Law Commons^™

Filling The Potholes Of Pretextual Traffic Stops: A Better Road Forward For Ohio, Jordan Weeks

Cleveland State Law Review

The Fourth Amendment was one of the driving forces behind the United States Revolution. This Amendment generally protects individuals against “unreasonable” searches and seizures. But what does “reasonable” mean in the context of a traffic stop?

In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court in Whren v. United States tried answering this question. In so doing, the Court determined that pretextual traffic stops are “reasonable.” Pretextual traffic stops occur where an officer stops a vehicle and cites a lawful reason for the stop, yet the underlying reason is unlawful. The Whren Court determined that an officer’s intent is completely irrelevant to whether …

Taking The Gavel Away From The Executive Branch: The Indeterminate Sentencing Scheme Under S.B. 201 Is Ripe For Review And Unconstitutional, Jessica Crtalic

Cleveland State Law Review

In 2019, Senate Bill 201, also known as the Reagan Tokes Act, reintroduced an indeterminate sentencing scheme in Ohio whereby sentences are assigned in the form of a range. Under this sentencing scheme, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, through the parole board, has discretion to retain an inmate past the presumptive release date. This fails to afford the accused their guaranteed right to a jury trial, improperly places judiciary power in the hands of the executive branch, and scrutinizes the violation of due process such that the defendant is being denied a fair hearing and notice. Not only …

Capital Punishment Of Young Adults In Light Of Evolving Standards Of Science And Decency: Why Ohio Should Raise The Minimum Age For Death Penalty Eligibility To Twenty-Five (25), Talia Stewart

Cleveland State Law Review

Up until the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling in Roper v. Simmons, juveniles could constitutionally be executed for qualifying criminal offenses. The Roper Court raised the minimum age for execution to eighteen, citing both a national consensus against executing minors, as well as recent research (at the time) showing that juveniles are more vulnerable to negative influences and outside pressures. Since Roper, the Supreme Court has remained silent regarding the requisite minimum age for execution and has left the decision up to individual states. While a slim majority of states have now abolished the death penalty in its entirety, …

Changing The Rule That Changes Nothing: Protecting Evicted Tenants By Amending Cleveland Housing Court Rule 6.13, James J. Scherer

Cleveland State Law Review

Renting is on the rise, with all households seeing an increase in the prevalence of renting a home versus owning one from 2006 to 2016. As rental rates rise, so too do the rates of eviction. The detrimental effects of eviction are numerous and can be self-reinforcing, with a single eviction decreasing one’s chances of securing decent and affordable housing, escaping disadvantaged neighborhoods, and benefiting from affordable housing programs. All this was before the coronavirus pandemic that devastated jobs and savings accounts across the nation.

One of the biggest impacts that eviction has on renters is a public court record. …

Ohio's Love-Hate Relationship With Marital Agreements: Why Ohio Should Lift Its Prohibition On Postnuptial Agreements, Natasha Wasil

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio has been accepting of prenuptial agreements since its landmark decision in Gross v. Gross in 1984, declaring them to be not void per se as being against public policy. Unfortunately, Ohio’s evolution of the law regarding marital agreements has remained at a stand-still since Gross. Through the twenty-first century, a majority of states have responded to the evolution of marriage by enacting legislation, or judicially by court order, to allow spouses to enter into contracts after marriage to allocate the division of property and legal obligations of the couple in the event of divorce, commonly known as “postnuptial …

Buckeyes Against The Boycott: Why Ohio's Law Opposing Bds Is Protected Under The First Amendment, Hannah Kraus

Cleveland State Law Review

In 2016, Ohio became the fourteenth state to enact legislation denouncing the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel. Codified as § 9.76 of the Ohio Revised Code, this legislation prohibits any state agency from contracting with a company that boycotts Israel during the contractual period. While the constitutionality of § 9.76 has not been challenged, anti-BDS statutes passed by other state legislatures have faced First Amendment challenges. This Note argues that § 9.76 of the Ohio Revised Code complies with the First Amendment under the government speech doctrine. In 1991, the Supreme Court applied the government speech doctrine in …

Land Of The Free, If You Can Afford It: Reforming Mayor's Courts In Ohio, Lucia Lopez-Hisijos

Cleveland State Law Review

Unlike most states in America, Ohio has a unique system of punishing minor misdemeanors and ordinance violations through municipal institutions called mayor’s courts. In 2017, Ohio had 295 of these courts, and they heard nearly 300,000 cases. But these are not normal courts. Ohio’s mayor’s courts do not conduct ability to pay hearings and can jail defendants who fail to pay court fines. With the author’s original research into Ohio’s mayor’s courts, this Note argues that these institutions can function like modern-day debtor’s prisons and violate indigent defendants’ constitutional right to Due Process. Ultimately, this Note proposes a model bill …

