In December the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Rochow v. Life Insurance Company of North America. Rochow, the president of a company, began experiencing short- term memory loss and other symptoms of illness in 2001 which led to him being demoted. The symptoms continued to interfere with his performance and he was forced to resign in 2002. Rochow filed a claim for long-term disability benefits and the Life Insurance Company of North America (“LINA”) denied his claim and three appeals. Finally, Rochow filed a complaint in court against LINA and stated two claims under ERISA: one …
Arbitration, Should it be the New Litigation?
In 2013, the federal courts decided several cases that upheld arbitration clauses in commercial and employment contracts. These courts further upheld arbitration clauses that require individual as opposed to class action arbitration. Some dissenting United States Supreme Court Justices wrote that it may no longer be economically feasible for individuals to take on big corporations in arbitration. While the use of arbitration clauses is likely on the rise as a result of these decisions, the process is not without its problems. The advocacy group, Public Citizen, questions the cost efficiency of arbitration, and notes court costs are generally lower than …
In the digital age, justice never takes a holiday…
Even when the courthouse is closed on the weekends and holidays, the wheels of justice are still turning. The Montgomery County, Ohio Clerk of Courts, in keeping with Dayton’s rich history of technological innovation, has an extensive electronic filing system that allows attorneys (and judges) to file documents 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from virtually anywhere on the planet that has a secure internet connection. Each electronically filed document receives an electronic stamp that includes the date and time it was filed. With a keystroke, a judge signs an electronic document “via a digitalized image of his …
Supreme Court Will Hear Religious Freedom Cases
The Supreme Court agreed on November 26, 2013 to hear the religious challenges of Hobby Lobby Stores and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. to the contraceptive coverage requirements of the Affordable Care Act. While not on the Supreme Court website calendar yet, the latest information indicates the cases will be heard in March. The Court has consolidated the two cases and scheduled only one hour of argument for both cases. As discussed in earlier blog posts (Supreme Court Asked to Decide If Corporations Have Religious Freedom and Do For-Profit Corporations Have Religious Freedom?), the general issue is whether for-profit companies with …
Stay away from my friends: When is a business’s social media friend list a trade secret?
The general rule in Ohio is that for a customer list to be a trade secret, it has to be… a secret. Usually this means that the customer list is stored in a locked drawer or a password-protected server that only a few trusted people can access. But with the emergence of social media, a friend list may be as or more important than a traditional customer list. But can a business’s friend list be a trade secret just like a customer list? Christou v. Beatport, L.L.C., No. 10-cv-02912-RBJ-KMT, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34307 (D. Colo. 2012) raised this very …
Ohio’s Most Litigated Private Pool?
An Ohio family in Mahoning County has demonstrated their commitment to property rights, swimming, or both. In 1949, Ohio Edison obtained an easement for building and maintaining an electric transmission line, and currently maintains a 69,000 high voltage line within the easement area. More than 25 years later, in 1977, the Wilkes family purchased a home on a lot partially covered by Ohio Edison’s easement. In 1993, they installed an above-ground swimming pool and storage shed within the minimum safe distances from the transmission lines pursuant to the National Electrical Safety Code. In November of 2008, Ohio Edison notified them …
Ways to Pass the Check: Cost-shifting during the electronic discovery process
There is an old saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch. But in the e-discovery arena, there are times when counsel can “pass the check” for e-discovery to the opposing party. Many courts treat e-discovery the same way they treat paper discovery, and presume that parties must pay their own costs. See Dahl v. Bain Capital Partners, L.L.C., 655 F. Supp. 2d 146, 148 (D. Mass. 2009)(internal citations omitted). In fact, the Southern District of New York in the landmark Zubulake case found that cost-shifting should be considered only when electronic discovery imposes an “undue burden …
Motions to Dismiss Still A Possibility
In spite of the Second District Appellate Court decision in Sacksteder v. Senny, 2012 Ohio 4452 (2012), which declined to adopt the more stringent pleading standards set out by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009), it is still possible to get inadequately pled complaints dismissed via a motion to dismiss or for judgment on the pleadings. Coolidge Wall recently succeeded in having an intentional infliction of emotional distress count dismissed in a discrimination suit because the plaintiff had not pled facts sufficient to demonstrate the …
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