Kennedy , J . { 1} In this discretionary appeal from a judgment of the Eighth District Court of Appeals, we consider the parameters established by R.C. 4905.61 regarding the parties that have standing to bring a treble-damages action pursuant to that statute. Here, appellee, Intermessage Communications ("Intermessage"), and members of a proposed class of retail cellular-telephone-service subscribers seek to recover treble damages under R.C. 4905.61 for regulatory violations committed in...
Fischer , J. { 1} Appellee, Anthony Apanovitch, was convicted of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, and two counts of rape, and in January 1985, he was sentenced to death. The body of the victim, Mary Anne Flynn, was found in a bedroom in her home. She had been strangled and severely beaten, and sperm was found in her mouth and vagina. { 2} On direct appeal, the Eighth District Court of Appeals and this court affirmed Apanovitch's convictions and death sentence. State v....
Per Curiam . { 1} In this original action, relators, Mars Urban Solutions, L.L.C. ("Mars Urban"), and Michael Majeski, 1 seek a writ of mandamus to compel respondents Cuyahoga County fiscal officer and Cuyahoga County Board of Revision ("BOR") to comply with a judgment of the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals ("BTA") that reduced the 2010 value of a property that Majeski owned and later conveyed to Mars Urban. Because 2012 was the first year of a new sexennium—and any dispute that relators had...
Fischer , J. { 1} In this case, we are presented with the issue whether the defense of blackout is an affirmative defense that must be proved by the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence. We conclude that blackout is an affirmative defense pursuant to R.C. 2901.05(D)(1)(b) and that requiring a defendant to prove this affirmative defense by a preponderance of the evidence does not violate the defendant's right to due process. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Tenth...
French , J . { 1} Steven Schmitz sustained repetitive concussive and subconcussive brain impacts while playing college football for appellant University of Notre Dame du Lac ("Notre Dame") in the mid-1970s. In December 2012, Schmitz was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy ("CTE"), a degenerative brain disease. By 2014, at age 58, he had been additionally diagnosed with severe memory loss, cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease, and dementia, all of which he claimed were...
Per Curiam . { 1} Appellant, Joseph A. Sands, appeals the decision of the Eleventh District Court of Appeals dismissing his complaint for a writ of mandamus against the Lake County Court of Common Pleas. For the reasons set forth below, we deny Sands's motion for oral argument and affirm the judgment of the court of appeals. Background { 2} Sands was convicted in the Lake County Common Pleas Court on three counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, two counts of conspiracy to...
O'Donnell , J. { 1} Melvin Bonnell appeals from the denial of his second application for DNA testing, following his conviction and death sentence for the 1987 murder of Robert Eugene Bunner. He presents two propositions of law for our consideration. We lack jurisdiction to consider the first proposition of law and conclude that Bonnell has failed to show that any of the evidence he sought to have tested could yield a result that would be outcome determinative. Accordingly, we affirm the...
Kennedy , J. , dissenting. { 1} This cause is dismissed as having been improvidently accepted. O'Connor, C.J., and French, Fischer, DeWine, and Miller, JJ., concur. Kennedy, J., dissents, with an opinion joined by Piper, J. Robin N. Piper, J., of the Twelfth District Court of Appeals, sitting for O'Donnell, J. Charles M. Miller, J., of the First District Court of Appeals, sitting for DeGenaro, J. { 2} I respectfully disagree with the decision to dismiss this appeal as having been...
Fischer , J. { 1} When a plaintiff is a "smoker" who alleges that he or she suffers from lung cancer as a result of asbestos exposure, the plaintiff must make a prima facie showing that satisfies the requirements listed in R.C. 2307.92(C)(1), including a "diagnosis by a competent medical authority that the [plaintiff] has primary lung cancer and that exposure to asbestos is a substantial contributing factor to that cancer," R.C. 2307.92(C)(1)(a). A plaintiff who is not a "smoker" need...
Per Curiam . { 1} Respondent, Jonell Rae Glitzenstein, of Akron, Ohio, Attorney Registration No. 0061889, was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in 1993. { 2} In a formal complaint certified to the Board of Professional Conduct on June 29, 2017, relator, Akron Bar Association, charged Glitzenstein with multiple ethical violations. The alleged violations arose from her failure to properly use and maintain her client trust account, reasonably communicate with a client, protect the...
