Ohio

Hamilton County juvenile court election results in court

Posted on November 24, 2010
One of Hamilton County's juvenile court judge benches remains unfilled at this point while a legal tug of war grinds on over a counting of provisional ballots. "The dispute has already seen the unusual step of a federal judge -- U.S. District Court Judge Susan Dlott -- stepping into a state-run election, and ordering the Hamilton County Board of Elections to re-examine 849 provisional ballots

Courthouse architecture book

Posted on November 23, 2010
Published by the National Center for State Courts, the Retrospective of Courthouse Design, 2001 ? 2010 is the only publication of its kind dedicated exclusively to courthouse architecture that captures noteworthy projects and chronicles the major courthouse design trends over the course of a decade? The latest edition includes the renovation of the Ohio Judicial Center ? home of the Supreme Court

You & the Legal System: When to Use Mediation

Posted on November 22, 2010
Save the date! On Friday, December 10 at 12 noon, Sherry L. Davis, Cincinnati attorney and mediator, will present You and the Legal System: When to Use Mediation. Ms. Davis will address these questions:?Mediation: What is it? ?When can you mediate??Why mediate??Do you need a lawyer to mediate? ?Is mediation expensive? ?How do we find a lawyer who is ?mediation-friendly?? ?Can we settle a

Video-conferences

Posted on November 22, 2010
USAToday this morning noted that "courts across the country are embracing videoconferencing as a way for defendants to appear before a judge without leaving prison or jail, according to a recent survey by the National Center for State Courts, which revealed that 100 of the 162 responding reported that they were already using videoconferencing for some criminal matters...

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Foreclosure update

Posted on November 19, 2010
Foreclosure's one of the more enduring ? and expanding ? issues around today. This week alone? Testimony before the Congressional Oversight Panel last Tuesday spoke of foreclosures hitting homeowners who were not even in default, and of banks tacking on excessive fees that can drive borrowers into foreclosure situations...

Review of Ohio "castle doctrine"

Posted on November 16, 2010
Evolved from our English common law heritage, "castle law doctrine" has long been with us if only in unwritten form. It essentially says it's a manner of self defense if a person kills or injures someone who has illegally intruded in their home or vehicle...

Supreme Court criminal sentencing cases

Posted on November 15, 2010
The Supreme Court ruled per curiam last Monday that Federal courts could not issue writs of habeas corpus to state prisoners whose confinement does not violate federal law. "We have repeatedly held that 'federal habeas corpus relief does not lie for errors of state law,'" the Court said, citing its 1991 decision in Estelle v...

Your Rights in the Workplace

Posted on November 15, 2010
As a public service, the Hamilton County Law Library, in conjunction with the Cincinnati Bar Association's Lawyer Referral Service, will present You and the Legal System: Your Rights in the Workplace on Friday, November 19, 2010 at 12:00 noon at the Hamilton County Law Library...

Ohio foreclosure case could set state precedent

Posted on November 12, 2010
The Columbus Dispatch last Wednesday reported that a Cuyahoga County, Ohio foreclosure case could set a new precedent in the state which may, in turn, "hasten settlement between home lenders and the attorneys general of the 50 states, who are investigating allegations of fraud in foreclosure filings...

Class-action ramifications possible for millions of consumers

Posted on November 09, 2010
"A case involving AT&T Mobil that went before the U.S. Supreme Court this morning has sweeping ramifications for potentially millions of consumers," the Chicago Tribune yesterday said. "If the court rules for the telecom," the Tribune article says, "any business that issues a contract to customers, such as for credit cards, cell phones or cable TV, could prevent them from joining class-action

DOJ wants inclusion in Ohio county jail stun-gun case

Posted on November 05, 2010
The U.S. Department of Justice last Wednesday asked Ohio's Southern District Court to allow it to be made a party in a case alleging that deputies at Franklin County jails "break the law and violate inmates' civil rights with excessive stun-gun use, including routinely using stun guns on inmates who are disabled, pregnant or under the influence of drugs or alcohol," USAToday reported this morning

ABA Ethics Study of Attorney Client-Development Tools

Posted on November 03, 2010
The American Bar Association is looking at the possibility of pursuing further study over the next two years of the ethics of attorney online client development tools such as blogs, websites, and Facebook, a Law Technology News article last Monday said...

Ohio trial access case

Posted on November 02, 2010
The Ohio 12th District Court of Appeals yesterday sided with the Cincinnati Enquirer in holding that Warren County, Ohio Common Pleas Court Judge Neal Bronson should first have held a hearing prior to not allowing a reporter observe jurors on a trip to a crime scene in a recent case that Paper reported this morning...

Georgia court's citizen e-filing access question

Posted on October 28, 2010
DeKalb Georgia Superior Court Judge Robert J. Castellani probably expressed a bit of surprise last Tuesday when an attorney representing the parent company of LexisNexis asserted that the public has no constitutional right of access to the courts in an exchange Castellani on a motion for summary judgment in a case seeking to have Fulton County's e-filing document system declared unconstitutional.

