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.

DUI Reduction Case

Our client who had been accused of a DUI recently received a reduction.

At our request, once the prosecutor looked at the video of the client performing the field sobriety tests, they agreed with us that the client did well enough on the video.

What really helped here was our clear understanding of how field sobriety tests are to be administered and how one must perform on them. This is a very happy client, as he could have lost his job with a DUI conviction. 

Victory for Client

We recently received a not guilty verdict for a client accused of the crime of failing to verify his address with the County Sheriff.

We were successful based upon a legal technicality known as identification. None of the witnesses called by the State of Ohio could say whether or not the man sitting at the table with me was the man who failed to verify his address.

None of these witnesses had in fact ever seen my client before, and they failed to bring any identification information with them.

The client was a now homeless man who had been residing at a homeless shelter for about a year and had been in the hospital for a number of months when the authorities claimed he should be verifying his address.  

Using old toys may cause risk of lead poisoning exposure

Young children are at the highest risk for lead poisoning, but linking vintage toys to this threat is a new one.  

“High levels of lead in used toys may be of concern to many parents as day cares and other centers may be using vintage toys.”

— Michael O'Shea

A study found lead, cadmium and even arsenic in an alarmingly high number of plastic toys made in the 1970s and 1980s.

One in four toys contained more than 10 times current safety limits for lead; a third of non-vinyl toys violated standards for both lead and cadmium; and a fifth contained arsenic.

Researchers from St. Ambrose University conducted this study and noted, "The developing brains and bodies of infants and young children are especially vulnerable to toxic exposures because they absorb and retain lead more efficiently than adults."

While many may find it to be cost effective and even beneficial to use old toys passed down through the generations, doing this can potentially increase your child’s risk of lead poisoning.

What is a "dram shop" lawsuit, and what is involved?

In the past, we have successfully maintained suits against liquor establishments for selling/furnishing alcohol to a noticeably intoxicated person - who, after leaving the establishment (or while still on the premises), caused injury to others.  This often happens in DUI related auto accidents (sometimes it applies to bar fight cases too).   When there is insufficient auto insurance to cover the auto accident injuries (be it the insurance of the drink driver or the "under" insurance of the injured person), lawyers are required to see of the person or establishment serving the DUI driver furnished alcohol to that driver when that driver (while at the establishment) was noticeably intoxicated.   This is not an easy thing to do (although, with lots of work, we have been able to do so).  An Ohio statute covers the law in this area. A recent case out of Franklin County explains the legalities and complexities of these types of cases.  In Piras v. Screamin Willie's, 2015-Ohio-255, the Court of Appeals in Franklin County discussed how a bar/restaurant can be held liable for injuries caused by a patron who was served alcohol despite the fact that the patron was "noticeably intoxicated."    The Court held:

• “For a claim to arise under R.C. 4399.18, noticeable intoxication must be evident at the time of service….[the defendant's] obvious intoxication at the accident scene and hospital does not provide, absent additional evidence, that he was noticeably intoxicated hours earlier when he placed orders at the bar.”

We have, in the past had to hunt down cash register receipts and interview other bar/restaurant patrons to finally discover how intoxicated the defendant was while the defendant was still on the premises of the bar/restaurant.  Magnum PI results matter here.

Be careful out there.  Don't hesitate to tell the bar/restaurant manager that a patron has had too much.

DUI protections for our clients

DUI cases are complicated.  

The economic impact on a client can be huge (i.e. fines, attorney fees, loss of employment and insurance costs, etc).  Further, some clients have huge issues with their employment if they are even accused of a DUI offense.

Recently, we had to assist two clients with a number of these important legal and economic issues.  The first was a husband and father who had never been in trouble in his life.  One night, in a moment of very bad judgment, he decided to drive home from a party where he had been drinking very heavily.  On his way home, he lost control of his car, and went into a ditch. 

Before his car left the road, he hit a mailbox - which flew through the air and hit an elderly man in the leg (taking out his garbage), breaking the leg of the elderly man.  Because of how the law worked, this husband/father (and owner of a small family business which supported the family and others) was facing a minimum of one year in prison. 

