Law Commons^™

A Call To Clarify The "Scope Of Authority" Question Of Qualified Immunity, Pat Fackrell

Cleveland State Law Review

It is no secret the doctrine of qualified immunity is under immense scrutiny. Distinguished jurists and scholars at all levels have criticized the doctrine of qualified immunity, some calling for it to be reconsidered or overruled entirely.

Amidst this scrutiny lies uncertainty in the doctrine’s application. Specifically, the federal courts of appeal are split three ways on the question of whether an official exceeding the official’s scope of authority under state law at the time of the alleged constitutional violation can successfully assert qualified immunity. Some courts of appeal do not require the official to demonstrate he acted within the …

Reforming The Safe Haven In Ohio: Protecting The Rights Of Mothers Through Anonymity, Brittany Neal

Journal of Law and Health

This Note discusses the conflict between the statewide safe haven law and the Ohio juvenile rules regarding procedure. It purports that to protect the rights of new mothers and retain the essential element of anonymity, Ohio’s Juvenile Rule 1(C) needs to be amended to maintain the state’s current safe haven law. Therefore, because of the statewide threat Ohio courts place on Ohio’s safe haven law, Juvenile Rule 1(C) needs to explicitly provide for an additional exception in cases of child relinquishment. Section II of this Note discusses the beginning of state safe haven legislation and what the laws are attempting …

Physician Peer Review Immunity: Time To Euthanize A Fatally Flawed Policy, Charles R. Koepke M.D.

Journal of Law and Health

Dr. X is a young, charismatic, board-certified surgeon at the local hospital. While popular among her patients and non-surgical colleagues, to the established surgical "Old Guard," she appears somewhat of a threat. Her training in new advanced techniques, coupled with splendid bedside manner, has caused her practice to become quite busy. However, disruption in some well-established referral patterns has occurred, and business has been siphoned away from her older colleagues. . . . This hypothetical - but not uncommonly recurring - fact pattern demonstrates the destruction of a promising medical career, elimination of competition, promotion of status quo cronyism, and …

Stunning Trends In Shocking Crimes: A Comprehensive Analysis Of Taser Weapons, Shaun H. Kedir

Journal of Law and Health

In 2001, Westminster, Colorado police officers were dispatched to the home of a suicidal thirteen year-old girl who had barricaded herself in a bathroom. The young girl was mutilating her wrist with two butcher knives. When police officers forced their way into the bathroom, the emotionally disturbed girl charged at them with the two butcher knives while screaming, "Kill me! Kill me!." One of the officers deployed a Taser M26, a hand held conductive energy weapon, which fires two barbed darts up to a distance of thirty-five feet that then deliver an electric shock of 50,000 volts. The officer's Taser …

Theobald V. University Of Cincinnati - Reforming Medical Malpractice In Ohio: A Survey Of State Laws And Policy Impacts , Brian Dunne

Journal of Law and Health

In its recent decision of Theobald v. University of Cincinnati, Ohio's Tenth District Court of Appeals declared that medical practitioners shall have state employee immunity, based on section 9.86 of the Ohio Revised Code, anytime they treat a patient as long as they act in a dual role to "teach" an "involved" student or resident. This immunity takes away the patient's right to sue the practitioner personally for his medical malpractice. As required by this holding, the doctor must have an employment relationship with state medical college. However, the employment relationship could encompass anything from a faculty position to something …

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 …

Political Oversight, The Rule Of Law, And Iran-Contra, Lawrence E. Walsh

Cleveland State Law Review

What I would like to talk about today, and I will use Iran-Contra as an illustration for much of it, is what I believe to be the conflict between two protective systems: (1) the rule of law as it is enforced by courts and lawyers; and (2) political oversight as set up by our Constitution and as it is carried out by political forces in Congress, particularly in it's oversight of the President. It is my conclusion that in some ways they are like having two alarm systems on your house: A silent system that communicates with police headquarters if …

Political Oversight, The Rule Of Law, And Iran-Contra, Lawrence E. Walsh

Cleveland State Law Review

What I would like to talk about today, and I will use Iran-Contra as an illustration for much of it, is what I believe to be the conflict between two protective systems: (1) the rule of law as it is enforced by courts and lawyers; and (2) political oversight as set up by our Constitution and as it is carried out by political forces in Congress, particularly in it's oversight of the President. It is my conclusion that in some ways they are like having two alarm systems on your house: A silent system that communicates with police headquarters if …

Confidentiality And Privilege Of Peer Review Information: More Imagined Than Real, Susan O. Scheutzow, Sylvia Lynn Gillis

Journal of Law and Health

This article will discuss the status of the privileges and confidentiality protection today at both the state and federal level. It will also address the concerns present among those individuals and organizations participating in peer review regarding the law of privileges and confidentiality and offer suggestions for health care providers to take full advantage of the statutory protections.

