KENNEDY , J. I. Introduction { 1} In this opinion we address (1) a discretionary appeal by Hospice of Southwest Ohio, Inc. ("Hospice"), Joseph Killian, Hospice's chief executive officer, and Brookdale Senior Living, Inc. ("Brookdale"), (2) a cross-appeal by Patricia Hulsmeyer, and (3) a certified-conflict case from the First District Court of Appeals. The conflict certified by the court of appeals is whether "an employee or another individual used by a person or government entity to...
KENNEDY , J. { 1} In this discretionary appeal from the Sixth District Court of Appeals, we determine whether the court of appeals erred in holding that the city of Toledo's civil administrative enforcement of its traffic ordinances violates Article IV, Section 1 of the Ohio Constitution. We accepted the following propositions of law from appellant city of Toledo: 1. Neither R.C. 1901.20 nor Ohio Constitution, Article IV, Section 1 are offended when a home rule municipality enacts, by...
O'DONNELL , J. { 1} Pro-Pak Industries, Inc., and Toledo L & L Realty Company appeal from a judgment of the Sixth District Court of Appeals that reversed summary judgment granted by the trial court in their favor in connection with Phillip Pixley's intentional tort claim arising from injuries he sustained when struck by a transfer car in the course and scope of his employment at Pro-Pak. { 2} Pursuant to R.C. 2745.01, an intentional tort claim requires a demonstration of the employer'...
FRENCH , J. { 1} This case concerns R.C. 4113.52, Ohio's "whistleblower" statute, which protects employees from discipline if they discover and report certain violations during the course of their employment. Appellee, Donald Lee, was instrumental in exposing crimes related to an automotive-parts manufacturer's discharge of hazardous chemicals into the public water supply. The question before us, however, is whether he also exposed crimes involving his own employer — appellant, the...
Per Curiam . { 1} We dismiss this appeal as moot. { 2} The Cincinnati Enquirer, appellee, filed a mandamus action against the court administrator of the Hamilton County Juvenile Court, seeking a writ ordering him to reveal the names, and not just the initials, of the juveniles involved in cases on the docket of appellant, Judge Tracie Hunter. Specifically, in December 2012, a reporter for the Enquirer had requested "the court docket or other documents that show the cases Hamilton County...
PFEIFER , J. { 1} This is an appeal of right by defendant-appellant, Mark Pickens, who was convicted of the aggravated murders of Noelle Washington, her nine-month-old son, Anthony Jones III, and three-year-old Sha'railyn Wright. A jury recommended the death sentence for the three murders, and the trial court sentenced Pickens to death. { 2} For the following reasons, we affirm Pickens's convictions and sentence of death. I. Trial Evidence { 3} Evidence introduced at trial showed...
Per Curiam . { 1} On December 29, 2010, relator, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, filed a complaint with the Board on the Unauthorized Practice of Law alleging that respondents, William Hill and his company, the Advocacy Group, Inc., had engaged in the unauthorized practice of law in Ohio by entering into contracts to represent 20 students, giving them legal advice, and attempting to settle their claims of, among other things, "institutional racism" and "discriminatory business...
PFEIFER , J. { 1} In this appeal, the state challenges a decision of the court of appeals granting the petition for postconviction relief of the defendant-appellee, Willie Herring, a death-row inmate. The state challenges the appellate court's finding that Herring's counsel provided ineffective assistance in failing to properly prepare for the mitigation phase of trial and the court's decision to order a new sentencing hearing. { 2} We hold that the court of appeals properly applied...
O'DONNELL , J. { 1} This appeal addresses a claim of tax exemption for two separate buildings located on two separate parcels of real property, one of which is situated in the Dublin City School District, the other in the Columbus City School District. The landlords seek the exemption on the basis that Columbus State Community College is a tenant in each of the buildings and provides educational services to its students at each location. { 2} The appellants are the tax commissioner...
Per Curiam . { 1} Respondent, Robert Stanley Leiken of Beachwood, Ohio, Attorney Registration No. 0030666, was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in 1971. On January 27, 2014, relator, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, charged Leiken with professional misconduct after Leiken was retained by a driver and his passenger to recover damages for them for injuries they had suffered in an automobile accident. It was subsequently alleged that the driver was comparatively negligent in the...
