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!

June 1, 2006

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

TOPICS:
- Insurance - health benefit coverage
- Federal Rules of Evidence - admission of published book by defendant
 

Ohio Supreme Court

 

No Opinion.
 

First District Court of Appeals

[Search Other Ohio Districts]
 

No Opinion.
 

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

 

No Opinion.
 

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

 

Citizens Ins Co Amer v. MidMichigan Health  (June 1, 2006) (Appeal from
E.D. Michigan)
-  http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/06a0185p-06.pdf
-  Citizens Insurance Company of America ("Citizens") appeals the
district court's denial of its motion for summary judgment, and the
declaration that Citizens is first in priority for the payment of
medical expenses incurred as a result of an automobile accident. For the
reasons that follow, the holding of the district court is reversed, and
the case is remanded for proceedings consistent with this ruling.
 
USA v. Fraser  (June 1, 2006) (Appeal from W.D. Michigan)
-  http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/06a0186p-06.pdf
-  This novel case concerns whether the district court properly
admitted into evidence The Birth of a Criminal, a published book by
defendant Asante Kahari that describes the exact counterfeit-check
scheme for which Kahari was found guilty. Kahari sent counterfeit checks
in interstate commerce to the nonfictional Ms. Hugg, a woman residing in
Michigan whom he met in an internet dating chat room. Kahari convinced
Hugg to cash the counterfeit checks, and she gave him the money when he
flew from New York to Michigan to meet her. One chapter of Kahari's book
describes how to execute this very scam. After Kahari's counsel argued
in his opening statement that Hugg had "duped" Kahari into being part of
the scam, the government moved to admit portions of The Birth of a
Criminal into evidence. The district court admitted portions of the book
and a summary to demonstrate "motive, opportunity, intent, preparation,
plan, knowledge, identity or absence of mistake or accident." J.A. 196.
The sole legal issue preserved for appeal is whether the district court
committed reversible error in admitting portions of the book's text into
evidence in violation of Federal Rules of Evidence 403 and 404(b). We
affirm the judgment of the district court because The Birth of a
Criminal was admissible to prove Kahari's intent. Although the district
court committed some error in its limiting instruction to the jury and
in its description of the book summary as "facts," these errors did not
affect Kahari's substantial rights.

Daily Case Updates