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Cleveland State Law Review

1997

Articles 1 - 30 of 30

Full-Text Articles in Law

Ohio House Bill 419: Increased Openness In Adoption Records Law, Wendy L. Weiss Jan 1997

Ohio House Bill 419: Increased Openness In Adoption Records Law, Wendy L. Weiss

Cleveland State Law Review

Across the country, states have been enacting legislation to provide more information to adoptees about their birth. In 1995, the Ohio legislature passed House Bill 419. The bill will reform Ohio's adoption law, especially in the area of open adoption records. This Note will analyze House Bill 419 amidst the current move toward increased openness and the controversy surrounding this move. First, this Note will examine the history of secrecy in adoption in the United States and in Ohio. Second, it will explain the changes in adoption records enacted by House Bill 419 and the effects of the abortion controversy …

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Salvaging The Communications Decency Act In The Wake Of Aclu V. Reno And Shea V. Reno, Rebecca J. Dessoffy Jan 1997

Salvaging The Communications Decency Act In The Wake Of Aclu V. Reno And Shea V. Reno, Rebecca J. Dessoffy

Cleveland State Law Review

Hundreds of Worldwide Web site providers blackened their pages for forty-eight hours to protest the enactment of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 ("CDA"). The CDA regulates the transmission of sexually explicit material, both obscene and indecent, over the Internet. The CDA protesters claimed the law, designed to protect children, impermissibly infringes on adults' First Amendment rights to send and receive sexually explicit material. This note begins by exploring the challenged provisions of the CDA and the positions of those parties who opposed the CDA in the federal district court declaratory judgment actions. Next, the note examines applicable case precedent …

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Airbag Products Liability Litigation: State Common Law Tort Claims Are Not Automatically Preempted By Federal Legislation , Stephen D. Lichtenstein, Gerald R. Ferrera Jan 1997

Airbag Products Liability Litigation: State Common Law Tort Claims Are Not Automatically Preempted By Federal Legislation , Stephen D. Lichtenstein, Gerald R. Ferrera

Cleveland State Law Review

This article addresses an important and recurring issue of federalism, and attempts to resolve the tensions that exist between federal and state laws in the context of recent automobile airbag litigation. The authors trace the evolution of the preemption doctrine as it relates to airbag litigation, and write further as to how manufacturers adapt, developing business and ethical strategies of compliance to concurrent state and federal regulation. Two recent important decisions involving no airbag litigation, Tebbetts v. Ford Motor Co. and Wilson v. Pleasant, are interpretive of two provisions of the Safety Act. The former case discussed a preemption clause, …

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Respect For The Bioethical Dilemmas - The Case Of Physician-Assisted Suicide, Sixty-Fifth Cleveland-Marshall Fund Lecture, John A. Robertson Jan 1997

Respect For The Bioethical Dilemmas - The Case Of Physician-Assisted Suicide, Sixty-Fifth Cleveland-Marshall Fund Lecture, John A. Robertson

Cleveland State Law Review

In this lecture I begin an exploration of the role that respect for human life plays in contemporary bioethics. Although many bioethical dilemmas could be chosen to illustrate this role, I will focus on the case of physician-assisted suicide. This lecture emphasizes the role that respect for human life plays in arbitrating bioethical disputes that involve physician-assisted suicide. I hope to develop some generalizations about how respect for life and autonomy, beneficence and other values interact and thus constitute or define what respect for life means for us. Part I discusses assisted suicide and the ban against actively killing. Part …

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The Proper Test For Assessing The Admissibility Of Nonscientific Expert Evidence Under Federal Rule Of Evidence 702, 1997 John M. Manos Writing Competition On Evidence , Peter B. Oh Jan 1997

The Proper Test For Assessing The Admissibility Of Nonscientific Expert Evidence Under Federal Rule Of Evidence 702, 1997 John M. Manos Writing Competition On Evidence , Peter B. Oh

