IN t he Northeast NEWS Ohio
Two Best Lawyers-listed attorneys go head-to-head in an Ohio Supreme Court case.
THE WEIGH-IN
The case is 2014-1161: World Harvest Church v. Grange Mutual Casualty Company
ADMITTED
◄ TO PR ACT ICE ►
1979
Robert “Bob” Rutter co-founder and member of Rutter & Russin
World Harvest Church
FOR INSURANCE LAW
IN OHIO
APPELLEE
SIN CE 2015
1982
ARGUING ◄ FO R ► APPELLANT
LISTED W I T H
◄ BEST LAWYERS ►
Grange Mutual Casualty Company
SIN CE 19 9 5
Irene C. Keyse-Walker Partner and co-chair of appellate & legal issues practice group at Tucker Ellis,
FOR APPELLATE PRACTICE, BET-THE-COMPANY LITIGATION, AND COMMERCIAL LITIGATION
At issue: Grange Mutual Casualty Company has appealed the verdict of a lower court as to whether or not it is responsible, as World Harvest Church’s insurer, for $1 million of $3.1 million total in damages awarded to family of a toddler who was beaten by a day care worker employed by the church. The case hinges in large part on the interpretation of an abuse and molestation exclusion clause in the insurance agreement: Does the claim in the original lawsuit that the day care worker’s act was a form of abuse allow the insurer to deny coverage to its policyholder—the day care worker’s employer? The oral argument was held October 13, 2015. A decision from the court is pending. Marie O’Brien: Akron-based solo ► Ann practitioner Ann Marie O’Brien (litigation
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– construction; personal injury litigation – plaintiffs, 2015) is running for Summit County Clerk of Courts on the Republican Party ticket. Bashein & Bashein Company: W. Craig Bashein (appellate practice; commercial litigation; insurance law; mass tort litigation / class actions – plaintiffs; medical malpractice law – plaintiffs; personal injury litigation – plaintiffs, 2014) was sworn in as foreman of one of the three Cuyahoga County Common Pleas grand juries, members of which serve for four months and meet two times a week to evaluate whether or not probable cause has been appropriately established in the cases before them. Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff: Allan Goldner (corporate law; mergers and acquisitions law, 2006) was elected to the board of directors of the Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland. David A. Landman (commercial litigation, 2015) was one of four attorneys named partner at the firm after the new year. Berns, Ockner & Greenberger: Sheldon Berns (eminent domain and condemnation law; land use and zoning law; litigation – land use and zoning; litigation – real estate; real estate law, 1995) represented developer Matt Garland in his $2 million sale of land to the City of Avon for the development of a park. Ciano & Goldwasser: Phillip A. Ciano (commercial litigation, 2016) contributed an op-ed piece titled, “In an age of terrorism, we all will have to relinquish some of our individual liberties,” to Cleveland.com. Gallagher Sharp: Cleveland-based attorney John Travis (insurance law, 2014) has been retained by the City of Struthers in connection with insurance issues related to
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an incident in September in which a prisoner in the city jail hung himself in his cell a few hours after he was arrested for disorderly conduct. The city is conducting an internal investigation into the incident. Giffen & Kaminski: Diane Citrino (commercial litigation; litigation – labor and employment, 2016), with the help of the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, won $4 million for women tenants who had lived in Cleveland apartments owned by landlords Derek and Graig Brown. These tenants—primarily young, single mothers— were verbally threatened and harassed by the brothers, refused their legal rights as tenants by not being given written leases and being asked to pay their rent in cash, and often locked out and ejected from their apartments, forcing them to leave their belongings behind, in retaliation for requesting that their landlords address the apartments’ poor state of repair. Jones Day: Heather Lennox (bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights / insolvency and reorganization law, 2006) has been named partner-in-charge of the Cleveland office. She is the first woman to lead the firm in Cleveland in that role. Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty: Scott M. Zurakowski (employment law – individuals; employment law – management; litigation – labor and employment, 2012) and William G. Williams (litigation – real estate; oil and gas law, 2007) are part of a team that successfully defended the Beck Energy Corporation in two cases on appeal with the Ohio Supreme Court, affirming the corporation’s rights regarding oil and gas leases in the state. Thompson Hine: Donald H. Messinger (corporate law; securities / capital markets law; securities regulation, 1999) has been named board chair for the Cleveland Pops Orchestra.
Ellis: Anthony Petruzzi (criminal ► Tucker defense: white-collar, 2013) and Victoria
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Vance (health care law, 2016) were part of a group of nine attorneys named partners at the firm in January. Mark F. McCarthy (personal injury litigation – defendants; product liability litigation – defendants, 2009) was elected a trustee of the Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys. Ulmer & Berne: Frances Floriano Goins (corporate compliance law; corporate governance law; litigation – banking and finance; litigation – securities, 2007) was appointed to serve a three-year term as chair of the American Bar Association Business Law Section’s Director and Officer Liability Committee. The committee focuses on helping business law attorneys develop a deeper understanding of the risks to officers and directors of for-profit companies and help them manage those risks. Wright & Schulte: Dennis P. Mulvihill (medical malpractice law – plaintiffs; personal injury litigation – plaintiffs, 2015) was reappointed to his third two-year term on the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission, where he serves as one of its 20 public members and joins 12 members of the state legislature. The purpose of the commission is to give recommendations to the Ohio General Assembly about ways to modernize the state constitution.
Compiled by Nathaniel Barr NOTE Lawyers listed in Best Lawyers are indicated by their selected practice area(s) in parentheses along with the first year they were included in the Best Lawyers list. To be included in next year’s In the News feature, please email us your news at: news@bestlawyers.com. www.bestlawyers.com
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