|
Employment and Labor
Kilgore v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. (1st District)
- Hostile work environment, harassment, severe and pervasive
- Male co-worker's actions were not severe or pervasive enough to create objectively hostile work environment. Co-worker's conduct included threatening messages, glares, and disturbing phone calls that consisted of just breathing. Co-worker was fired for these actions.
Leininger v. Pioneer Natl. Latex (Ohio Supreme Court)
- Wrongful discharge, age discrimination
- There is no common-law claim for wrongful discharge based on public policy against age discrimination.
Miller v. CSX Transp., Inc., 2007-Ohio-5470 (6th Distirct)
- FELA, long-term lifting, proximate cause
- In FELA action, arising from back and shoulder injuries allegedly caused during 33 years' employment involving unassisted lifting and use of industrial equipment, summary judgment for employer was proper where proximate cause was not shown; isolated, undocumented incident of loading 40-pound railroad bars, that was an admittedly safe activity, was not cause of injuries, plaintiff made no showing that the work was inherently dangerous and there was no cause of action for lifting objects over a period of time.
State ex rel. Cherryhill Mgt., Inc. v. Indus. Comm. (Ohio Supreme Court)
- Drug testing
- Industrial Commission was not required to accept as persuasive or explain failure to rely on affidavit about drug test.
State ex rel. E.I. DuPont DeNemours & Co. v. Indus. Comm. (Ohio Supreme Court)
- Retirement, disability, asbestos
- Retirement before becoming disabled did not bar compensation for permanent total disability from asbestos exposure.
State ex rel. Ellis Super Valu, Inc. v. Indus. Comm. (Ohio Supreme Court)
- Workers' compensation, temporary total disability
- Refusal of light-duty offer of work created an issue as to whether claimant refused suitable alternate employment. Job offer must be made in good faith - factual question remained whether offer of work limited to shift for which claimant is unavailable was made in good faith.
State ex rel. Gross v. Indus. Comm. (Ohio Supreme Court
- Workers' compensation, temporary total disability
- Claimant's termination was causally related to his injury and did not preclude recovery of temporary total disability benefits.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Rose v. Phinney, 2007-Ohio-5494 (3rd District)
- Motor vehicle, limited permission to drive, lack of license
- In negligent entrustment action by persons injured when driver caused accident in vehicle titled to another's parents, summary judgment for parents' insurer was proper where driver did not have reasonable belief that she was authorized to operate motor vehicle; driver was unlicensed, was permitted to drive another to store to make photocopies only, person giving limited permission believed driver to be licensed, told her to go to store and then return and, on her return, driver disregarded limited permission by going to another city.
Slip and Fall
Rawls v. Cinemark USA, Inc., 2007-Ohio-5511 (5th District)
- Negligence, slip and fall, chair armrest, knowledge
- In negligence slip and fall action, arising from armrest detaching and causing a fall, summary judgment for cinema was proper; patron failed to show cinema knew of any defect in chair armrest/cupholder, that it created the defect or that it knew or should have known of the defect.
Heckman v. Mayfield Country Club, 2007-Ohio-5330 (8th District)
- Negligence, slip and fall, raised threshold, open and obvious, safety hazard
- In negligence action by plaintiff arising from fracturing her foot on threshold of door at club she was visiting for a wedding reception, the trial court erred in granting summary judgment for defendant where there was a genuine issue of fact whether the threshold was open and obvious since the door was closed when plaintiff approached, the threshold was same color as the door, it appeared to be part of door, there was no warning that the threshold was raised, the lighting was dim and plaintiff's attention was diverted to wedding party; fact issue also exists whether threshold was a serious safety hazard in violation of building code.
Mascarella v. Simon Property Group, 2007-Ohio-5351 (7th District)
- Negligence, business invitee, duty
- In negligence action arising out of injuries that plaintiff incurred while attempting to install a sign for a store in a mall by using a canopy as a platform that gave way as he was standing on it, in which a jury returned a verdict for plaintiff, trial court erred in failing to grant defendant-mall owner's judgment nov; plaintiff did not demonstrate that defendant acted negligently since it was not shown that it could have reasonably expected that a business invitee would use the canopy over the store's doors as a platform for working on the sign above.
Towns v. WEA Midway, L.L.C., 2007-Ohio-5121 (9th District)
- Negligence, slip and fall, open and obvious, wet floor, rainy day
- In slip and fall action by plaintiff who fell on wet floor in mall, summary judgment for defendant was proper where the presence of water on floor on rainy day was open and obvious; the trial court also properly granted motion to strike affidavit of plaintiff's witness who was involved in housekeeping for defendant since it was immaterial to unchallenged facts of case.
