Merit Decisions

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On November 27, 2013, the Supreme Court of Ohio handed down a merit decision in State v. Keck, 2013-Ohio-5160. In a unanimous decision written by Justice Lanzinger, the Court held that the defendant’s rights under the Confrontation Clause were not violated by the testimony of an expert witness who relied on a report authored by…

On November 5, 2013, the Supreme Court of Ohio handed down a merit decision in Cullen v. State Farm Mut. Auto Ins. Co., 2013-Ohio-4733. In a 5-2 decision written by Justice O’Donnell, the Court held that class certification was improper in the case. In an earlier post, I set forth the line-up of the…

Update: On October 6, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States declined without opinion ( p.10, first case), to hear Freshwater’s appeal of the decision of the Supreme Court of  Ohio to uphold his termination as a middle school science teacher.

On November 19, 2013, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued a merit decision…

Update:  Read a more thorough analysis of this merit decision here.

On November 5, 2013, the Supreme Court of Ohio handed down a merit decision in Cullen v. State Farm Mut. Auto Ins. Co., 2013-Ohio-4733. In this 5-2 decision written by Justice O’Donnell, in which Judge Matthew McFarland sat for Justice French and joined…

Further Update: on  June 18, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Supreme Court of Ohio in this case.  Read the analysis here.

Update: On October 2, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court granted cert. in this case, now captioned Ohio v. Clark. 13-1352.

On October 30, 2013, the Supreme Court of Ohio handed down a…

Read what happened on remand in this case here.

On October 24, 2013, the Supreme Court of Ohio handed down a merit decision in Mortez v. Muakkassa, 2013-Ohio-4656.  In a 5-2 decision written by Chief Justice O’Connor, the Court reversed a medical malpractice jury verdict for the plaintiffs on a number of evidentiary grounds.  Justice…

On October 23, 2013, the Supreme Court of Ohio handed down a merit decision in Mahoning Edn. Ass’n. of Dev. Disabilities v. State Emp. Relations Bd., 2013-Ohio-4654. While the Court unanimously held that the union in this case had not committed an unfair labor practice, the court split 5-2 on the constitutional challenge to  R.C.

On October 22, 2013, the Supreme Court of Ohio handed down a merit decision in State v. Boykin, 2013-Ohio-4582. In a 6-1 decision written by Justice Lanzinger, the Court held that a gubernatorial pardon does not automatically entitle the recipient to have the record of the pardoned conviction sealed.  Judge Stephen Shaw of the…

On  October 16, 2013, the Supreme Court of Ohio handed down a merit decision in Morrow v. Becker, 2013-Ohio-4542. In a 6-1 decision written by Justice Pfeifer, the Court held that it was not an abuse of discretion to include certain employer-paid benefits in gross income for the purposes of calculating child support obligation, even…