Cleveland State Law Review

Courts have fashioned various common law standards to determine the admissibility of nonscientific expert evidence. This Article examines these different standards to evince the need for harmony. Part I of this article examines the admissibility tests for nonscientific expert evidence administered by federal courts before Federal Rule of Evidence 702. The first such test appears in Frye v. United States, which establishes only expert knowledge based on a method or principle that has gained sufficient "general acceptance" can be admitted. Part I concludes by discussing the problems that plague these different applied tests and beckon for a single standard. Part …

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Ohio Tort Reform In 1998: The War Continues , Stephen J. Werber Jan 1997

Ohio Tort Reform In 1998: The War Continues , Stephen J. Werber

Cleveland State Law Review

For more than a decade a war has been waged between forces seeking legislative reform of tort law, with emphasis on product liability, and the Ohio Supreme Court. The battleground has been the legislative enactments of the Ohio General Assembly. This legislation has faced consistent challenge before the court as a proper exercise of its power of judicial review. This article discusses the two primary cases in which the court has won its war with the legislature by replacing the legislative words and intent with judicial interpretations. Part II begins the discussion with a look at the Carrel v. Allied …

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Felton V. Felton: A Case Study , James Wilsman Jan 1997

Felton V. Felton: A Case Study , James Wilsman

Cleveland State Law Review

The Felton decision ends years of conflict among Ohio's Appellate Districts as to whether or not the higher burden of proof of "clear and convincing evidence" is required in domestic violence cases. This article discusses the issue of whether the court inadvertently violated the constitutional rights of those individuals accused of committing acts of domestic violence. The author suggests that by abrogating the need for corroborating evidence, the Court has, in effect, made it difficult for those individuals who are innocent from protecting themselves against false allegations. Part II discusses the Felton case, while Part III briefly walks through the …

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The History Of The One-Subject Rule Of The Ohio Constitution, John J. Kulewicz Jan 1997

The History Of The One-Subject Rule Of The Ohio Constitution, John J. Kulewicz

Cleveland State Law Review

One hundred and forty-seven years after its adoption, the one-subject rule of the Ohio Constitution continues to generate debate. What emerges from its origin at the 1850-1851 Ohio Constitutional Convention, its early application in the Pim decision and its survival at the 1873-1874 Ohio Constitutional Convention, however, are the principles that the purpose of the rule is (1) to notify legislators of the content of bills on which they vote after having dispensed with the required reading; and (2) to avoid the joinder of unrelated measures that could not win separate support during the legislative process. The one-subject clause thus …

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Anderson V. St. Francis-St. George Hospital: Wrongful Living From An American And Jewish Legal Perspective , Daniel Pollack, Chaim Steinmetz, Vicki Lens Jan 1997

Anderson V. St. Francis-St. George Hospital: Wrongful Living From An American And Jewish Legal Perspective , Daniel Pollack, Chaim Steinmetz, Vicki Lens

Cleveland State Law Review

As advances in medical technology have kept people alive longer, the right to refuse life-sustaining treatment has taken on an even more crucial and urgent significance to dying patients and their families. While modern medicine may have learned to save lives, the lives it has saved are often severely diminished and filled with pain and suffering. Although the right to refuse life saving medical treatment is firmly embedded in our nation's laws, what to do when this right is ignored has not been firmly settled. The Anderson court answered this question by "splitting the difference." It affirmed Winter's right to …

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The Strict Application Of The Restatement, Ohio Law And The Rules Of Civil Procedure: Estates Of Morgan V. Fairfield Family Counseling Center, Geoffrey M. Wardle, Jeffrey L. Mallon Jan 1997

The Strict Application Of The Restatement, Ohio Law And The Rules Of Civil Procedure: Estates Of Morgan V. Fairfield Family Counseling Center, Geoffrey M. Wardle, Jeffrey L. Mallon

Cleveland State Law Review

Considered by some in the mental health profession as the imposition of an onerous duty, the Ohio Supreme Court's decision in Estates of Morgan v. Fairfield Family Counseling Center represents an extension of the recognized legal duty imposed upon mental health practitioners who treat inpatients to those who treat outpatients. This created a uniform standard. The article begins in Part II by describing the story of a psychiatric patient, Matt Morgan. Part III then discusses the duty to control in the outpatient setting by going through traditional tort analysis, stare decisis, strict statutory application, and civil procedure. Part IV concludes …

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The Ethical Utilization Of Paralegals In Ohio, Wendy I. Wills Jan 1997

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.