Fetal Abuse: Culpable Behavior By Pregnant Women Or Parental Immunity, George P. Smith Ii

Journal of Law and Health

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate the pressing need of the law to take decisive action in imposing tort liability for willful and malicious conduct by drug addicted women during their pregnancy. Liability should be imposed notwithstanding the warnings from civil libertarians that the enforcement of such a policy would most assuredly give rise to "prenatal police patrols".

A Practical Approach To Representation Of A Client During A Federal Antitrust Grand Jury Investigation, Carl L. Steinhouse

Cleveland State Law Review

Generally, in white-collar crime situations, particularly antitrust, the first time a client may know he is under investigation is after the grand jury proceedings have commenced. The client will usually find out about the investigation through the industry grapevine, through the receipt of a subpoena by his employer or through a subpoena ad testificandum to an individual in his company. It is necessary for an attorney to understand the investigative process in order to properly represent his client in the antitrust proceedings that follow.

A Practical Approach To Representation Of A Client During A Federal Antitrust Grand Jury Investigation, Carl L. Steinhouse

Cleveland State Law Review

Generally, in white-collar crime situations, particularly antitrust, the first time a client may know he is under investigation is after the grand jury proceedings have commenced. The client will usually find out about the investigation through the industry grapevine, through the receipt of a subpoena by his employer or through a subpoena ad testificandum to an individual in his company. It is necessary for an attorney to understand the investigative process in order to properly represent his client in the antitrust proceedings that follow.

Monell V. New York Board Of Social Services: New Liability For Land Use Regulators In Ohio - The Limits Of Regulatory Power, James M. Speros

Cleveland State Law Review

Monell places decisions of local agencies regarding land use in an entirely new light. While the exact scope of local governmental liability is yet to be determined, land use decisions can no longer be made without consideration of potential financial consequences from this new civil rights liability. Local governments must be aware that this potential financial responsibility will make challenges to land use decisions far more attractive to landowners. Thus, local governments must pay particular attention to the specific limitations on their power to regulate land use control, for significant financial liability may now be imposed if these bodies exceed …

Negligent Operation Of A Police Vehicle, Harvey S. Morrison

Cleveland State Law Review

As a general rule a police officer on an emergency call is required to exercise the care which a reasonable, prudent man would exercise in the discharge of official duties of a like nature under like circumstances. Comparing this standard of care to that required of a civilian driver, one finds not that a lesser degree of care is required of the police officer but that the care exercised must be commensurate with the circumstances. The ordinary driver under ordinary circumstances uniformly has the duty to exercise ordinary care toward other travelers to avoid injury or property damage. The police …

Tort Immunity Of Minor Governmental Officers, Morton L. Kaplan

Cleveland State Law Review

This note concerns the issues which the courts, both state and federal, have considered in proffering the cloak of immunity to minor public officers, and the current trends toward the extension, narrowing or maintenance of the doctrine of immunity.

Clergymen's Interference With Private Rights, Robert B. Dunsmore

Cleveland State Law Review

If a clergyman is to be granted complete immunity to say whatever he believes, or to take any action which he believes best for his church or his congregation, then eventually either our concept of separation of church and state will be destroyed or else by the very weight of the immunities and the inequities resulting therefrom the qualified privilege of the clergyman will be destroyed. The real question is not whether such a privilege exists or should exist, but at what point does the interference with the rights of the individual become so great as to be actionable. This …

Tort Liability Of Hospitals, B. Joan Holdridge

Cleveland State Law Review

In recent years, hospitals have undergone changes both in their financial and physical structures. These changes have resulted in a general alteration of the attitude of the courts toward the liability of hospitals for their torts. From a position of almost total immunity the pendulum is rapidly swinging toward liability generally for their negligence. Since most jurisdictions classify hospitals into three types: private, charitable, and public, when determining their liability or particular acts, this article will discuss each of these classes separately. However, for the sake of convenience, the general rules of liability will be set forth in the discussion …