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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
Ohio court rejects claim by widower of obese smoker By ROBERTO CENICEROS Business Insurance
A widower failed to prove that a fatal heart attack suffered by his wife, a 317-pound clerk who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day, was work-related, Ohio’s 10th Appellate District Court ruled last week. The ruling in the case of Deborah Davis vs. Marsha Ryan upholds a denial of workers’ compensation benefits sought by Thomas E. Davis. Ms. Davis, a 5-foot-4-inch clerk for the Ohio Education Association, died in 2005 after she found her usual handicapped parking spot blocked, so she parked in a lot a block from her work, court records show. She later was found unresponsive in her vehicle. A death certificate stated she died of a heart attack. The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation denied benefits for her estate, administered by her husband. He appealed to the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. The bureau then moved for summary judgment, arguing that there was no causal connection between Ms. Davis’ employment and her
demise. The state agency cited testimony given by Ms. Davis’ cardiologist in a separate personal injury case. In that case, the doctor testified that Ms. Davis had a pre-existing heart condition and underwent coronary bypass surgery in 2004. The doctor said she “was at risk for having a heart attack at any point” and he could not determine the heart attack’s probable cause. The doctor said Ms. Davis suffered from multiple health problems, including hypertension, reactive airway disease and diabetes. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the bureau, finding that there was no evidence that Ms. Davis’ death was “caused by anything other than natural deterioration from pre-existing physical conditions.” On appeal, Mr. Davis argued that his wife’s death could have been caused by overexertion as she attempted to walk from the parking lot and that her death arose from her employment. The appellant court, however, found that Mr. Davis failed to present sufficient evidence that the heart attack was caused by work-related activity. ■
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Lonely? Not at Ohio Commerce Single-branch firm in Beachwood grows assets two years after decision to fly solo By MICHELLE PARK mpark@crain.com
So far, Ohio Commerce Bank has worn its independence well. In the nearly two years since the single-branch Beachwood bank raised enough capital to buy itself out from an ailing parent company, the institution has grown its deposits, its lending and its staff. If its growth keeps pace, the bank probably will outgrow its existing capital level, said president and CEO Dell R. Duncan. That situation would require some type of capital infusion, be it a sale of stock, a merger or acquisition or other action. In the most recently concluded year, Ohio Commerce grew its assets 37% to $110.2 million. The year before, it grew its assets 21.4%, Mr. Duncan said. While its loan originations last year fell 17% short of the bank’s goal, loans still grew 18% during 2011 over
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2010, he noted. Midway through 2011, Mr. Duncan said, he took a “hard look” at the management team and in August replaced the bank’s chief lending officer. Thereafter, the bank generated nearly as much loan volume in the fourth quarter as it did the first three quarters of the year, Mr. Duncan noted. “That’s why I’m excited about our prospects” in 2012, he said. “Word is getting out. We’re not a household name, but accountants and attorneys do know about us.”
Growing up fast Ohio Commerce remains Cuyahoga County’s youngest bank. When it opened in 2006, it was the first de novo institution chartered in the county in 16 years. When its parent company, Capitol Bancorp, which has offices in Michigan and Arizona, encountered problems, in large part because of its business in places such as Las Vegas that were hard hit by the economic downturn, local investors bought out Capitol’s 50.5% stake, effective June 30, 2010. “They were going downhill, and we were going uphill,” Mr. Duncan said, citing how the young bank first became profitable in the first half of 2009. In an internal newsletter sent immediately after the transaction, Mr. Duncan wrote, “Excess funds will be added to the bank’s already strong capital base, positioning our institution for the growth we have projected over the next several years.” Grow, it has. In addition to its loan and asset growth, Ohio Commerce added four net people last year, bringing its staff to 24. The bank also is seeking to lease another 3,000 square feet to increase its Beachwood office space by more than one-third to 11,000 square feet. And it’s working with the property owner to have significant signage placed on the building it calls its headquarters. The bank is a preferred Small Business Administration lender and was ranked in fiscal 2010 in the top 10 SBA lenders in Northeast Ohio by dollar value of loans. “For us at this point, everything is going in the right direction,” Mr. Duncan said.
Mr. Duncan said the bank does not try to be everything to everyone. It has a minimal amount of consumer loans on the books — a mere $136,000 at the end of 2011 — because it’s focused on the small business lending it was founded to do. (The bank’s core customer is a small business with revenue of $10 million or less.) This year, it aims to grow its loan portfolio another 25% to 30%, Mr. Duncan said.
‘Timing is everything’ Younger institutions often post above-normal growth rates because “they’re the new kid on the block,” plus community banks in general are posting higher growth rates than they did prior to 2008, said Robert L. Palmer, president and CEO of the Community Bankers Association of Ohio, which represents 222 community banks statewide. He said disenchantment with larger institutions is a key reason for smaller banks’ growth. Mr. Palmer isn’t minimizing what Ohio Commerce has done, though. “They have been extremely successful,” Mr. Palmer said. It’s a “very, very strong accolade to their management team and their board” that Ohio Commerce continues to grow during these challenging times, he noted. When Ohio Commerce restructured, it was clear of the expense burden so many startup banks have, and it didn’t have the legacy debts that turned sour for so many institutions, said Paul L. Simoff, principal with Austin Associates LLC, a Toledo community bank consulting firm that has worked with Ohio Commerce. So Ohio Commerce, for all intents and purposes, was a new, healthy player in the market, he said. “Timing is everything in a lot of disciplines,” Mr. Simoff said. About 25% of the bank’s deposits, Mr. Simoff noted, are non-interestbearing accounts, which signals that Ohio Commerce is a relationship bank. “That tells me they aren’t going to get whipsawed when this interest rate environment starts to turn and banks that are funded with more interest-sensitive deposits all of a sudden (have) those costs start to go up dramatically,” Mr. Simoff said. ■