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Lovewell V. Physicians Insurance Co.: Personal Liability For Prejudgment Interest , Karin Mika Jan 1997

Lovewell V. Physicians Insurance Co.: Personal Liability For Prejudgment Interest , Karin Mika

Cleveland State Law Review

This article discusses the Ohio Supreme Court's decision in Lovewell by walking through the case from trial court to the final Supreme Court decision. The case raises many issues regarding the future of litigation involving parties who refuse to settle pursuant to a contractual right. Although, on the surface, it would appear that the court clarified what entity would ultimately be responsible for paying a prejudgment interest award, its failure to address other issues left open the potential for future litigation concerning the traditional relationship between the insurer and the insured. While Lovewell does not necessarily mean the death knell …

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Centralized Wisdom - Derolph V. State And The Rise Of Judicial Paternalism, Joseph P. Rodgers, John F. Rodgers Jan 1997

Centralized Wisdom - Derolph V. State And The Rise Of Judicial Paternalism, Joseph P. Rodgers, John F. Rodgers

Cleveland State Law Review

This Comment critically evaluates DeRolph v. State and asserts that the supreme court's decision is dangerous precedent, inasmuch as it dispirits the sacrosanct role a legislature assumes in a democratic society and overtly legitimizes judicial policymaking. This Comment suggests the court's vision of a thorough and efficient school system, via more economic parity, ultimately undermines the General Assembly of the State and will not extricate Ohio schools. Part II explores the current system of financing public schools in the State of Ohio. This section will not delve into the minutia that have come to define school finance, but will instead …

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Virtual Borders - Some Legal-Geo-Philosophical Musings On Three Globally Significant Fragil Ecosystems Under United Nations' Agenda 21 , Robert F. Blomquist Jan 1997

Virtual Borders - Some Legal-Geo-Philosophical Musings On Three Globally Significant Fragil Ecosystems Under United Nations' Agenda 21 , Robert F. Blomquist

Cleveland State Law Review

The purpose of this article is to use the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development’s Agenda 21 discussion of globally significant fragile ecosystems as an imaginative launching point for some tentative explorations of what a recent Stanford Law Review Symposium terms "law and borders" studies. More specifically, I am interested in sketching and briefly analyzing what I call the "legal-geo-philosophical" characteristics of three examples of globally significant fragile ecosystems addressed in Agenda 21: (1) drylands, (2) mountains, and (3) coastal areas. The article's legal-geo-philosophical analysis, then, is an initial attempt to ponder some of the connections between law, …

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The Parma Housing Racial Discrimination Remedy Revisited, W. Dennis Keating Jan 1997

The Parma Housing Racial Discrimination Remedy Revisited, W. Dennis Keating

Cleveland State Law Review

In 1980, the city of Parma, Ohio, Cleveland's largest suburban city was found guilty of violating the Fair Housing Act. Along with the Gautreaux, Mt. Laurel, and Yonkers cases, the Parma case represents a longstanding remedy aimed at eliminating a pattern and practice of municipal discrimination in housing. It raises the issue of how far courts and the federal judiciary in particular, are willing and able to go in order to address systematic patterns of housing segregation. This article reviews the original decision and its appeal, the implementation of the original remedy, and the more recent remedy and its prospects …

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Beyond The Shell And Husk Of History: The History Of The Seventeenth Amendment And Its Implications For Current Reform Proposals , Todd J. Zywicki Jan 1997

