yesterday, according to a Cincinnati.com article this morning. The cutbacks announced by Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice John Minton Jr. will eliminate more than 100 jobs, abolish family and juvenile drug courts and trim the budgets of Kentucky's appellate courts, the article said...

Ohio Supreme Court Rules of Practice & Procedure amendments

Posted on April 29, 2010
Following up on an earlier posting from the beginning of the year, Ohio's Supreme Court announced yesterday that they had filed "final amendments to the annual update of the Rules of Practice and Procedure, including changes to the criminal discovery process that were developed through a collaborative process led by the late Chief Justice Thomas J...

Sixth Circuit workplace litigation case

Posted on April 29, 2010
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that job applicants who sign waivers promising not to sue their employers over workplace disputes aren't automatically barred from filing lawsuits in the future. In a case decided last Monday, the Court said a couple did not "knowingly and intelligently" waive their right to judicial recourse because they didn't know exactly what they were

U.S. Supreme Court to hear Ohio inmate sexual assault case

Posted on April 27, 2010
An Associated Press article this morning reports that the Supreme Court has agreed to consider reinstating a $625,000 judgment against Ohio prison officials who did nothing to prevent a guard's sexual assault of an inmate and then punished the victim...

Supreme Court to hear video game regulation case

Posted on April 26, 2010
MSNBC.com reports that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to determine whether California can ban the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. California's law, which never took effect, having been challenged shortly after it was signed and blocked by the U...

Police layoffs

Posted on April 26, 2010
"Since January, Tulsa has laid off 89 police officers, 11% of its force. That has pushed the city to the forefront of a national movement, spurred by hard times, to revamp long-held policing strategies," an article in this morning's Wall Street Journal begins...

Arizona's immigration bill

Posted on April 26, 2010
Arizona's controversial immigration enforcement law was the target of fresh attacks Sunday as opponents, from national civil rights activists to Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, vowed to take their fight to the courts as soon as this week, USAToday.com this morning reported...

6th Circuit/ Sanctions vs. law firms over meritless suits

Posted on April 23, 2010
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that, under federal law, courts may not impose sanctions on law firms -- as opposed to individual lawyers -- for knowingly pursuing meritless lawsuits. (See Law.com article ) The Court recounted, "In 2005, we affirmed a grant of partial summary judgment for Lexmark International ("Lexmark") in a suit brought by Lexmarks one-time partners, BDT Products

Southern Ohio District Court patent rules

Posted on April 22, 2010
The South District Court of Ohio last Tuesday announced adoption of its Local Patent Rules. Effective June 1, 2010 these rules and associated forms govern practice of all patent cases & proceedings.

Cincinnati school desegragation case

Posted on April 22, 2010
Cincinnati Public Schools' efforts to ensure racial balance in its teaching staff have been ruled unconstitutional, striking down one of the last remaining vestiges of the landmark 1974 Bronson v. Board of Education school-desegregation lawsuit, Cincinnati...

Evolving immigration law

Posted on April 22, 2010
CNN.com yesterday morning asked whether, "Now that Arizona lawmakers have passed what's considered some of the toughest immigration legislation in the country, were other states watching to see whether they should follow in the state's footsteps or stand back," noting that Michael Hethmon, general counsel for the Immigration Reform Law Institute who helped draft the language of the Arizona bill,

Bill proposing 5% cut in Congressional salaries

Posted on April 21, 2010
The last time Congress cut its pay was April 1, 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression when lawmakers voted to drop their salaries from $9,000 to $8,500. Now, a USAToday article this morning reads, "at a time when polls show Congress' standing at near-record lows, a group of retirees today is endorsing a move to cut lawmakers' pay, and urging support of Rep...

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