Judge Sentences Couple to Distribute Water Safety Message from Festival’s Wading Pool

An Ohio judge known for his creative sentences has devised a new one for a couple swept away in the Grand River during a severe flood after boarding a raft without life preservers. Judge Michael Ciccconetti of Painesville Municipal Court gave Grace Nash and Bruce Crawford a choice, report the…

May 20, 2011 12:01 PM CDT

Lawyer Who Barricaded Himself in Apartment Is Killed by Police

An armed Ohio lawyer who barricaded himself in his apartment was shot and killed by police on Wednesday. Police went to the Bowling Green apartment of 46-year-old lawyer Robert B. Blackwell after a family member asked for a check on the man’s welfare, report the Toledo Blade, WTOL.com and ABC13.com.…

Apr 28, 2011 11:32 AM CDT

Affidavit Alleges Lawyer Had Affair with Client’s Wife During Murder Trial

A lawyer who defended an Ohio man convicted of murder is accused in an affidavit of having an affair with his client’s wife during the 1997 trial. The affidavit accuses Columbus lawyer James Owen of having sex with the wife of his client at a local hotel only hours after…

Apr 21, 2011 1:08 PM CDT

Wealthy Tort Lawyer Settles With Ex-Partner’s Widow for Reported $10M to $35M

For five years, mass torts lawyer James Ferraro battled with Lynn Arko Kelley, the widow of his former law partner. Now they have reached a confidential settlement of her claims concerning the massive sum she claimed to be due to her after Michael Kelley’s death from a heart attack. Although…

Apr 20, 2011 7:04 PM CDT

Fisher & Phillips Acquires 19-Lawyer Firm, Opens First Office in Ohio

A growing national employment boutique has now established its first office in Ohio, with the acquisition of a 19-attorney law firm, Millisor + Nobil. Fisher & Phillips announces the merger in a press release today. Ken Millisor is retiring from the firm he co-founded in 1975, but Steven Nobil remains…

Apr 18, 2011 6:20 PM CDT

Judge Discovers His Gavel Is Missing; Court Personnel Track Down Suspect, Now Charged with Theft

Discovering that his gavel was missing, Magistrate Daniel Cook of Lorain, Ohio, concluded that someone had to have stolen it from his small claims court. Sure enough, when workers there reviewed security footage they spotted a suspect allegedly making off with the purloined court equipment, reports the Smoking Gun. Although…

Apr 9, 2011 1:03 AM CDT

Cleveland Browns Fan Sues NFL over Lockout; Experts Give Suit Little Chance

A Cleveland Browns fan has sued the National Football League, claiming that the lockout and lack of negotiations violated his contract to buy tickets through his personal seat license. The plaintiff is Ken Lanci, the owner of a printing business who ran unsuccessfully for Cuyahoga County chief executive, report the…

Apr 5, 2011 3:50 PM CDT

Trial Starts for Law Partner Charged in $1.3M County Auditor Bribe Conspiracy

Two of William Mitchell’s former law partners, Timothy Armstrong and Bruce Zaccagnini, have taken pleas and are serving prison terms. Prosecutors say the mastermind of an alleged bribery scheme involving a former Cuyahoga County, Ohio, auditor and the Armstrong, Mitchell, Damiani and Zaccagnini law firm was the firm’s other name…

Apr 4, 2011 5:52 PM CDT

Federal Jury Convicts Ex-Ohio Judge of 10 Counts of Lying to FBI Agents About Case-Related Confabs

A former Ohio judge was convicted by a federal jury today of 10 counts of lying to agents of the FBI about conversations she had with people concerning their pending cases in her court. Onetime Cuyahoga County Judge Bridget McCafferty did not testify. Her lawyer, however, contended that she had…

Mar 25, 2011 11:01 PM CDT

Deposition Gets Sidetracked in Lengthy Detour over the Meaning of Photocopiers

A county official’s deposition turned into a lengthy debate about the definition of copying machines in a public records case being heard by the Ohio Supreme Court. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog likens the 10-page transcript to an Abbott & Costello routine, or perhaps a Mamet play. It begins…

Mar 22, 2011 11:00 AM CDT

Upset About Bankruptcy Case, Amish Seek Unsuccessfully to Settle $33M Matter Outside Court

When Monroe Beachy filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, members of the Amish community weren’t happy. Not so much because they might have been fleeced by the alleged Ponzi schemer with whom they had invested as a trusted member of their religious group but because they were being forced into…

Mar 21, 2011 10:00 PM CDT

Cleveland Solo Mixes Fame and Legal Issues in Radio Format

Mar 1, 2011 9:40 AM CST

Ken Feinberg’s Retracted Affidavit Cited in Appeals Ruling Favoring Fen-Phen Lawyers

Mass torts expert Kenneth Feinberg, in the news for overseeing the BP fund to compensate Gulf oil victims, once believed that lawyers accused of bilking their fen-phen clients out of $94 million did nothing wrong. Feinberg wrote an affidavit supporting the fen-phen lawyers in 2006, but in September testimony he…

Feb 18, 2011 3:57 PM CST

Ex-Ohio AG Files Bank Class Action, Responds to Unrelated Call for Potential Attorney Discipline

A former attorney general of Ohio was in the news for two reasons today. Now a Cleveland practitioner, Marc Dann filed suit against the Bank of America contending that it had failed to comply with contractual duties to help struggling homeowners modify their mortgages under a federal program, reports WKYC.…

Feb 17, 2011 1:04 AM CST

Angry Jurors Hope to Give Acquitted Teen Their Jury Pay

At least three jurors who acquitted a Cleveland teen are so angry about the prosecution that they plan to give the defendant their $100 jury pay if he obtains a high school equivalency degree. The 19-year-old defendant, Demrick McCloud, has been in jail since his Oct. 13 arrest, the Cleveland…

Feb 10, 2011 2:49 PM CST