Summer is a time for BBQs, pool parties, and… personal injuries? Every year, homeowners are sued by their guests for injuries arising from things like faulty stairs, misplaced rugs, dilapidated porches, holes in yards and a variety of injuries resulting from interactions with pools. Homeowners have a duty to their social guests – legally described as a gratuitous licensee –
Imagine filing a complaint, and two weeks later, receiving a brief in which the defendant argues that if you were to prosecute your claim, the defendant would have to review its own documents; therefore, your claim should be dismissed. Class action plaintiffs routinely encounter a variation of that frivolous argument, under the guise of “ascertainability.” Courts generally require a class
The Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act (CSPA) was intended to deter deceptive practices by sellers in consumer transactions. To that end, it permits individuals to recover statutory damages of $200. R.C. 1345.09(B). Of course, a consumer would have a difficult time finding an attorney to pursue a $200 claim. So, a statutory damages claim under the CSPA would seem ideal
For many years, owners of famous trademarks have batted down sellers of fake merchandise like the whack-a-mole game. New fakes have continued to pop up! Online selling platforms used to take no action without court proof of counterfeit, preferring to support “free trade.” Later they required take-down notices for every infringer, which became tedious and expensive. Famous marks, including such
Almost every business has an internet presence. A brick-and-mortar store not only sells goods and services at a physical retail location, but also takes orders via its internet website (or on third-party websites). As we have written many times in the past, “branding” goods and services is important. Other IP also comes into play to aid a business owner in
American whiskey-makers have been on a wild ride. From proliferation, to regulation, to prohibition, to decriminalization and then back to proliferation, U.S. spirits have been regulated in varying manners. Since the country’s founding, American whiskey distilleries have faced legal difficulties. Today, with the resurgence of American whiskey, certain legal challenges are increasing. Following the Revolutionary War, the newly formed Congress
An ELHF is an Expedited Limited Healthcare Fiduciary. ELHFs are appointed by a court when a hospital does not believe a patient is capable of making safe discharge choices and no family members are willing, or capable, of helping the patient. Authorized by § 34-1-133, it went into effect July 1, 2013. It is an expensive procedure because the hospital
A subject I often encounter in my family law practice is the matter of post-divorce parental alienation. When one parent substantially interferes with or undermines the other parent’s relationship with their children, a claim of alienation can arise. Such alienation can result when a parent succeeds in manipulating a child’s emotions so as to turn him or her against, or
I was in the process of writing about a completely different topic this month – something to do with data breaches or some goofy thing the Ohio legislature is about to do or had just done – when Bill Behrens, one of the really smart lawyers in my office forwarded me an email from a guy named Raymond Eshaghian, president
Ohio’s Civil Rule 23(E) is designed to protect the interests of absent class members in the context of a class action settlement by providing them with both notice of the settlement and the opportunity to object to the trial court’s final approval of that settlement. This article addresses the issue of whether absent class members who object to final approval,
Summer is a time for BBQs, pool parties, and… personal injuries? Every year, homeowners are sued by their guests for injuries arising from things like faulty stairs, misplaced rugs, dilapidated porches, holes in yards and a variety of injuries resulting from interactions with pools. Homeowners have a duty to their social guests – legally described as a gratuitous licensee –
Imagine filing a complaint, and two weeks later, receiving a brief in which the defendant argues that if you were to prosecute your claim, the defendant would have to review its own documents; therefore, your claim should be dismissed. Class action plaintiffs routinely encounter a variation of that frivolous argument, under the guise of “ascertainability.” Courts generally require a class
The Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act (CSPA) was intended to deter deceptive practices by sellers in consumer transactions. To that end, it permits individuals to recover statutory damages of $200. R.C. 1345.09(B). Of course, a consumer would have a difficult time finding an attorney to pursue a $200 claim. So, a statutory damages claim under the CSPA would seem ideal
For many years, owners of famous trademarks have batted down sellers of fake merchandise like the whack-a-mole game. New fakes have continued to pop up! Online selling platforms used to take no action without court proof of counterfeit, preferring to support “free trade.” Later they required take-down notices for every infringer, which became tedious and expensive. Famous marks, including such
Almost every business has an internet presence. A brick-and-mortar store not only sells goods and services at a physical retail location, but also takes orders via its internet website (or on third-party websites). As we have written many times in the past, “branding” goods and services is important. Other IP also comes into play to aid a business owner in
American whiskey-makers have been on a wild ride. From proliferation, to regulation, to prohibition, to decriminalization and then back to proliferation, U.S. spirits have been regulated in varying manners. Since the country’s founding, American whiskey distilleries have faced legal difficulties. Today, with the resurgence of American whiskey, certain legal challenges are increasing. Following the Revolutionary War, the newly formed Congress
An ELHF is an Expedited Limited Healthcare Fiduciary. ELHFs are appointed by a court when a hospital does not believe a patient is capable of making safe discharge choices and no family members are willing, or capable, of helping the patient. Authorized by § 34-1-133, it went into effect July 1, 2013. It is an expensive procedure because the hospital
A subject I often encounter in my family law practice is the matter of post-divorce parental alienation. When one parent substantially interferes with or undermines the other parent’s relationship with their children, a claim of alienation can arise. Such alienation can result when a parent succeeds in manipulating a child’s emotions so as to turn him or her against, or
I was in the process of writing about a completely different topic this month – something to do with data breaches or some goofy thing the Ohio legislature is about to do or had just done – when Bill Behrens, one of the really smart lawyers in my office forwarded me an email from a guy named Raymond Eshaghian, president
Ohio’s Civil Rule 23(E) is designed to protect the interests of absent class members in the context of a class action settlement by providing them with both notice of the settlement and the opportunity to object to the trial court’s final approval of that settlement. This article addresses the issue of whether absent class members who object to final approval,
