6th Circuit Court

Employee Locked in Restroom in Office Prank Loses False Imprisonment Appeal

An employee locked in a cruise boat restroom as part of an office prank has failed to persuade an appeals court that he deserved a new trial after jurors ruled against his false imprisonment claim. Plaintiff Steven Slasinski claimed the trial court erred when it denied a motion for a…

Jan 26, 2012 3:58 PM CST

Federal Judge Nixes Duncan Law TRO, Calls School’s Future Success in Suit Against ABA ‘Unlikely’

A federal judge in Knoxville today refused to grant preliminary injunctive relief sought by the plaintiff Tennessee law school in an antitrust lawsuit against the American Bar Association that also alleges due process violations. Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan School of Law is “unlikely” to succeed on the merits in the…

Jan 19, 2012 12:06 AM CST

Ex-Prez of Ohio State Bar Inflated Law Firm Biz Expenses, Gets 1 Year in Federal Tax Case

A former president of the Ohio State Bar Association has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison after pleading guilty to falsifying federal tax returns. Under the sentence he received from a federal judge in Youngstown, Leslie W. “Les” Jacobs, 67, must also serve just under…

Jan 18, 2012 9:02 PM CST

Feds Raid Fringe Amish Group’s Compound, Arrest 7 in Alleged Hair-Cutting Hate Crimes

Responding to alleged attacks that had struck fear into the hearts of residents of pacifist Amish communities in multiple Midwestern states, federal authorities raided the Ohio compound of a breakaway Amish group this morning and arrested seven men. They are accused of hate crimes in a bizarre series of hair-cutting…

Nov 23, 2011 9:55 PM CST

Panel Says Judge’s Membership in Country Club Is Ethics Violation, But Withholds Sanction

A bankruptcy judge violated the ethics code when he failed to resign from a Nashville, Tenn., country club that had no blacks or women as voting members, according to the Federal Judicial Conference’s Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability. But the panel opted against disciplining Judge George Paine II because…

Nov 22, 2011 11:30 AM CST

Yes, the Government Is Forcibly Implanting Microchips; 6th Circuit Allows ‘Dog-gonest’ Suit

A federal appeals court has reinstated most of the claims of dog owners who sued animal control officials in Louisville, Ky., for implanting microchips in their nine dogs without consent. The suit by James and Angela O’Neill claims animal control officers entered their home without a warrant, seized two adult…

Nov 8, 2011 4:45 PM CST

Supreme Court Reinstates Death Sentence in Summary Reversal of 6th Circuit

The U.S. Supreme Court has reinstated the death sentence of an Ohio inmate in a summary reversal of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The defendant, Archie Dixon, was convicted of murdering a man to steal his car. According to the Supreme Court’s per curiam opinion (PDF), the…

Nov 7, 2011 6:41 PM CST

Fired Ex-Prosecutor Andrew Shirvell Sues Lawyer Who Sued Him

After a Michigan prosecutor allegedly targeted a gay student at the University of Michigan for homophobic harassment, he was fired from his job as assistant attorney general and sued in federal district court by the man he’d targeted. Andrew Shirvell, the fired ex-prosecutor, counterclaimed. And Friday he filed a federal…

Nov 1, 2011 2:44 AM CDT

Expert Witness Lawyer Morphed Stock Photos Into Alleged Child Porn for Exhibits, Told to Pay $300K

A lawyer who digitally altered stock photographs of children into explicit images to help in the defense of child pornography cases in Ohio and Oklahoma has himself been found to have crossed the line and ordered by a federal court yesterday to pay $300,000 in damages. The judgment against attorney…

Oct 22, 2011 2:03 AM CDT

Trailblazing Judge Bernice Donald Joins 6th US Circuit Bench, Says She Stands on Others’ Shoulders

Crediting those who came before her, including her parents, for her new role as the first black woman on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Bernice Donald was sworn in today at a packed ceremony in Memphis, Tenn. “It’s wonderful to be in America, to be an American…

Oct 20, 2011 11:27 PM CDT

Ex-President of Ohio State Bar Is Cooperating with Feds in Tax Fraud Case

A senior partner of Thompson Hine who formerly served as president of the Ohio State Bar Association is cooperating with federal prosecutors after being charged with tax fraud (PDF). Leslie W. “Les” Jacobs, 66, acknowledged in an interview that he had made fraudulent tax filings prior to 2008 and called…

Oct 17, 2011 11:15 PM CDT

Pork Producers Threaten Litigation Over Prison’s Response to Muslim Inmates’ Meal Lawsuit

In an effort to address complaints by Muslim inmates that the Ohio prison system doesn’t provide them with halal meals prepared in accord with their religion’s dietary laws, administrators decided simply to ban pork from the menu. But that didn’t derail the halal-meal litigation, reports the Associated Press. And now…

Oct 5, 2011 11:03 PM CDT

2nd Judge Gets Time in Cuyahoga, Ohio, Corruption Case; 3 Lawyers Previously Sent to Club Fed

Corrected: A federal judge in Akron was emotional yesterday as she sentenced a former Ohio jurist to the maximum allowed by sentencing guidelines in a political corruption case. But former Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Steven Terry was unrepentant, saying that he disagreed with the jury verdict and intends to…

Oct 5, 2011 5:39 PM CDT

Inmate Convicted in Courthouse Slayings Sues, Says Ohio Won’t Provide Halal Meals to Muslims

An inmate on death row for murdering his estranged wife and brother-in-law in an Ohio domestic relations courtroom is pursuing a federal civil rights suit over the state prison system’s alleged refusal to provide halal meals to Muslims. Although the state does accommodate dietary restrictions of Muslims by offering no-pork…

Oct 3, 2011 5:54 PM CDT

Armed Pharmacist Who Foiled Robbery and Was Fired Sues Walgreens

When a would-be armed robber hit a Walgreens in southwestern Michigan early one morning in May, the pharmacist was ready to rumble. After a masked man vaulted the pharmacy counter at around 4:30 a.m., surveillance footage attached to an Associated Press article shows, Jeremy Hoven drew on him and reportedly…

Sep 8, 2011 5:41 PM CDT