Daily Case Update Archive

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March 24, 2006

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

TOPICS:
- Procedure - Rules - Juries
- Insanity
- Public Transportation impairment
- Malpractice - Procedure - RUles
- Procedure - Rules - Tort
- Sentencing
- Real Property - Landlord and Tenant
- Immigation - Asylum - testimony not credible
 

Ohio Supreme Court

 

No Opinion.
 

First District Court of Appeals

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State v. Lomax (March 24, 2006)
-  http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/1/2006/2006-ohio-1373.pdf
-  The trial court lacked jurisdiction to conduct a bench trial when it
did not comply with the requirement that a waiver of a trial by jury be
made in "open court":  "Open court" can only mean orally and on the
record.  Requiring a colloquy between the trial court and the defendant
ensures voluntary, knowing, and intelligent waivers; promotes judicial
economy by avoiding challenges to the validity of waivers on appeal; and
emphasizes to the defendant the seriousness of the decision to waive a
jury trial.  [But see, DISSENT:  A signed jury waiver, even without a
colloquy between the judge and the defendant, is sufficient to waive a
jury trial.] Judgment REVERSED and Cause REMANDED.
 
State v. Honnaker (March 24, 2006)
-  http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/1/2006/2006-ohio-1374.pdf
-  The trial court's decision to reject the defendant's insanity
defense was not against the manifest weight of the evidence, because the
court, in concluding that the defendant had been sane at the time of the
offense, did not arbitrarily ignore the testimony of the defense
experts, but decided to accord more weight to the testimony of the
state's expert. Judgment AFFIRMED.
 
State v. Stone (March 24, 2006)
-  http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/1/2006/2006-ohio-1375.pdf
-  The defendant's conviction for disrupting public service was based
upon sufficient evidence and was not against the manifest weight of the
evidence:  the state presented evidence that when a bus driver told the
defendant to get off the bus, the defendant approached the driver,
threatened him, and swung at him, ultimately causing a 45-minute delay
in bus service and forcing all other passengers to transfer to other
buses.  Judgment AFFIRMED.
 
Southwick, et al. v. University Hospital, Inc., et al. (March 24, 2006)
-  http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/1/2006/2006-ohio-1376.pdf
-  The trial court properly directed a verdict for the defendants
following opening statements in a medical-malpractice trial:  The
plaintiff could not prevail on her claim that the defendants' negligence
in failing to advise her of a carcinoma had reduced her chance of
recovery from eighty-five percent to seventy-five percent, because the
plaintiff, who remained cancer-free at the time of trial, could recover
only for the reduced chance itself , and because Ohio does not recognize
a cause of action for loss-of-chance when the alleged negligence does
not reduce the chance of recovery to less than fifty percent. Judgment
AFFIRMED.
 
Jones v. Goodwin (March 24, 2006)
-  http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/1/2006/2006-ohio-1377.pdf
-  In an action to recover damages for injuries sustained by the
plaintiff when she was attacked by a dog kept on premises leased to the
dog's owner, the trial court properly entered summary judgment for the
dog-owner's landlords:  Neither O.R.C. 955.28 nor the common law imposed
liability upon the landlords, because they could not be said to have
kept or harbored the dog, when they neither retained nor shared
possession of the area of the leasehold where the dog was confined.
Judgment AFFIRMED.
 
State v. Burns (March 24, 2006)
-  http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/1/2006/2006-ohio-1378.pdf
-  Evidence showing that the defendant had waited in his wife's
apartment for her to come home, had leapt out at her, swinging a knife,
but had missed, had forced her into a wall, and had punched her in the
side of the face, leaving bruising and swelling, was sufficient to
support the defendant's conviction for domestic violence under O.R.C.
2919.25(A). The trial court did not err in sentencing the defendant to a
nonminimum, nonmaximum prison term for domestic violence in violation of
O.R.C. 2919.25(A), because the sentence did not include any enhancement
declared unconstitutional in State v. Foster, 2006-Ohio-856.  But the
trial court erred when it failed to verbally inform the defendant at the
sentencing hearing about post-release control, as required by O.R.C.
2929.13(B)(3).  And the court, on remand, must resentence the defendant
in a manner consistent with the supreme court's decision in Foster.
Judgment VACATED as to SENTENCE and Cause REMANEDED.
 
Schwab v. Lattimore (March 24, 2006)
-  http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/1/2006/2006-ohio-1372.pdf
-  A tenant's appeal from a judgment granting a writ of restitution to
her landlord was moot:  The court of appeals could not render a judgment
that could be carried into effect, when the tenant had vacated the
apartment and the lease had expired.  And the case was not reviewable
under an exception to the mootness doctrine, when the tenant failed to
show that the case was capable of repetition yet evaded review, or that
the case presented a matter of great public or general interest.  [But,
see, DISSENT:  The appeal is not moot, because the issue evades review
yet is capable of repetition.  And the trial court erred in granting the
writ of restitution without hearing, along with the landlord's
restitution claim, the tenant's counterclaim for damages.] Appeal
DISMISSED.
 

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

 

No Opinion.
 

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

 

N'Diom v. Gonzales  (March 24, 2006) (Appeal from State of Tennessee Agency)
-  http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/06a0107p-06.pdf
-  In this asylum case of the petitioner N'Diom, we review the May 4,
2004, decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals of the U.S.
Department of Justice found at Joint Appendix ("J.A.") at 8-9. As in so
many such cases now coming before us, the Board's decision affirms the
August 29, 2003, decision of the Immigration Judge finding N'Diom's
testimony at the hearing to be "not credible" (J.A. at 16-27) based
entirely on the fact that N'Diom's testimony before the Judge was much
more detailed and specific as to the basis for his fear of persecution
than the information he gave the Asylum Officer at the time he initially
applied for asylum. Judgment is VACATED and the case is REMANDED.
 

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