Victory for a Good Dad

We recently finished (for the most part) a very long custody battle where we represented a young father who had a very short relationship with a woman that resulted in a very beautiful baby boy.

Although this was not something that the father had planned, he stepped up completely and sought to be a serious part of his baby’s life.

In fact, after from protracted litigation, our client was able to secure full custody of his child because of the unique facts of the case.

What made the case even better for us was when we received a thank you card in the mail with a picture of the client and the child.

Not an everyday event for us. A good day for that Dad.

Our Federal Defense Practice

We spend a large amount of time these days in federal court defending persons accused of committing serious federal crimes.

Currently we are involved in defending serious drug trafficking cases, a money laundering case and a large white-collar economic crime involving an international group accused of internet fraud.

These are often very complex cases involving many thousands of pages of digital discovery. We are part of a group of lawyers who meet tight qualifications to practice criminal defense in federal court.

We love the work, and being in a federal courtroom is a very honorable and interesting experience.

Interesting Recent Criminal Defense Case - and the “Castle Doctrine”

We just got done representing a man who was accused of shooting his step-son in our client’s home.

The step-son did not die from his wounds, but our client was charged with a serious crime called “Felonious Assault.” As indicted, the charge required my client to spend at least three years in prison.

However, by working with the prosecution and pointing out how the “Castle Doctrine” worked in Ohio, we were able to get the prosecution to reduce the charge to a very low level misdemeanor - for which our client received no jail time whatsoever.

In Ohio, a law called the “Castle Doctrine” provides that a person is permitted to use deadly force in their home if a person enters that home without the homeowner’s consent. The doctrine is somewhat complicated, but it can apply to situations faced by people like our client.

The step-son in this case had been thrown out of the home, and charged back in anyway (with some in the home suspecting he might have gone to get a gun).

A very good outcome to a very serious situation.

Defamation Lawsuit

We are currently assisting a client in the defense of what is called a “slap” lawsuit filed by an angry local and wealthy business owner.  

Our client had a disastrous cosmetic treatment from this business, and complained on a website called “Yelp.” In order to “slap” customers or persons into not complaining about a business, these businesses file bogus defamation lawsuits against complaining customers in order to coerce them into withdrawing their complaint and forfeiting their First Amendment rights.  

It will take some time, but this case will eventually be dismissed against our client – but not without a fair amount of work.

Intoxication Plea to a Misdemeanor

We recently resolved a unique criminal case where our client (while extremely intoxicated) engaged in some inappropriate behavior while on an airline flight to Cleveland.  

He was actually arrested by the Cleveland Police, indicted by the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury and the case received media attention. We were able to resolve the case in such a way that involved a plea to a misdemeanor that the client will be able to get expunged in a couple of years.    

The good thing is that the client is now in active and progressive treatment for his alcohol issues.

Custody Battle

We are currently representing a single Dad who is working to obtain full custody of his infant son.

He made the mistake of having a short affair with an older woman who he has now learned had lost custody of her other two children and has a long string of criminal convictions.

Nevertheless, this mother of his infant son has thrown many legal tangles in his way and has even tried to have false criminal and county services investigations commenced against him.

Fraudulent Misrepresentation

We are currently representing a client who was trying to start a business on the premises of an old golf course.  

As it turns out, his intended business partner had engaged in a number of acts of “fraudulent misrepresentation” and “fraudulent non-disclosure” – both of which are different types of fraud.  

We just filed the complaint on this case (and obtained a temporary restraining order), so stay tuned for details.

Defamation of Character

We are currently in the evidence discovery phase of a serious defamation case.

Our clients (2 police officers) were seriously defamed by a disgraced former mayor and her safety director. Their sole purpose in these character attacks was to help the mayor boost her re-election possibilities.  

This is a very troubling case and we are working hard to protect these two police officers. 

Immigration Divorce

We recently had to represent a divorce client who was facing serious immigration issues associated with the divorce.  

We had to frame the truth of his marriage and divorce in a way that reduced the heightened paranoia immigration officials are forced to deal with these days.  

Given the climate we have today, it was not an easy task.
 

Concealed Permit Dismissal

We recently helped a client who was charged with a violation of the CCW law – even though he had a valid CCW permit.  

When the police pulled him over for a traffic incident, our client disclosed that he had a CCW permit and was carrying his weapon. However, the police officer felt that our client took “too long” to make the disclosure.    