Child Porn Sentencing Guidelines Being Criticized

Posted on October 28, 2010
An article on Law.com this morning looked over what some are saying appears as "a strong trend that has developed among federal judges to reject the proposed prison terms as draconian even as the sentencing guidelines for child pornography crimes have grown increasingly harsh?...

Biased Ohio death penalty case remanded

Posted on October 26, 2010
In a 7-0 decision, this morning, the Ohio Supreme Court held that rulings and statements made by a judge during trial demonstrated bias against a defendant and his attorneys that prevented the defendant from receiving a fair trial. Indicted on two counts of aggravated murder arising from the killing of one victim, the defendant had also been indicted on six additional counts of attempted murder

Private Property Leased to For-Profit School Not Tax-exempt in Ohio

Posted on October 13, 2010
In a ruling that could be catastrophic for some charter schools, the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday said a property tax exemption for public schools does not extend to property leased to a "school for profit," following the precedent it had set back in its1874 case, Gerke v...

Ohio Wrongful Inprisonment

Posted on October 12, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court followed its 20-year-old precedent this morning in ruling that "All wrongful-imprisonment claimants must follow a two-step process. In the first step, the claimant must bring an action in the court of common pleas to secure a determination that he or she is a wrongfully imprisoned individual entitled to compensation...

New Federal Technology Accessibility Law

Posted on October 11, 2010
MSNBC.com relates thatPresident Barack Obama last Friday signed the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 ( Senate Bill 3304 ) into law setting up new federal guidelines that will require the telecommunications industry to:Make getting to the Internet easier by improving the user interfaces on smart phones,Provide audible descriptions of on-screen action to help

Ohio suing Ally Financial/ GMAC

Posted on October 08, 2010
Cincinnati.com Wednesday morning reported that Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray has filed a lawsuit against Ally Financial Inc. and its GMAC Mortgage division, alleging fraud that could involve hundreds of foreclosures in the state and asking for civil penalties of up to $25,000 for every violation of the state's consumer laws...

Supreme Court Prosecutorial Liability Case

Posted on October 08, 2010
USAToday.com Wednesday morning said, "Americans can sue almost anyone for almost anything. But they can't sue prosecutors-- Not when they hide evidence that could prove someone's innocence. Not when they violate basic rules designed to make sure trials are fair...

New York medical examiner case

Posted on October 06, 2010
New York's 2nd. Judicial Department Appellate Court ruled last week that the New York City Medical Examiner's Office's failure to inform a decedent's parents that that office had removed and retained their late son's brain violated the parents' right of sepulcher...

Lexis Advance for Solos

Posted on October 05, 2010
LexisNexis opened the doors to ?Lexis Advance for Solos? today, Law.com?s Law Technology News report this morning. "The new product, aimed at one- and two-attorney law firms, is a web-based interface to the New Lexis 1.0 platform, which serves up LexisNexis content in XML markup language over a ...

Annual Update to Ohio Supreme Court Rules of Practice & Procedure

Posted on October 05, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will accept public comment on amendments to the annual update to the Rules of Practice and Procedure, which were recommended by the Supreme Court Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure, until Nov...

Ohio sex offender tracking procedures

Posted on October 04, 2010
Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray last Wednesday announced that a two-tiered program, in part utilizing an automated message to remind offenders of their appointments, and, secondly, reimbursing sheriff's offices for tracking down some 50 high-level offenders who have fled the state, funded with $155,546 in federal grant money...

Trumbell County Probate Court Guardianship Video

Posted on October 01, 2010
For the average person on the street the intricacies and in & outs of the law and government can be bewildering at best, and written instructions are often of little help. Forms & procedures are periodically changed or updated as well, and the mere fact that "change" has occurred can cause confusion...

Ohio Supreme Court Recognizes Common Law 'Self Protection' Exception to Statutory Attorney-Client Privilege

Posted on September 28, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court this morning held that the state recognizes a common law "self protection exception" to attorney-client privileges that permits an attorney to testify concerning attorney-client communications where such testimony is necessary to establish a claim for legal fees on behalf of the attorney or to allow an attorney to defend against a charge of malpractice or other wrongdoing

Interstate crime gun report

Posted on September 27, 2010
Almost half of all guns crossing state lines and then used in crimes in 2009 were sold in just 10 states, including Ohio & Indiana, according to a report released today by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, an association of more than 500 mayors led by New York's Michael Bloomberg and Boston's Thomas Menino, the Associated Press said this morning...

Kentucky rejects question of multiple DNA tests

Posted on September 24, 2010
"Inmates in Kentucky are entitled to only a single DNA test of old evidence regardless of what, if any, results an initial test produces, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled yesterday," according to a Cincinnati.com article this morning. "The decision is the first time the limits of Kentucky's law have been defined in the seven years since testing has been allowed," the article says, but, while

"New Media" and the Courts

Posted on September 21, 2010
Results from a first-of-its-kind nationwide survey on "new media" and the courts made public late last month suggest that "state judges and court staff recognize the potential impact of social media on the administration of justice and are taking a close look at both the ramifications and opportunities...

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