A win is a win, right? Well, when that “win” comes in the form of reducing a million dollar judgment to $250,000 through Ohio's tort reform damage caps structure, when it might have been $175,000, it might not feel that way. In Guiliani v. Shehata, 2014-Ohio-4240, the plaintiff in a failure-to-diagnose type medical malpractice action […]
The Ohio Supreme Court released its decision in Cleveland Clinic Found. v. Cleveland Bd. of Zoning Appeals, Slip Opinion No. 2014-Ohio-4809 today, holding that the City of Cleveland zoning laws permit the building of a helipad on the rooftop of a new building as an “accessory use” of the property. The court held that helipads are “customarily […]
It may occur rarely, but the implications are immense. Consider the situation of hiring an expert to review a case file. She declines to testify at trial but subsequently gets hired by the opposing counsel as their expert. As disheartening as that prospect seems, there is some support in Ohio to seek disqualification of the […]
In Burkhart v. H.J. Heinz Co., 2014-Ohio-3766, the Ohio Supreme Court interpreted Evid.R. 804(B)(1), which requires a party to demonstrate the former testimony being offered is (1) against a party or that party’s predecessor-in-interest, that had the opportunity to cross-examine the declarant and (2) had a similar motiving in developing the former testimony. The decision […]
Courts in Ohio have been reluctant to create a rule of equalization of peremptory challenges among all parties in multi-defendant cases and therefore, a plaintiff must take control of the situation at the earliest possible stage. In LeFort v. Century 21-Maitland Realty Co., 32 Ohio St.3d 121, 512 N.E.2d 640 (1987), the Ohio Supreme Court […]