After we dissected the body cam video, we were able to convince the cop and the prosecutor that in fact the client had disclosed his CCW license and the fact he was carrying with reasonable promptness. It was refreshing to see a cop willing to second guess himself after he had initially charged the client.  

It often helps to be professional in the context of criminal defense of a client, and we think this definitely helped here.  
 

Self-Defense to Assault

We recently had to defend a young man with no criminal record who had been charged with Felonious Assault.  

This young man had to defense himself (albeit with a kitchen knife) in his own yard from a violent man who lived next door and who had been harassing our client and all of the neighbors in the area.  

This man even attacked our client with gas and fire after our client had defended himself. Suffice to say, given all of the circumstances, once our client was allowed to plea to a misdemeanor, the judge did not give him any time in jail and no probation.  

We were very happy for this client.
 

Father Custody Battle

We recently had success in getting a hard working father full custody of his toddler son.  

Even though it is 2018, it is still not easy to convince a court that awarding full custody to a dad may in fact be in the child’s best interests.  

We did it – and we were very pleased for this father.    

Bullying Lawsuit

We recently had to file suit for a young boy and his family regarding a long series of acts of bullying the boy had to endure at school – something the school district involved just simply refused to address.  

The suit made some television news. We had to sue the school district, the bullies and the bullies’ parents (Ohio law holds the parents responsible for intentional acts of their minor children).  

Stay tuned as this case develops. Ironically, one of the main offenders has hired a lawyer who seeks only to be a bully in the litigation.

Impulsive Act but Only a Misdemeanor Trespass

We recently defended a client who had been charged with a felony crime called Breaking and Entering.  

Breaking and Entering is when a suspect breaks into a business to steal something (vs. a suspect who breaks into a home).    

The facts of this case were very unique – and the client had no criminal record. We negotiated a plea where the defendant only had to plea to a low level misdemeanor called criminal trespass.

The client served no jail. Given the prison time he was facing for the charged felony, the client was very happy with the outcome.
 

Legal Malpractice

We just recently resolved a long and protracted legal malpractice case.  

The defendant lawyer had given our client some very bad legal advice which resulted in the client resolving a divorce motion on some very bad monetary terms.  

We had to go all the way to the court of appeals and back to help this client.  

Clients need to know that when a lawyer makes a mistake (it happens – they are just human), there is a legal and monetary remedy.

Client Avoids Prison in Check Scam

We were able to make sure a client of ours did not go to prison for having the misfortune of being duped by a gang into cashing false checks for them - which resulted in a serious Federal Court indictment.  

The client was out of work (on disability) and wanted to make some extra, small and quick cash for rent and groceries for his kids.  He had no real criminal history, and we worked with the probation department to show that he had accepted responsibility for his actions and that he was just a unfortunate target in the scam (which was run by much bigger players). He walked to the bus stop to go home to his children that day.

Domestic Violence Victory

We obtained a significant reduction for a older female educator (who had never been in trouble her entire life) in what commenced as a domestic violence case.

In this case, our client threw a shoe at her drunk and abusive husband. The charge was reduced to a disorderly conduct charge, and the client was very pleased with her outcome, and her husband was charged for his actions.  

OVI Reduction for Client

We obtained yet another reduction for our OVI client last week.

In this case, because the blood alcohol reading was only slightly over the legal limit of .08, and because we demonstrated to the prosecution other issues within the case, we were able to get the city prosecutor to reduce the charge to a physical control. 

This was a huge outcome for the client, who has a higher profile job and did not need the notoriety.

Interesting Appeal Victory for Child Support Client

Not that we endorse not paying child support, but we received a unique appellate victory for our client last week.  

Our client fell way behind on his child support after he left the state of Ohio back in 2006. Cuyahoga County indicted him for criminal non-support.

However, even though he was arrested a number of times (in other states) on the criminal indictment (and temporarily held in those states), Cuyahoga County (for reasons that they could never really explain) never extradited him to Ohio.  

Because of this, the Court of Appeals held that Cuyahoga County had violated the speedy trial statute. The opinion scolded the County for prosecutorial negligence and dismissed the case entirely. 

Spousal Support Win

A mother of two children who was only married for three years had success in getting some spousal support.

She was trying to get on her feet by going back to school and working part-time. She knew she did not need it forever or for any significant time, and we obtained this spousal support in addition to the child support her ex-husband would have to pay.