Beyond The Shell And Husk Of History: The History Of The Seventeenth Amendment And Its Implications For Current Reform Proposals , Todd J. Zywicki

Cleveland State Law Review

The purpose of this article is to review and synthesize the lessons of recent Seventeenth Amendment scholarship and how these lessons apply to current reform proposals. Part I discusses the emerging understanding of the integral and multifaceted role played by the Senate in the original constitutional structure. Part II further reviews and critiques the traditional explanations which have been offered for the Seventeenth Amendment, and demonstrates their failure to explain the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment. Part III discusses an alternative explanation for the Seventeenth Amendment rooted in a public choice analysis of constitutional change, one which largely has been …

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Chance V. Bp Chemical, Inc.: Changing Ohio's Perception Of Stigma Damages , Heidi B. Eisman Jan 1997

Chance V. Bp Chemical, Inc.: Changing Ohio's Perception Of Stigma Damages , Heidi B. Eisman

Cleveland State Law Review

An increased public awareness of environmental hazards has filled the courts with plaintiffs seeking damages for the potential harm a contaminant may cause. Typically, the principle of damages is a simple one, requiring only that some type of harm or injury has occurred. When no such injury has occurred, plaintiffs still pursue claims under the theory of “stigma damages.” However, the majority of courts have held that stigma damages alone cannot be recovered, and instead, actual physical impact is required before a court will award damages. Ohio courts had previously reached conflicting conclusions on the issue of stigma damages. Recently …

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What Kulch Accomplished, What Kulch Left Out , Tim L. Sprague, Sandra J. Kerber Jan 1997

What Kulch Accomplished, What Kulch Left Out , Tim L. Sprague, Sandra J. Kerber

Cleveland State Law Review

The general rule that an at-will employee can be discharged at any time for any or no reason is not the case in Ohio, because it has developed a wrongful discharge exception to the employment at-will doctrine. Under this doctrine, an employer who wrongfully discharges an employee in violation of clear public policy is subject to an action for damages. The Ohio legislature enacted the Whistleblower’s Statute, which allows the terminated whistleblower to maintain a cause of action against his employer. The Ohio Supreme Court has strengthened protection by allowing the terminated employee to bring common law action for wrongful …

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Kulch V. Structural Fibers, Inc.: Clarifying The Public Policy Exception , Sandra J. Rosenthal Jan 1997

Kulch V. Structural Fibers, Inc.: Clarifying The Public Policy Exception , Sandra J. Rosenthal

Cleveland State Law Review

The Kulch case is significant because of its far-reaching impact in the field of employment law. The decision marks the culmination of a trend in Ohio to expand the public policy exception doctrine and provide much needed protection for the rights of employees. Part II of this article discusses the broader development of the public policy exception, and Part III discusses the Kulch case specifically. The author concludes by stating that Kulch has emerged as the seminal Ohio case in employment law relating to the public policy exception, largely because Kulch provides wrongfully discharged employees the means to obtain full …

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Please Senator, I Want Some More: The General Assembly Gets An F Form The Derolph Court , Ronald M. Mcmillan Jan 1997

Please Senator, I Want Some More: The General Assembly Gets An F Form The Derolph Court , Ronald M. Mcmillan

Cleveland State Law Review

On March 24, 1997, the Ohio Supreme Court took an important stand against the impoverishment of our state's schools. In DeRolph v. State, the court ruled that a state school funding system violates state constitutional provisions because the state school funding system fails to meet the constitutional mandate to provide a "thorough and efficient" system of public schools. Part II of this Comment will describe the procedural history of the DeRolph matter. Part III will discuss the majority opinion and its rulings on the justiciability of the matter, the inadequacies of Ohio's school funding system, and the history of the …

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Florida's Community Notification Of Sex Offenders On The Internet: The Disregard Of Constitutional Protections For Sex Offenders, Andrea L. Fischer Jan 1997

Florida's Community Notification Of Sex Offenders On The Internet: The Disregard Of Constitutional Protections For Sex Offenders, Andrea L. Fischer

