Ohio

After Web Post About Serial Murder Case, Judge Should Step Down, Lawyer Says

An Ohio judge who has been linked to an anonymous post on a local newspaper’s web page about a serial murder defendant in a case she is overseeing should recuse herself, the defendant’s lawyer says. Attorney Rufus Sims filed a motion Friday seeking the recusal of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas…

Mar 29, 2010 5:56 PM CDT

‘Lawmiss’ Comment on Accused Serial Killer Is Linked to Judge Overseeing His Case

One of the anonymous individuals who has posted on an Ohio newspaper’s affiliated website about an accused serial killer may be the judge overseeing his case, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The newspaper says that the “Lawmiss” who posted on its cleveland.com site about capital murder defendant Anthony Sowell…

Mar 26, 2010 9:46 PM CDT

Accused of Stealing from Clients, Attorney Never Returned, and His Fate Is Still Unlearned

After 40 years of marriage, the wife of attorney Allen Schwartz thought she knew her husband. So she was stunned when he came home one summer day in 2001 and told her he was in trouble and would be leaving her permanently. Over 70 at that time, the Ohio practitioner…

Mar 22, 2010 11:29 PM CDT

KKK Leader Excused from Jury Duty; Threatened to Appear in Full Klan Uniform

Lawyers, even judges regularly serve on jury duty when called these days. But at least one ironclad excuse apparently can apparently still be offered: When Railton Loy called an Indiana judge’s chambers to point that he is Imperial Wizard of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and could…

Mar 19, 2010 8:15 PM CDT

Juvenile Judge Orders 4 Sex-Assault Victims to Take Polygraph Test

Baffling prosecutors and upsetting victims, an Ohio judge has ordered four teenage victims of sexual assaults to take polygraph tests—after their alleged attackers have already been found delinquent, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Cuyahoga Juvenile Court Judge Alison Floyd has also called for the delinquent teens, who are accused of…

Mar 19, 2010 5:35 PM CDT

Judge Won’t Jail Reporter; Fellow Jurist Says He Gave Accused Serial Killer’s Psych Report to Paper

After a fellow jurist admitted that he gave a confidential psychiatric report on an accused serial killer to an Ohio newspaper, the judge overseeing the case of murder defendant Thomas Sowell has dropped her threat to jail reporter Gabriel Baird if he didn’t reveal the source. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas…

Mar 17, 2010 8:56 PM CDT

Allegations Against Attorney Guardian Spur Ohio Judge’s Proposed Rules

An Ohio judge is developing local rules for attorney guardians after hearing the case of a retired city worker who alleged his guardian’s actions cost his estate more than $400,000 in assets. Judge Eric Brown of Franklin County Probate Court in Columbus is proposing standards that bar attorney guardians from…

Mar 8, 2010 11:30 AM CST

Benesch Friedlander Snaps Up Century-Old Indy Firm

Cleveland-based Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff announced this week that it has merged with Indianapolis-based Dann Pecar Newman & Kleiman as part of its continuing growth strategy. Benesch now counts 145 attorneys and 288 support staff in seven offices in the United States and Shanghai, according to a news release.…

Mar 3, 2010 12:36 PM CST

Mortgage-Rescue Meltdown: Calif. Probes 400 Lawyers, Fields 30 Complaints Daily

Amidst the mortgage meltdown, a stunning number of lawyers reportedly may be taking advantage of desperate homeowners by accepting thousands of dollars in fees from individuals while doing little or no work to save their homes. The California Bar is probing more than 400 lawyers in such cases, and is…

Feb 16, 2010 7:31 PM CST

Legal Secretaries Pursue Class Action Against IP Boutique, Claim Overtime Violations

A former legal secretary at a BigLaw firm wondered why her new boutique employer didn’t pay her overtime, since her former firm did. That led to federal lawsuit against an Ohio intellectual property boutique, reports the National Law Journal in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg. req.). And…

Feb 11, 2010 10:04 PM CST

Lawsuits Against Toyota Accelerate Amidst ‘Massive PR Mess’

As news of claimed acceleration—and, on hybrid models, brake—problems related to an already-massive recall of Toyota automobiles seemingly exploded today, so did news of an ever-expanding list of lawsuits against the automobile manufacturer. In Ohio, for instance, attorney Stan Chesley filed a potential class action yesterday on behalf of a…

Feb 4, 2010 12:16 AM CST

Mom Makes Federal Case Out of Latest Student Hairstyle Rights Fight

Headlines about school district battles over student hairstyles are now focusing on Ohio, where a mother of an 11-year-old boy says he was publicly humiliated by a teacher and a classroom aide and has filed a federal lawsuit over their alleged “gender-based harassment” of the boy. When the unidentified boy…

Jan 28, 2010 8:20 PM CST

Class Action Alleges Day-Care Center Handed Out Melatonin to Help Kids Sleep

A class action lawsuit claims an Ohio day-care center gave children an over-the-counter supplement to help them sleep during nap time. Police are investigating allegations that workers at the day-care center run by the Covenant Apostolic Church in Springfield Township handed out melatonin to the children, according to the Cincinnati…

Dec 16, 2009 7:50 PM CST

Judge’s E-Mail to Newspaper Reportedly Forces Him Off Alleged Serial Killer’s Trial

An Ohio judge’s e-mails to a newspaper about an alleged serial murderer whose case he was later assigned have reportedly led him to step down from the upcoming trial. Although Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Timothy McGinty declined to detail the conflict that is the basis of his decision yesterday…

Dec 11, 2009 8:11 PM CST

Inmate Apologizes for Murder, Is Executed in First 1-Drug Injection

After apologizing for murdering a 22-year-old woman in 1991, a death row inmate was executed in Ohio today in a historic one-drug lethal injection that the director of state prisons described as problem-free. Kenneth Biros, who was in his early 50s, died in about 10 minutes once thiopental sodium began…

Dec 8, 2009 6:56 PM CST