Weston Hurd is pleased to announce that a record number of attorneys are recognized in The Best Lawyers in America© 2023 including David Patterson as “Lawyer of the Year” in Construction Law.
Best Lawyers® uses a methodology “…designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.” Best Lawyers® is the only purely peer-review™ guide to the legal profession.
Congratulations Weston Hurd attorneys:
Fred J. Arnoff – Named in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2010. Recognized in Real Estate Law.
Carolyn M. Cappel – Named in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2007. Recognized in Insurance Law and Product Liability Litigation-Defendants.
W. Charles Curley – Named in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2016. Recognized in Litigation-Insurance and Personal Injury Litigation-Defendants.
John G. Farnan – Named in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2011. Recognized in Commercial Litigation, Insurance Law, Personal Injury Litigation-Defendants, and Personal Injury Litigation-Plaintiffs.
Joseph A. Gerling – Named in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2003. Recognized in Personal Injury Litigation-Defendants and Product Liability Litigation-Defendants.
Jeffrey W. Hutson – Named in The Best Lawyers in America© since 1995. Recognized in Personal Injury Litigation-Defendants.
Jack S. Kluznik – Named in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2007. Recognized in Employment Law-Management, Entertainment Law-Motion Pictures and Television, Entertainment Law-Music, Labor Law-Management, and Litigation-Labor and Employment.
Rick E. Marsh – Named in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2008. Recognized in Professional Malpractice Law-Defendants.
David T. Patterson – Awarded “Lawyer of the Year” 2023 in Construction Law. Named in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2016. Recognized in Construction Law.
Gregory D. Rankin – Named in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2008. Recognized in Medical Malpractice Law-Defendants.
Daniel A. Richards – Named in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2019. Recognized in Medical Malpractice Law-Defendants.
Richard J. Stahl III — Named in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2019. Recognized in Family Law.
Read the entire announcement by clicking here: Record Number of Attorneys from WESTON HURD LLP Recognized in THE BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA 2023 Including “LAWYER OF THE YEAR” Award
Congratulations to the twelve attorneys in Weston Hurd’s Columbus office named Best Lawyers 2022 by Columbus CEO magazine.
The attorneys were selected through a multiphase process that combines a peer review survey, nominations of lawyers considered to be the best in their field of practice, and a screening and verification process to create a comprehensive listing of outstanding attorneys.
The depth and breadth of Weston Hurd’s legal services is demonstrated by the nine practice areas in which the 12 attorneys are recognized: appellate, commercial, construction, insurance, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, personal injury, real estate law, and trusts and estates.
In a recent decision in the Court of Appeals of Ohio, Tenth Appellate District, the court affirmed the decision by the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Probate Division, in a matter involving a name change for minor children to include with a hyphenation, the surname of the mother of the minors.
In this matter, Weston Hurd partner James Seguin represented the mother of minor twin children. After the mother and father divorced, Jim helped the mother file name change applications to change the name of her twins to include her maiden name to be hyphenated with the father’s surname. The father objected to the applications.
After a hearing, the Probate Court magistrate found in favor of the mother and granted the mother’s applications, finding the name changes to be in the best interests of the children. The Probate Court judge confirmed the Magistrate Decision.
The father then filed an appeal claiming that:
- The mother had waived her right to file these name change applications based on their divorce settlement agreement and related negotiations; and
- The mother did not meet her burden of “reasonable and proper cause” for the requested name changes.
The Court of Appeals overruled both assignments of error and affirmed the judgment of the Probate Court.
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Speaking today before the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers Association, Weston Hurd partners Robert Poklar and Matthew Miller addressed the very real issue of inventory supply in their presentation, “Sales Effectiveness Challenges with Limited Inventory.” Bob and Matt discussed the legal ramifications regarding automobile dealers inability to fulfill obligations under their franchise agreements with limited or non-existent inventories of vehicles and parts.
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Scenario: A customer comes to the dealership at the termination of his lease and wants to purchase the vehicle. Since it is a very desirable vehicle, the sales person and manager increase the purchase price by $5,000 and since it was eligible for a CPO program, they tacked that on to the purchase price and charged registration fees. Shortly thereafter the dealership receives a demand letter from an attorney. What are the dealership’s responsibilities?
This is going to be a very short You Auto Know®. The facts in the scenario are happening quite frequently since the market is short on new and used vehicles. The terms of the buyout are controlled by the lease agreement. The agreement has very specific terms regarding the buyout purchase price and the items that can be sold at the time of the purchase. In many lease agreements, the dealership cannot tack on any costs to the buyout price. This can include doc and registration fees. Further, it is a breach of the dealer financial institution agreement and the dealership can be punished by the financial source for violating the terms of the lease provisions.