Per Curiam . { 1} Respondent, Wendy Sue Rosett, of Shaker Heights, Ohio, Attorney Registration No. 0055870, was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in 1991. { 2} We suspended Rosett's license to practice law for one week in November 2015 for her failure to register as an attorney for the 2015-2017 biennium. In re Attorney Registration Suspension of Rosett, 143 Ohio St.3d 1509, 2015-Ohio-4567, 39 N.E.3d 1277; In re Reinstatement of Rosett, 144 Ohio St.3d 1432, 2015-Ohio-5363, 42...
Per Curiam . I. INTRODUCTION { 1} This expedited elections case involves an initiative petition proposing an ordinance that would amend the city of Solon's zoning map to create the Kerem Lake Mixed-Use District. Relators, Mark A. Harris, Richard N. Haig, Jacqueline L. Kogan, Cheryl L. Davis, and Travis Lane Maggard, are the five members of the petition committee. The committee seeks a writ of mandamus (1) ordering respondent Solon Director of Finance Matt Rubino (or in the alternative,...
Per Curiam . { 1} In this original action, relator, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney Michael C. O'Malley, seeks writs of prohibition and mandamus to prevent respondent, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Cassandra Collier-Williams, from empaneling a jury for intervening-respondent Kelly Foust's capital-murder resentencing hearing. We hold that Judge Collier-Williams patently and unambiguously lacks jurisdiction to empanel a jury for a resentencing hearing in a capital-murder case...
Per Curiam . { 1} In this expedited election case, relator, Heaven Guest, seeks a writ of mandamus to compel respondents, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and the Columbiana County Board of Elections, to place her name on the November 6, 2018 ballot as an independent candidate for judge of the Columbiana County Court of Common Pleas. Because Guest has failed to carry her burden to show by clear and convincing evidence that Husted abused his discretion, we deny the writ. I. Facts { 2}...
Fischer , J. { 1} In this discretionary appeal, we address whether R.C. 3314.08 authorizes defendant-appellee, the Ohio Department of Education ("ODE"), to base funding of an Internet-based community school, or e-school, on the duration of student participation. We hold that it does, as the statute is unambiguous and allows ODE to seek that data in order to calculate funding. I. Factual Background and Procedural Posture { 2} Plaintiff-appellant, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow ("...
FRENCH , J. { 1} This appeal addresses a probate court's authority to proceed on an adoption petition—specifically, to determine whether parental consent is required for the adoption—when preexisting matters concerning the parenting of the child are pending in another court. Appellant, D.H. ("Father"), asks this court to hold broadly that a probate court "may not proceed with an adoption petition if any pending parenting matter is proceeding in another court." We reject Father's...
Kennedy , J. { 1} In this discretionary appeal from a judgment of the Eighth District Court of Appeals, we consider the limitations of the law-of-the-case doctrine. The law-of-the-case doctrine provides that legal questions resolved by a reviewing court in a prior appeal remain the law of that case for any subsequent proceedings at both the trial and appellate levels. Nolan v. Nolan, 11 Ohio St.3d 1 , 3, 462 N.E.2d 410 (1984). The decision of the appellate court in the first appeal in...
O'CONNOR , C.J. { 1} In this appeal, we consider the definition of "claimant" for purposes of R.C. 4123.931(G). This statute describes the responsibility of a claimant seeking workers' compensation benefits to notify a statutory subrogee and, if applicable, the attorney general of all third parties against whom the claimant may have a right of recovery and to provide the subrogee an opportunity to assert its subrogation rights against each third party. We hold that a claimant is any...
FISCHER , J. { 1} At issue in this case is whether Ohio's death-penalty scheme violates the right to a trial by jury as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Marion County Court of Common Pleas found that it does, but the Third District Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's judgment. Because the Ohio scheme satisfies the Sixth Amendment, we affirm. I. Facts and Procedural History { 2} A jury found that appellant, Maurice Mason, raped and...
Per Curiam . { 1} In this expedited election case, relator, Graeme J. Quinn, seeks a writ of mandamus to compel respondent, Delaware County Board of Elections, to place a referendum on the May 8, 2018 ballot. For the reasons set forth below, we grant the writ. Background Statutory framework { 2} "Referendum" is the "process of referring to the electorate for approval * * * a law passed by the legislature." Black's Law Dictionary 1281 (6th Ed.1990). The Ohio Constitution...
