Case Update - Courts of Appeals
In civil cases, the 1st District reverses a trial court's dismissal of a medical malpractice complaint. The plaintiffs' decedent had fallen, and subsequently died of her injuries; the plaintiffs attached to their complaint an affidavit from a nurse stating that the defendant's nursing staff was negligent in permitting the fall which caused the injuries. The appellate court indicated that the affidavit might not be sufficient to get past summary judgment, particularly on the causation issue, but it was enough to meet the requirements of Civ.R. 10(D)(2), which mandate that a complaint has to be supported by an affidavit from a medical professional...
The 10th District holds that a cause of action for false arrest and false imprisonment accrues at the time of arrest, not the time the charges are resolved in the plaintiff's favor. Doesn't make much sense -- given that it's a 1-year statute of limitation, the case could still be unresolved at the time the statute runs out -- but there's other case law supporting that view... If you've got a civil suit against the police for injuries caused by a high-speed chase, you'll want to read this 10th District decision upholding a judgment for plaintiff's decedent... The 12th District holds that failure to sue the employee doesn't entitle the employer to summary judgment in a respondeat superior claim...
In criminal cases, the 1st District holds that it's permissible for a city to make possession of small amounts of marijuana a fourth degree misdemeanor, even though it's only a minor misdemeanor (and thus not a criminal offense) under the state code. This is in line with a 23-year-old Supreme Court decision that was probably bad law when it was decided, and worse law now, so we'll see if the defendant takes it up... 10th District says that trial court erred in refusing to permit evidence of prior sexual abuse of child under rape shield law, says that trial court should have balanced interests of statute against defendant's right to present a defense, in this case an alternate explanation for why the child would have had a knowledge of sexual activity... This 8th District case is a must-read if you've got a defendant charged with child sexual molestation; it covers duplicative counts and expert testimony for the defense...
Finally, talk about an inadequate record... from the 9th District's decision in Ulrich v. Mercedes-Benz USA:
This Court creates this procedural history in large part from the clerk of court's docket and journal entries attached to the parties' briefs, because a significant number of documents have not been transferred to this Court with the record. The appellate clerk appended a note to the file, which states in pertinent part, "Most documents could not be found in file room. If you need a document printed out, please let us know."
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