In the scenario, the dealership has absolutely no defense and will be responsible for, at a minimum, reimbursing the customer for any items over and above the buyout price prohibited by the lease plus attorneys’ fees. In many situations, the amount can be tripled.
It is recommended that the dealership’s managers become familiar with the buyout provisions of the various financial institutions utilized to lease vehicles. Obviously, if it is a captive, your finance manager, sales manager and general manager should already know the terms of the buyout clause.
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Congratulations The Parker Skin & Aesthetic Clinic, Inc. on its new partnership with PhyNet Dermatology LLC. The Parker Clinic was represented in the transaction by Weston Hurd partners Mark Kruse, Scott Kahn, and Jerrold Goldstein.
Read the full news release:
Parker Skin & Aesthetic Clinic Partners with PhyNet Dermatology
As a rule, organizations operated for religious purposes, commonly churches, are not required to file an application for tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (this application is a “Form 1023”) but can still receive deductible contributions. However, where no application is made, the church will not receive a written IRS determination validating its tax-exempt status for purposes such as to show potential contributors.
A recent federal case, Alearis Inc. v. United States, No. 1:20-cv-00808 (Fed. Cl. 2022), shows the conundrum the lack of written IRS recognition can create for a church. In Alearis, the church never filed an application for exemption but later asked the IRS for written confirmation that it was a public charity. The IRS responded that no such confirmation could be issued because the church never filed an application for exemption. The church sued for declaratory judgment and the Court stated:
“Plaintiff does not have an official IRS determination to contest because Plaintiff failed to submit the requisite forms as instructed by the IRS representative…. Plaintiff contends that it does not seek an affirmative classification of its 501(c)(3) status, rather its status as a public charity, and that submitting a Form 1023 would violate its religious tenets.”
Under these circumstances, the Court ruled that the IRS was not required to issue any validation of public charity status.
If a religious organization believes IRS validation of tax exempt status would be useful, it should complete the application process. As an example, certain United Methodist congregations are breaking away from the United Methodist Church denomination which holds a group exemption ruling for its congregations. Without its own IRS exemption ruling, a breakaway congregation would have no written validation of its tax exempt status.
Please contact Dana Rose or your Weston Hurd attorney if you have questions about this topic.
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Weston Hurd’s 2022 – Desktop Legal Primer for Ohio Claims serves as a comprehensive go-to-guide and useful reference tool for insurance claims professionals. Researched and written by Weston Hurd attorneys, the Primer contains Ohio statutes, case citations and covers topics involving:
- Claim Limitation Periods – Statutes of Limitation; Product Liability Statute of Repose; Construction Statute of Repose; Legal Malpractice Statute of Repose; Employment Discrimination Claims Under O.R.C. 4112; Employment Law Claims
- Employer Intentional Tort
- Employment Practices
- Damages – Caps on Non-Economic (Pain and Suffering) Damages; Caps on Punitive Damages; Damage to Real Property; Damage to Personal Property; Admissibility of “Writedown” of Medical Bills; Evidence of Collateral Benefits Paid to Plaintiff; Prejudgment and Post Judgment Interest; Parental Liability; Settlement of a Claim by a Minor; Statutory Damages
- Negligence
- Joint and Several Tort Liability
- Contribution, Indemnity and Effect of a Payment and Release
- Automobile Insurance – Mandatory Liability Limits; Insurance for Transportation Network Company Gigs; Pro-rata v. Excess Coverage; UM/UIM Coverage; Admissibility of Lack of Seatbelt, Protective Eye Device and Protective Helmet Use
- Declaratory Judgment Actions – Joinder; Insurer’s Coverage Defenses Against Supplemental Petitions
- Insurance Coverage – Construction Defect Claims; Allocation; Employer Intentional Tort; Punitive Damages; Retroactive Cancellation of Liability Insurance; Contract Void Ab Initio; Jurisdiction; Claims Against Insurance Agents/Brokers; Limitation of Action Provisions; Attorney Fees in Declaratory Judgment Actions; Waiver and Estoppel
- Subrogation and Liens – The Make Whole Doctrine; Workers’ Compensation Subrogation; Ohio Medicaid Subrogation; Federal Medicare Subrogation
- Ohio Fair Claims Practices Act – Unfair Property/Casualty Claims Settlement Practices
New in this year’s Primer:
- Changes to Ohio’s Statute of Limitations (page 5)
- Worksite Accidents (page 13)
- Key Time Requirements in Ohio State Court Under Ohio Civil Rules (page 14)
- Time for Filing Appeals to Courts of Appeals from Trial Courts of Record in Ohio (page 15)
- Time for Filing Appeals to Ohio Supreme Court (page 16)