O'DONNELL , J. { 1} Sudinia Johnson appeals from a judgment of the Twelfth District Court of Appeals which affirmed his conviction for trafficking in cocaine and held that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule permitted the admission of evidence obtained from a global-positioning-system ("GPS") tracking device that Detective Mike Hackney had placed on Johnson's vehicle without obtaining a search warrant. { 2} The United States Supreme Court crafted the exclusionary rule to...
Per Curiam. { 1} Respondent, Ben Musa Swift of Dayton, Ohio, Attorney Registration No. 0065745, was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in 1995. { 2} On March 8, 2013, a probable-cause panel of the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline certified a complaint against Swift to the board. In that complaint, relator, Dayton Bar Association, charged Swift with violating six Rules of Professional Conduct based on a pattern of overbilling for work he performed as a court-...
O'CONNOR , C.J. { 1} This administrative appeal arises from a decision by appellee, the Board of Zoning Appeals of the City of Cleveland ("BZA"), which denied a permit to appellants, Cleveland Clinic Foundation ("the Clinic") and Fairview Hospital ("the Hospital"), to build a helipad on the roof of a new two-story addition on the Hospital. { 2} We decide a narrow issue: the proper standard of review for courts to apply in appeals, pursuant to R.C. 2506.04, from decisions of zoning...
PFEIFER , J. { 1} The state argues that "[a]n appellate district court errs in finding attempted felony murder by means of a deadly weapon is not a viable criminal offense in Ohio because that decision is in conflict with State v. Williams, 124 Ohio St.3d 381 , 2010-Ohio-147, 922 N.E.2d 937." We disagree, and we affirm the judgment of the court of appeals. BACKGROUND { 2} After a jury trial, appellant, Bobby D. Nolan, was found guilty of attempted felony murder, felonious assault,...
FRENCH , J. { 1} This is an appeal as of right by appellant, Ashford L. Thompson, who has been sentenced to death for the aggravated murder of Twinsburg Police Officer Joshua Miktarian. For the reasons below, we affirm Thompson's convictions and sentence. I. BACKGROUND { 2} Following the murder of Officer Miktarian, the state charged Thompson with two counts of aggravated murder under R.C. 2903.01(B) and (E). Each count carried three death specifications: purposely killing a law-...
Per Curiam . { 1} We affirm the Tenth District Court of Appeals' denial of a petition for a writ of quo warranto to oust certain individuals from the board of directors of the Omar Ibn El Khattab Mosque, Inc. ("Omar Mosque" or "the mosque"). The court of appeals correctly denied the petition because private individuals have no standing to institute an action in quo warranto to oust officers of a private, not-for-profit corporation. State ex rel. Hawthorn v. Russell, 107 Ohio St.3d 269 ,...
O'CONNOR , C.J. { 1} In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether the relators-appellees are entitled to writs of mandamus and procedendo to compel the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to vacate prior transfer orders and adjudicate their claims on the merits. For the reasons that follow, we must answer that question in the negative. Therefore, we reverse the appellate court's judgment and deny relators' request for the writs. RELEVANT BACKGROUND { 2} Relator-appellee Donald...
FRENCH , J. { 1} In this appeal, we consider the extent of a county's responsibility for repairing and maintaining bridges under R.C. 5591.02 and 5591.21. Appellant, the Office of the Cuyahoga County Executive ("county"), and appellee, the city of Independence, each claim that the other is responsible for maintaining and repairing a bridge located in Cuyahoga County, on the border between Independence and the village of Valley View but on a road that is neither a county road nor a state...
KENNEDY , J. { 1} This appeal involves appellee the city of Cincinnati's application for exemption from real-property tax for property that constitutes part of the city's convention center, the Duke Energy Center. Initially, the tax commissioner considered the application under the law that existed in 2006, the year the application was filed, and granted the exemption for 2006 but denied it for 2007 and the years thereafter. The city appealed to the Board of Tax Appeals ("BTA"), and...
{ 1} The certification of conflict is dismissed, sua sponte, as having been improvidently certified. O'CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, O'DONNELL, and LANZINGER, JJ., concur. KENNEDY, FRENCH, and O'NEILL, JJ., dissent. KENNEDY , J. dissenting. { 2} I respectfully dissent from the decision to dismiss this appeal as having been improvidently certified. Courts of appeals have issued conflicting judgments on whether R.C. 2903.211(A)(1) requires an alleged stalking victim to show actual mental...
