Ninth District Opinions Released April 29, 2013

Last week the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Appellate District released 14 opinions. Three were released on April 29, 2013 and 11 were released on May 1, 2013. The opinions released on April 29, 2013 were:

In reC.R., 2013-Ohio-1724 was an appeal by the State from a decision of the Medina County Juvenile Court granting a motion to suppress. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's decision. In the opinion there is an interesting discussion of whether the Ohio Rules of Evidence apply to hearings on motions to suppress evidence.

The Court of Appeals opinion noted that under Evid. R. 101 (C) (1) and Evid. R. 104 (A) a trial court is not bound by the Rules of Evidence when making preliminary decisions regarding the admissibility of evidence except with respect to privileges. The State argued in its appeal that since the Juvenile Court was not bound by the Rules of Evidence it erred in not admitting hearsay evidence in the form of one officer testifying as to what another office had told him.

The Court of Appeals noted that while the Rules of Evidence don't apply in a suppression hearing, hearsay evidence is still regarded by courts as unreliable. The Juvenile Court held that the State hadn't met its burden. Thus, the Court of Appeals reasoned that if the Juvenile Court would have allowed the hearsay evidence, it wouldn't have changed the Juvenile Court's ruling that the State hadn't met its burden.

The Court of Appeals also overruled other assignments of error raised by the State. The opinion was a 2 to 1 opinion. Judge Hensal wrote the Court's opinion and Judge Whitmore filed a opinion that concurred in part and dissented in part.

McMillanv. Global Freight Mgt., Inc., 2013-Ohio-1725 was an appeal by the Plaintiff from a decision of the Lorain County Common Pleas Court. The decision appealed from was a decision granting a motion for summary judgment in a wrongful termination lawsuit. The Plaintiff contended that his termination from employment by the Defendant was due to his filing a claim for Worker's Compensation. The issue raised on appeal was whether there is a common law claim for wrongful discharge for filing a worker's compensation claim in addition to bringing a cause of action under R.C. 4123.90.

The Court of Appeals held in a decision that was written by Judge Moore that a common law cause of action for the tort of violating public policy does not exist in Ohio. In reaching its conclusion the Court of Appeals relied on a decision from the Ohio Supreme Court and distinguished a decision that was cited by the Plaintiff. The decision of the Lorain County Common Pleas Court was affirmed.

Schmuckerv. Kurzenberger, 2013-Ohio-1726 was an appeal by both parties of a decision by the Wayne County Common Pleas Court granting a motion for summary judgment filed by the Wayne Mutual Insurance Company. The Plaintiffs appealed the decision granting the motion on one ground and the insurance company appealed the part of the decision that denied the motion on another ground.

The issue in the appeal was whether there was coverage for an automobile accident that ended up killing a young woman who was the daughter of a woman who, along with her husband, had a policy issued by Wayne Mutual. When the accident happened the young woman was a passenger in a car driven by her father.  Her father had drove the car left of the center line. His daughter grabbed the wheel and pulled the car back. When she did that her father overcorrected and lost control of the vehicle.

The trial court found, and the Court of Appeals agreed, that when the accident took place the daughter was not using the car as she was permitted. This is known as a "unpermitted use exclusion." The Court of Appeals also found that the trial court was correct in holding that the "regular use exclusion" also excluded coverage.

The Insurance Company appealed the trial court's decision not to exclude coverage under an "intentional act exclusion." The Court of Appeals ruled that its ruling on the two assignments of error raised by the Plaintiffs rendered the issue of "intentional act exclusion" moot and declined to address it.

The decision was a 2-1 decision. Judge Carr authored the opinion and Judge Whitmore concurred while Judge Moore wrote a dissent.