However, because of some issues we were able to locate in the arrest procedure, we were able to negotiate a much lower sentence, and the client did not have to report for that sentence until after the holidays. This way, he can ready his family and his family's business for the time he will have to spend in jail. This was huge to the client and his family.

The second was a woman who is in the last months of her nursing degree.  She is currently employed as a RN-in-training (big hospital), and the OVI arrest has frightened her about her RN employment possibilities.   Due to some issues we were able to locate in connection with the arrest, she was offered a plea to a reckless operation - a huge reduction for her. 

This will look much better on her driving record - and should provide her with a significantly strong explanation to any current or prospective employer about what happened on one, out-of-the-ordinary, night.

As we stated above, it is important to look at all of the personal and economic impacts a DUI arrest has on a client.   Its not always just about the law and the police report.

Wrongful Death Case Against a City - Large Settlement

In the last two weeks we finally negotiated a large settlement in a wrongful death case against a large local city.  

A police officer stuck and killed the husband and father of a local family while the father was pushing a stalled car off the highway. 

We proved to the trial court (through approximately 7 depositions of police officers and others - and the use of 3 experts) that the police officer was very untruthful about his explanation of the accident.  

The city and the officer had claimed immunity (governmental entities get this sometimes for auto accidents with police cars) - but that would only apply if the police officer's version of what happened was in fact true.  

This particular case took 4 years from start to finish, two trial court judges and one trip up and back from the Court of Appeals (where we won as well). It was a great feeling to tell the widow of the resolution.  These are the days that make you glad to be a lawyer.

Successful Appeal

Today we received word that an appeal we were doing for one of our criminal clients was successful (the client fell way behind on his child support and was charged with criminal non-support). 

The Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County reversed a trial court and ordered the case remanded back to the trial court for further proceedings.  

Once the case is back at the trial court, we hope that things will continue to go well for our client. Stay tuned.

Voluntary "unemployment" and "under-employment"

When a divorce or juvenile court is considering setting a support amount, the court must try to determine the actual income of each parent. 

In some cases, one of the parents is either unemployed or has a job where they are really making much less money than there experience or skills would otherwise dictate (otherwise referred to as "under-employment").   

In these situations, the court can take evidence as to whether that parent is "voluntarily" unemployed or under-employed.  The Court can hear evidence about that parent's past employment, why that past employment was terminated (or modified as to salary or wages), and can also have "vocational" experts testify as to the real employment possibilities of that parent.

Every so often one party in a support proceeding will actually quit their current job or deliberately pursue a lower paying opportunity - just so they can argue a lower ability to pay support.   However, with the right evidence, this tactic can be rebutted.

Most divorce and juvenile courts are very experienced with this issue, so a party to one of these support actions should be aware that unemployment and under-employment tactics are sometimes very easy to spot.

New "Litigation" Lawyers.

Its an little known secret to non-lawyers that there is a serious underemployment/unemployment problem for lawyers who recently got out of law school.  As many as 40% of lawyers graduating from law school have no official jobs.  So what do they do?  The get a business card and a cell phone and operate a solo practice out of their home (or their parents' home).  They go to one or two seminars on DUI defense, family law or personal injury, and pay to get a web site up and running, and then claim they are seasoned litigation lawyers.  And they are all over. Too many clients come to us AFTER they have hired these young and inexperienced lawyers.  Its often way too late for us to do anything at that point.

It is very important for any client to ask serious questions about the lawyer they are hiring for their specific courtroom experience.  How many jury trials have they tried?  How many motions have they litigated?  Do they have their own law office (instead of renting space from another law firm or group of lawyers)?   Do they have malpractice insurance?

Ask these questions.  Your case depends on it.

Mitigation of Damages

We discovered a recent case that discusses the doctrine of "mitigation of damages."  That doctrine essentially holds that if one is damaged in an accident or transaction, that person has at least some obligation to try and limit the amount of damages that person incurs.  For instance, if a tenant moves out of a building in violation of a lease agreement, the landlord has a good faith obligation to try release the building to try an minimize the loss.

In this recent case, the Court made it clear that while an injured/non-breaching party has an obligation to use "reasonable" efforts to mitigate damages, that party does not have to use "extraordinary" efforts to do so.  The Court also held that it is the breaching party that has the "burden" of proving that the injured party did not mitigate its damages.

Something to think about when things go wrong.