The Federal Sentencing Guidelines: A Guideline To Remedy Ohio's Sentencing Disparities For White-Collar Criminal Defendants, Joelle Livorse

Cleveland State Law Review

Over the past few decades, white-collar crimes have significantly increased across the country, especially in Ohio. However, Ohio’s judges are ill-equipped to handle the influx of cases. Unlike federal judges who are guided by the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Ohio’s judges have significantly more sentencing discretion because the Ohio legislature provides minimal guidance for these crimes. As a result, Ohio’s white-collar criminal defendants are experiencing dramatic sentencing variations. To solve this problem, Ohio should look to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and neighboring states to adopt and create an innovative sentencing model tailored to white-collar crime. Unlike the federal …

Juvenile Life Without Parole: How The Supreme Court Of Ohio Should Interpret Montgomery V. Louisiana, Grace O. Hurley

Cleveland State Law Review

Regardless of the numerous differences between juveniles and adults, some states, including the State of Ohio, continue to impose upon juvenile homicide offenders one of the harshest forms of punishment: life without parole. In 2016, the United States Supreme Court decided Montgomery v. Louisiana, and in doing so, the Court reiterated its previous contention that a sentence of juvenile life without parole should only be imposed upon juvenile homicide offenders whose crimes reflect "irreparable corruption." The Supreme Court of Ohio has yet to apply the Court’s Montgomery decision, but this Note suggests that if it does, the court should …

Notice, Due Process, And Voter Registration Purges, Anthony J. Gaughan

Cleveland State Law Review

In the 2018 case of Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, a divided United States Supreme Court upheld the procedures that Ohio election authorities used to purge ineligible voters from the state’s registration lists. In a 5-4 ruling, the majority ruled that the Ohio law complied with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) as amended by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). This Article contends that the controlling federal law—the NVRA and HAVA—gave the Supreme Court little choice but to decide the case in favor of Ohio’s secretary of state. But this article also argues …

When Industry Knocks: Ohio Department Of Agriculture's Fight To Control Pollution Permits For Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, Alexis Woodworth

Cleveland State Law Review

The Clean Water Act requires that a permit be obtained before discharging pollutants into bodies of water in the United States. In Ohio, these permits are issued by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. But in 2002, after growing pressure from agriculture lobbyists, the Ohio Legislature passed legislation to transfer permitting authority over industrial farms to the Ohio Department of Agriculture. To date, this transfer has not been approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The U.S. EPA has demanded legislative and regulatory changes before it will grant the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) permitting authority. Concerned citizens and …

Legislative Reform Or Legalized Theft?: Why Civil Asset Forfeiture Must Be Outlawed In Ohio, Alex Haller

Cleveland State Law Review

Civil asset forfeiture is a legal method for law enforcement to deprive United States citizens of their personal property with little hope for its return. With varying degrees of legal protection at the state level, Ohio legislators must encourage national policy reform by outlawing civil asset forfeiture in Ohio. Ohio Revised Code Section 2981.05 should be amended to outlaw civil asset forfeiture by requiring a criminal conviction prior to allowing the seizure of an individual’s property. This Note proposes two plans of action that will restore Ohio resident’s property rights back to those originally afforded in the United States Constitution.

Kicking Ohio Medicaid Recipients When They Are Down: How Ohio's Third Party Liability Medicaid Statute Violates Federal Law As Interpreted By Ahlborn, Kelly Voyles

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note argues that Ohio’s Medicaid third party liability statute must either be invalidated by the Ohio Supreme Court or repealed by the Ohio General Assembly. This Note then goes on to argue that the Ohio General Assembly must amend its Medicaid third party liability statute to require settlement allocation before ODJFS can recover the medical payments it made on behalf of Ohio Medicaid recipients. Finally, this Note argues that Ohio should also amend its Medicaid third party liability statute to require that the parties come to an allocation agreement themselves or, if that proves impossible, to require a judicial …

Municipal Predatory Lending Regulation In Ohio: The Disproportionate Impact Of Preemption In Ohio's Cities, Brett Altier

Cleveland State Law Review

Whether in the case of predatory lending or other issues that will differ from location to location, municipalities should continue to protect their cities by exercising their power under the Home Rule Amendment to enforce regulations not in direct conflict with Ohio law. Even though the Framers of the Home Rule Amendment intended to protect municipal power by ensuring that only those ordinances in actual conflict would be voided, Ohio courts have denied municipalities their Home Rule police power by applying a conflict by implication test, contributing to the housing crisis still plaguing Ohio's cities. While Ohio courts have made …

Intended And Unintended Consequences: The 2006 Fair Minimum Wage Amendment Of The Ohio Constitution , Jason R. Bristol, Ashley A. Weaver, Thomas A. Downie

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article first provides a brief overview of federal and Ohio minimum wage law. The Article then examines the text of the 2006 Amendment. The third section delves into the provisions of HB 690 and the differences between HB 690 and the Amendment. The final section explores litigation issues arising from these differences.