Cleveland State Law Review

One of the toughest challenges for the courts is determining how to balance society's need for protection against an individual's constitutional rights. This Note provides an analysis of the controversy concerning community notification of sex offenders who victimize children, with the discussion directed to the constitutionality of community notification over the Internet, and suggests other possible ways to help prevent repeat sex offenses against children. Part II begins by focusing on which members of our communities are sex offenders that victimize children and looks at the reasons why they choose children as their victims. In Part III, this Note traces …

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Hayes And Mobley: Bridging The Definition Of Disability Under The Ohio Workers' Compensation Act And The Americans With Disabilities Act Of 1990 , Barbara L. Kramer Jan 1997

Hayes And Mobley: Bridging The Definition Of Disability Under The Ohio Workers' Compensation Act And The Americans With Disabilities Act Of 1990 , Barbara L. Kramer

Cleveland State Law Review

On June 11, 1997, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued decisions in two cases, State ex rel. Hayes v. Industrial Commission and State ex rel. Mobley v. Industrial Commission, in accordance with a ten-year-old definition of permanent total disability (hereinafter PTD) under the Ohio Workers' Compensation Act. This case comment will discuss Hayes and Mobley and the workers' compensation definition of PTD which gave rise to these cases. The case comment will also compare and contrast PTD and the ADA definition of disability. Finally, this case comment will suggest that, the outcome of Issue 2 notwithstanding, Hayes and Mobley can …

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The Criminal Corporation: Is Ohio Prepared For Corporate Criminal Prosecutions For Workplace Fatalities, Judy K. Broussard Jan 1997

The Criminal Corporation: Is Ohio Prepared For Corporate Criminal Prosecutions For Workplace Fatalities, Judy K. Broussard

Cleveland State Law Review

Although the public perception of the meaning of the term "corporate crime" includes white collar crimes such as embezzlement and insider trading, today corporate crime encompasses another meaning in American jurisprudence-violent corporate crime. Corporations charged with such violent crimes generally fall into two categories: (1) those that manufacture or market consumer products which cause death within the general public, and (2) those whose employees are killed due to fatal accidents within the workplace. The usual legal recourse against a corporation responsible for the death of a person, in either of the above categories, is the filing of a civil wrongful …

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Holt V. Grange Mutual Casualty Co.: Children Not Insureds Under Policy Are Entitled To Death Benefits , Barbara J. Tyler, Thomas S. Tyler Jan 1997

Holt V. Grange Mutual Casualty Co.: Children Not Insureds Under Policy Are Entitled To Death Benefits , Barbara J. Tyler, Thomas S. Tyler

Cleveland State Law Review

The automobile insurance industry is up in arms after a decade of consumer friendly Ohio Supreme Court decisions. The insurance industry and commentators have noted the trend of judicial activism in interpreting insurance contracts. These decisions have been overwhelmingly in favor of consumers and against insurance companies. The Ohio Supreme Court decision of Holt v. Grange Mutual Casualty Co., is another consumer friendly decision and represents both an equitable and sound interpretation and application of Ohio law to consumer insurance contracts. This note walks through the Holt case, starting at the trial court level and working up through the Ohio …

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Evidentiary And Constitutional Implications Of Employee Drug Testing Through Hair Analysis, Theresa K. Casserly Jan 1997

Evidentiary And Constitutional Implications Of Employee Drug Testing Through Hair Analysis, Theresa K. Casserly

Cleveland State Law Review

This note addresses the legal issues affecting hair analysis as a drug detector. Part II outlines a background of hair analysis. Part III presents the scientific controversy that surrounds hair analysis. Part IV addresses cases involving hair analysis. Part V examines the privacy implications of employee drug testing through hair analysis. Part VI overviews statutes which affect this method of employee drug testing.