Law Talk with Juvenile Magistrate Susanna Lewis Part 1

Medina Attorney John Celebrezze, host of the award winning community access show Law Talk, recently sat down with Juvenile Court Magistrate Susanna Lewis to talk about her job and how it impacts Medina County residents who go through the Medina County Juvenile Court. Magistrate Lewis was appointed by Judge John Lohn and, among other things, helps with his Teen Court program. You can see Part one of the interview by clicking on the link below:

Law Talk with Juvenile Magistrate Susanna Lewis Part 2

Medina Attorney John Celebrezze, host of the award winning community access show Law Talk, recently sat down with Juvenile Court Magistrate Susanna Lewis to talk about her job and how it impacts Medina County residents who go through the Medina County Juvenile Court. Magistrate Lewis was appointed by Judge John Lohn and, among other things, helps with his Teen Court program. You can see Part Two of the interview by clicking on the link below:

Meet Probate Judge John Lohn

By Kate Feeks

Reprinted with permission from www.czcourtreporter.com

He is the son of a Cleveland Police Officer, who was taught by his father, the most important values for a man. He taught him the values of honesty, integrity, loyalty and to always have respect for the law. Judge John Lohn of the Medina County Common Pleas Court, Probate and Juvenile Divisions, sat down with me and shared many stories about family, education and the values i that he views as most important.

Judge Lohn is the youngest of four children in his family, with two older brothers and an older sister. He grew up on Cleveland’s West side where he proudly graduated from St. Ignatius High School in 1975. In 1979, he graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in business administration. He received his law degree in 1983 from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. In 1990, he graduated from the FBI National Academy for Judges and Prosecutors.

For twenty years Judge Lohn was a prosecuting attorney before becoming Judge. It was his experience a trial attorney that he feels best prepared him to be a judge. “I was a prosecutor for most of my career and that taught me exactly how civil or criminal trials should work” explains Lohn. Some of the most common and difficult cases that he see’s in his courtroom are the sex abuse, parental neglect and juvenile drug abuse cases. These emotional and gut retching cases are very poignant causing it to be difficult to stay optimistic. “You have to fight the tendency to not become discouraged with each incident” explains Lohn.

With this passion of justice for all involved, he and many others on his staff organized a few helpful programs and services to assist our teens and our community. Some of these include: The Juvenile Drug Court, Camp Integrity and the Volunteer Guardianship.

The Juvenile Drug Court is a very successful nine month to one year program for kids that are drug dependant. The program offers counseling, temporary probation and drug screenings when necessary for the kids. This program works with the kids and their families to ensure that the correct steps are taken for recovery. The Juvenile Drug Court has been recognized by the University of Cincinnati as one of ten best courts in the country. “So what we have done as a community is to show the rest of the country how to get the best results in getting kids off drugs” said Lohn.

An interesting aspect to this program is the use of Equine Assisted Psycho Therapy or also known as Horse Therapy. This is an adjunctive therapy to drug court where it looks at how families interact with each other, parent to child, by the use of horses. Horses are known to reflect the environment to which they are exposed. The horse is able to mirror the dysfunction that the families display while interacting with each other. This is observed by the therapist who will then offer further discussion with the families. As a result, this kind of therapy is another helpful option to help families find ways to learn how to communicate with each other.

Another program set in place by Judge Lohn is the Camp Integrity Program. This after school program ranges from four to eight weeks and is organized for moderate or high risk kids that have become a problem in the community. From 3:30pm to 9:00pm the kids experience intensive non-impact physical exercise, complete homework and have mandatory counseling one night a week accompanied by a parent. “The initial purpose of this program is to give these kids a structured environment that a lot of times they are not getting at home” Lohn explains. A lot of the kids that go through this program return to the program as volunteers.

Judge Lohn is also responsible for implementing the Volunteer Guardianship Program for Medina County’s destitute and incompetent adults. There is a growing population of adults in our community who do not have any family members capable of giving extended care for them. Judge Lohn felt there was enough interest in the community to offer such guardianships as a volunteer opportunity. “People from all walks of life enjoy doing this, it is a fulfilling service” explains Lohn. In the end these adults appreciate the help and assistance and the volunteers are please to help them.

Judge Lohn met his wife Linda while working as a law clerk for an attorney. At the same time she was a clerk for the Medina Probate Court. They had their first date in September and were married eleven months later in August. Their story was printed in the Medina County Gazette as “Court House Couple Weds”. “We thought we were superstars” Lohn explains with a beaming face. He and wife Linda have recently celebrated their twenty sixth wedding anniversary and together they have two adult sons Ed and Tim.