Speeding Towards Disaster: How Cleveland's Traffic Cameras Violate The Ohio Constitution, Kevin P. Shannon

Cleveland State Law Review

Part II of this paper describes the history and development of traffic cameras. It includes a discussion of how the two systems used by Cleveland (red-light and speeding cameras) operate. It also gives a general background of the relationship between cities and camera vendors. Part III provides the legal background of traffic cameras. It begins by examining the various arguments that have been leveled against cameras and then examines the litigation to date challenging traffic cameras. Next, this Note discusses the scholarly literature on the subject and explains how this argument situates itself in the debate. Part IV gives traffic …

The Failure Of Ohio's Drug Treatment Initiative, Tamara Karel

Cleveland State Law Review

In the summer of 2002, proponents of Issue 1 "The Ohio Drug Treatment Initiative," (hereafter referred to as the Initiative) succeeded in getting the proposal on the November ballot. The Initiative proposed an amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would have required courts to approve requests for treatment when made by eligible nonviolent drug offenders. The Amendment sought to (1) allocate a fixed amount of the state's General Revenue Fund to pay for the opening and operating of new treatment centers, (2) limit prison sentences for users and possessors to ninety days, and (3) provide for the sealing and expungement …

Separation Of Powers In Ohio: A Critical Analysis, Curtis Rodebush

Cleveland State Law Review

The goal of this Article is to provide a basic framework from which to begin a separation of powers analysis under the Ohio Constitution. In addition, this Article offers some insights into how a separation of powers controversy should be dissected and suggests some directions that Ohio courts should take in the future. Part I of this Article presents useful background information on the separation of powers doctrine, including its origin, its treatment in the Ohio Constitution, predominant theories of analysis, and relevant Ohio cases. Part II (A) hypothesizes a general approach with which to begin a separation of powers …

Of Disunity And Logrolling: Ohio's One-Subject Rule And The Very Evils It Was Designed To Prevent, Stephanie Hoffer, Travis Mcdade

Cleveland State Law Review

This article looks at the one-subject rule's history and significant jurisprudence with particular note of any rules that can be determined. Next, we address the court's use of the rule in the controversial case of State ex rel. Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers v. Sheward. Finally, we look at Amended Substitute Senate Bill No. 281-recently passed by the Ohio General Assembly-to determine if it will pass one-subject muster under recent jurisprudence.

The New Judicial Federalism In Ohio: The First Decade , Robert F. Williams

Cleveland State Law Review

There are a number of tentative conclusions that may be reached based on this selective analysis of the Ohio Supreme Court's first decade of experience with the New Judicial Federalism. First, the court is to be commended for taking the first steps toward recognizing the Ohio Constitution as a document of independent political and legal force. The Arnold decision, together with the others discussed in this article, serve to alert the lower bench, the bar, the media, and students and professors to the potential contained within state constitutions. Next, to the extent that there is inconsistency to be detected in …

Constitutional Common School, Molly O'Brien, Amanda Woodrum

Cleveland State Law Review

In this paper we turn to historical evidence as a beginning point for understanding the constitutional vision and values of the "thorough and efficient system of common schools" mandated by Article VI, Section 2 of the Ohio Constitution. In Part II, we consider the early development of public schooling in America and the complex relationship between public education and religion. The inclusion of the educational provisions in the Constitution of 1851 represented a victory for the advocates of a non-sectarian, state operated system of schools that would encourage civic participation and avoid religious indoctrination In Part II, we address efforts …

Turn Down The Volume: The Constitutionality Of Ohio's Municipal Ordinances Regulating Sound From Car Stereo Systems, Stuart A. Laven

Cleveland State Law Review

This article will examine municipal ordinances criminalizing the emission of sound from car stereo systems in excess of proscribed limits, including the methods adopted to measure offending sound and the penalties imposed for violations, the Ohio (and certain non-Ohio) cases which have challenged the constitutionality of such ordinances, and certain constitutional aspects of such ordinances and their enforcement which have yet to be addressed.