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Ballot Format: Must Candidates Be Treated Equally , Richard Winger Jan 1997

Ballot Format: Must Candidates Be Treated Equally , Richard Winger

Cleveland State Law Review

This article's purpose is to explore and discuss a major inequality currently plaguing the realm of ballot format-the non-uniformed partisan labeling of election ballots. This will be accomplished by answering the following question: if a ballot lists partisan labels for some candidates must it list similar labels for all? This article endorses the idea that an election ballot should be fairly constructed. Governments preparing a voting ballot so its design does not significantly disadvantage any class of listed candidates seems perfectly reasonable. Despite this seemingly logical approach, some state laws provide that certain classes of candidates are entitled to preferential …

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Suspending The Rule Of Law - Temporary Immunity As Violative Of Montesquieu's Republican Virtue As Embodied In George Washington, Joseph P. Rodgers Jan 1997

Suspending The Rule Of Law - Temporary Immunity As Violative Of Montesquieu's Republican Virtue As Embodied In George Washington, Joseph P. Rodgers

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note offers a somewhat unique perspective on the notion of clemency. This inquiry contemplates the merit of temporary immunity from civil suits for acts which eventuated outside the scope of one's official responsibilities and argues that such an unprecedented expansion of civil immunity is antithetical to Montesquieu's conception of public virtue as evinced in The Spirit of Laws. This Note also reflects on the iconic role of Washington at the Constitutional Convention as emblematic of quintessential republican virtue. Part II briefly traces the evolution of absolute, qualified, and temporary immunity from an historical perspective. Part III acclimates the reader …

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The Character Evidence Defense: Acquittal Based On Good Character, Thomas J. Reed Jan 1997

The Character Evidence Defense: Acquittal Based On Good Character, Thomas J. Reed

Cleveland State Law Review

This article centers on the case of United States v. Martinez, the only recent case in which an accused was acquitted on the ground of good moral character. Martinez illustrates the powerful effect of a good character evidence defense that showed the accused led a blameless life before being inveigled into drug courier service by an intimidating DEA informer. This article begins with a brief review of United States v. Martinez. Following a presentation of this case, the article shifts focus to examine what our sister discipline of psychology can tell us about human personality and the cross-situational stability of …

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Psychotherapist-Patient Privilege: A Rational Approach To Defining Psychotherapist, The 1997 John M. Manos Writing Competition On Evidence, Kathleen M. Maynard Jan 1997

Psychotherapist-Patient Privilege: A Rational Approach To Defining Psychotherapist, The 1997 John M. Manos Writing Competition On Evidence, Kathleen M. Maynard

Cleveland State Law Review

In the recently decided case of Jaffee v. Redmond, the United States Supreme Court acknowledged the existence of a psychotherapist-patient privilege under Federal Rule of Evidence 501 for the first time. This Article will make recommendations to lower federal courts that must construe the meaning of "psychotherapist." Part II will provide an overview of federal psychotherapist-patient privilege law prior to Jaffee. Part III will discuss the Court's decision to expand the definition of "psychotherapist" based upon the increased demand for therapy among lower income Americans. Part IV will make three arguments explaining why lower federal courts are free to extend …

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Jones V. Chagrin Falls: Muddying The Statutory Waters Of Ohio's Administrative Law Appeal Process , Joseph W. Diemert Jr. Jan 1997

Jones V. Chagrin Falls: Muddying The Statutory Waters Of Ohio's Administrative Law Appeal Process , Joseph W. Diemert Jr.

Cleveland State Law Review

The common-law doctrine of failure to exhaust administrative remedies has generally been held to be a prerequisite to judicial review in statutorily defined administrative law appeal processes. Similarly, the United States Supreme Court in interpreting the federal administrative law appeal process, and the case law on Ohio's administrative law appeal process, have found that the doctrine of exhaustion is a jurisdictional bar to a declaratory judgment action except while challenging the constitutionality of a municipal or administrative decision. However, according to the holding in Jones v. Chagrin Falls, this may no longer be the case in Ohio. This article discusses …

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