Daily Case Update Archive

As a service to our members, we monitor opinions issued from the Ohio Supreme Court, the Ohio State First District Court of Appeals, and the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.  You can read the latest summaries or archived summaries from 2005 or 2006.

If you would like to receive a daily e-mail with same-day case updates, please join our Members-Only discussion list.  Not a member?  Join today!

March 4, 2005

Today's topics:   administrative decision, Batson challenge, criminal: evidence, black lung, employment, ERISA, insurance, labor benefits, personal injury, post-conviction relief, pre-emption, workers' compensation subrogation

Ohio Supreme Court | Ohio First District | U.S. 6th Circuit - Ohio | U.S. 6th Circuit - Other States

Ohio Supreme Court

No opinions.

First District Court of Appeals

[Search Other Ohio Districts]

Beer v. Cincinnati Machines, Inc. (March 4, 2005)
http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/1/2005/2005-ohio-901.pdf
Workers' Compensation - Procedure/Rules; The trial court properly denied a workers' compensation subrogee's motion to intervene in an Ohio personal-injury action based on Ky.Rev.Stat. Ann. 342.700: The Kentucky statute conflicted with the law in Ohio, which had the more significant relationship to the action, so the subrogee did not have a legally protectable interest in Ohio.

Billow v. Whitesell (March 4, 2005)
http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/1/2005/2005-ohio-904.pdf 
Insurance; A passenger who was injured in an automobile accident failed to carry his burden to establish that the driver was an "insured" under the liability portion of an insurance policy issued to the driver's employer, the owner of the automobile, where there was insufficient evidence to show that the driver had actual permission to drive his employer's automobile at the time of the accident: The passenger's "understanding" that the driver drove vehicles that belonged to his employer for personal business was simply not enough to establish that the driver had his employer's permission to drive the automobile. The passenger's injuries were not covered under the underinsured-motorist portion of the insurance policy issued to the driver's employer, where the passenger did not qualify as an "insured" because there was insufficient evidence that the automobile was being driven with the permission of the driver's employer, the named insured; and by its terms the underinsured-motorist coverage did not apply to an automobile owned by the named insured, the driver's employer.

State v. Carson (March 4, 2005)
http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/1/2005/2005-ohio-902.pdf 
Homicide - ID/Photos - Juries - Instructions; The defendant's convictions for aggravated murder and having a weapon while under a disability were supported by sufficient evidence and were not against the manifest weight of the evidence: in determining the defendant's guilt, the trier of fact was entitled to rely upon the testimony of a witness that the defendant held a gun to the victim's head and then shot the victim in the stomach, as well as testimony by another witness that the defendant held the gun to the victim's head, lowered the gun, and then shot it. A witness's identification of the defendant as the person who had run out of an apartment building and driven away shortly after the victim was shot was not tainted by suggestive police techniques and was not unreliable, even though it was made over one month after the shooting. In a Batson challenge, the prosecutor's concern that a juror would hold the state to a higher burden of proof was a race-neutral reason to exercise a peremptory challenge and was not purposeful discrimination. The trial court did not prematurely give the jury the Howard charge after seven hours of deliberations; a trial court is not required to give a verbatim Howard charge, as long as the changes do not coerce the jury into a finding of guilt or innocence.

State v. Tatum (March 4, 2005)
http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/1/2005/2005-ohio-903.pdf
Postconviction-Appellate Review/Criminal; The common pleas court properly reviewed a "Motion to Vacate Void Judgment of Conviction and Sentence * * * " as an R.C. 2953.21 petition for postconviction relief: In his motion, the petitioner did not designate the statute or rule under which he sought relief, but instead, invoked the "inherent power" of the court to vacate his judgment of conviction on the basis of various constitutional deprivations that, he asserted, rendered his conviction void. The common pleas court properly denied the postconviction petition: The petition, which sought relief from a 1977 judgment of conviction, was filed well beyond the time strictures prescribed by R.C. 2953.21; and R.C. 2953.23 precluded the court from entertaining the petition, because the record did not demonstrate either that the petitioner had been unavoidably prevented from discovering the facts underlying his claims, or that his claims were predicated upon a new or retrospectively applicable federal or state right recognized by the United States Supreme Court since the time for filing a petition had expired. The common pleas court could not be said to have erred in failing to grant postconviction relief on the ground that the petitioner's convictions were rendered void by the court's failure to afford him a jury trial within the six-year statute of limitations provided in R.C. 2901.13(A)(1), when the petitioner did not present this challenge in the form of a claim for relief in his postconviction petition.

U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals:  Ohio Cases

Penny/Ohlman/Nieman, Inc. v. Miami Valley Pension Corp. (March 4, 2005) (Appeal from S.D. Ohio)
http://pacer.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/05a0105p-06.pdf
Employee stock ownership and savings plans sued Miami Valley Pension and National City Bank. The claims were based on state law, and the district court dismissed the claims because they were pre-empted by ERISA. The court also granted the defendants judgment on the pleadings. Affirmed pre-emption as to National City, reversed as to Miami Valley, and remanded.

U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals: Other States Cases

Martin v. Ligon Corporation (March 4, 2005) (Appeal from Benefits Review Board (KY), US Dept. of Labor)
http://pacer.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/05a0107p-06.pdf

Martin sought benefits under the Black Lung Benefits Act (30 USC ss 901-44). The administrative law judge denied twice, was reversed and ordered to reconcile conflicting physician opinions. The judge reviewed the opinions, gave different weight to some, and denied benefits. Martin appealed and the Benefits Review Board affirmed. Vacated and remanded, because administrative judge did not adequately explain inconsistency between determination and factual record.

Rush v. Illinois Central RR, Co. (March 4, 2005) (Appeal from W.D. Tenn.)
http://pacer.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/05a0106p-06.pdf
Rush's son fell from a train car, while playing on it in Memphis rail yard. Rush sued, and district court jury, in diversity action, found for the defendant. Rush sought new trial and district court denied motion. Rush appealed, asserting district erroneously admitted evidence, in not applying Tennessee's "Lookout Statute", and jury disregarded instructions. Affirmed.

Daily Case Updates