Civil Rights For Gays And Lesbians And Domestic Partner Benefits: How Far Could An Ohio Municipality Go , Mark A. Tumeo

Cleveland State Law Review

It can be seen from the analyses in this Article that ordinances which grant domestic partnership benefits and/or civil rights to gays and lesbians will probably face a complex gambit of legal challenges under state law, federal law, and both State and U.S. Constitutions. Current law and current common practice in the State, however, indicates that municipalities probably have almost unfettered power to pass ordinances that either grant protection or deny protection to gays and lesbians in the area of employment and housing discrimination within the municipalities jurisdiction. The situation is not as clear when it comes to domestic partnership …

Maintaining The Status Quo: Electricity Utility Deregulation Difficulties In Ohio , Todd A. Snitchler

Cleveland State Law Review

In this Article, I seek to review the state of affairs under the Ohio deregulation plan by identifying first the present circumstances in the Ohio electricity utility marketplace and second options that other states, which have not yet deregulated, should consider in developing their plans. In Part I, I examine the current state of electricity utilities in Ohio and the pressures on the legislature that led to calls for deregulation. In Part II, I briefly consider the existing regulatory framework on the state and federal levels. In Part III, I analyze the Ohio deregulation plan with a focus on whether …

The Ethical Utilization Of Paralegals In Ohio, Wendy I. Wills

Cleveland State Law Review

This article seeks to discern a bright-line rule for the unauthorized practice of law in Ohio by paralegals. Part I briefly introduces the growth of the paralegal profession in general. Part II discusses Ohio cases dealing with the unauthorized practice of law. Part III explains what legal services non-lawyers are permitted to perform under the supervision of a practicing attorney. Part IV then discusses the evolution of paralegal practice in other states before Part V summarizes what paralegals are permitted to do under Ohio law.

Municipal Annexation In Ohio: Putting An End To The Bitter Battle, Mary Shannon Place

Cleveland State Law Review

Recent decades, marked by steady population growth, have seen the evolution of a distinctly urban nation. The multiplicity of local governments within metropolitan areas has raised serious questions about the efficiency and equity of fragmented government organizations. Critics argue that the existence of multiple local governments in metropolitan areas leads to an inequitable allocation of public goods and services, inefficient patterns of area land use and development, and counterproductive competition for new fiscal resources and territorial autonomy. Moreover, the urbanized landscape poses problems of community leadership. And sadly, municipal annexation in Ohio has fallen far short of its potential to …

Mental Stress And Ohio Workers' Compensation: When Is A Stress-Related Condition Compensable, Fred J. Pompeani

Cleveland State Law Review

Recent national studies have confirmed that workplace stress knows no occupational boundaries and, moreover, threatens the psychological well-being of the United States work force. Stress-related claims are expected to increase through the 1990s, and recent commentators fear that this predicted increase in stress-based claims will destroy some states' workers' compensation systems. Because of the potential for fraudulent claims and costly litigation, many states have moved to define and limit the situations in which workers are eligible for stress-related benefits. Limitations have come in the form of legislative enactments or judicial decisions establishing specific requirements or restrictions regarding stress claims. The …

Disorderly Conduct Statutes And Ohio, Charles M. Young

Cleveland State Law Review

In Ohio, as throughout the country, the peace and good order of communities are often protected by vague disorderly conduct statutes which fail to sufficiently define prohibited conduct. The failure of such statutes to provide specific standards for enforcement, and the determination of the courts to uphold these laws, may lead to an arbitrary standard of justice. Whens the courts are presented with a vagueness question concerning an archaic city or state statute, they should be eager to void, rather than careful to limit and interpret the language of the law. It is the duty of the legislatures to provide …

A Survey Of The Ohio Administrative Procedures Act, Glenn R. Jones

Cleveland State Law Review

The recent expansion of the use of administrative agencies to facilitate the functioning of the various levels of governmental operations has created a correspondingly complex morass of procedural law. Administrative procedure being the creation of administrative law, a definition of the latter is necessary for an understanding of the former. This area of law has been demarcated by "the provisions of statutes conferring rule making and adjudicatory powers upon organizations in government outside the judicial branch and orders entered by these agencies pursuant to such powers."' It should be noted, however, that this definition, like other brief definitions of broad …

Judicial Review For Ohio's Civil Servants, Donald Applestein

Cleveland State Law Review

With the proliferation of administrative agencies, numerous problems are naturally encountered. In spite of the tendency toward problems, one would hope that in establishing these agencies, the legislature whether it be on the local, state, or federal level would do its utmost to insure uniformity within a given area. A review of sections 119.12, 143.27, and 2506 of the Ohio Revised Code and the relevant case law, however, reveals the Ohio legislature's failure to insure that uniformity.