Snider v. McTigue, 2007-Ohio-5065 (8th District)
- Negligence, slip and fall, snow and ice, natural accumulation
- In negligence slip and fall on in parking lot action, summary judgment for landlord was proper on open and obvious doctrine grounds where patron could only speculate that on parking lot sidewalk was unnatural accumulation due to defect in building's gutters, and water dripping from a nondefective roof with gutters was not an unnatural accumulation.
Towns v. WEA Midway, L.L.C., 2007-Ohio-5121 (9th District)
- Negligence, slip and fall, open and obvious, wet floor, rainy day
- In slip and fall action by plaintiff who fell on wet floor in mall, summary judgment for defendant was proper where the presence of water on floor on rainy day was open and obvious; the trial court also properly granted motion to strike affidavit of plaintiff's witness who was involved in housekeeping for defendant since it was immaterial to unchallenged facts of case.
Cottrill v. Knaul, 2007-Ohio-5196 (3rd District)
- Negligence, pedestrian-vehicle accident, proximate cause, failure to yield
- In pedestrian auto accident, summary judgment for driver was proper where pedestrian, not within marked crosswalk, proximately caused accident by failing to yield to oncoming vehicles on roadway, R.C. 4511.48(A), despite contention that adjacent vehicle saw pedestrian and stopped; driver was traveling at appropriate speed and fashion, pedestrian did not have right-of-way, eyewitness saw pedestrian look only straight ahead while crossing, stopped vehicle prevented driver from seeing pedestrian and driver did not have time to avoid collision.
Products Liability
Ronske v. Heil Co., 2007-Ohio-5417 (5th District)
- Products liability, component manufacturer, directed verdict
- In wrongful death products liability action against manufacturer of dump truck bed and controls, arising from accidental contact with spool that resulted in lowering of truck bed that killed decedent where jury verdict was for estate, directed verdict for manufacturer was properly denied despite claim that parts were made to order by truck's assembler; evidence showed manufacturer designed and made the unguarded spool, did not advise that only seven pounds of pressure on spool would cause bed to lower silently within four seconds, did not integrate inexpensive, available safety devices, though it offered them as extras, jury found that hydraulic bed system was defectively designed by manufacturer, did not contain post-sale warning and decedent did not misuse hydraulic pump system, assume the risk or materially alter system.
Rose v. Ohio Dept. of Rehab. & Corr., 2007-Ohio-5427
- Negligence, inmate, exiting upper bunk, water on floor, contributory negligence
- In negligence action by inmate who fell while exiting his upper bunk, even if inmate had not alerted prison staff of his upper bunk restriction, magistrate recommends that inmate is still entitled to judgment because of water on floor from leaky cell windows, but judgment is reduced by 30 percent for the contributory negligence of inmate, who was aware that water was on floor.
Lykins v. Fun Spot Trampolines, 172 Ohio App.3d 226, 2007-Ohio-1800 (12th District)
- Products liability, trampoline, warning, open and obvious
- In strict products liability action against distributor and retail seller of trampoline by plaintiff who was injured in trampoline accident, trial court erred in granting summary judgment to defendants-distributor and retail seller where there was no warning of the danger a "double bounce" would create for plaintiff even though she was standing on the of trampoline, and the danger was not open and obvious; the fact that the general danger of a trampoline was well-known did not overcome lack of awareness of specific danger in this case.
Workplace Accidents
Adkins v. Atom Blasting & Finishing, Inc., 2007-Ohio-5100 (9th District)
- Employer intentional tort, silicosis, safety measures
- In employee's action for employer intentional tort arising from employee's symptoms, his health screening indicating he may have silicosis and plaintiffs' belief that his job finishing metal caused the disease, trial court properly granted summary judgment to defendant where there was no evidence that other employees contracted silicosis or that defendant concealed or misrepresented the dangers in metal finishing; defendants were generally aware of the problem with silicosis and took safety measures to protect employees.
Negligence - Other
Robertson v. Dept. of Public Safety, 2007-Ohio-5080 (10th District)
- Negligence, wanton conduct, state trooper, high speed chase
- In action for wrongful death and survivorship by executor of estate of victim of collision with state trooper who drove through red light in pursuit of a fugitive, judgment for plaintiff was proper since evidence showed trooper acted wantonly without regard for duty of care to decedent because trooper knew of the great probability of harm by driving through intersection at night against the light at a high rate of speed in an area where he knew there were many all night businesses and because he was driving over crest of hill, his car would not be visible at intersection until the last minute; there was not proof that trooper acted willfully.
Zerkle v. Kendall (2nd District)
- Negligence, damages
- Dairy farmer brought negligence action against motorist, alleging that after motorist damaged the farm's fence, farmer's son had to move farmer's cows to barn area for 50 hours until fence was repaired, and that inability of cows to consume roughage in pasture during such time caused decreased milk production. Farmer was entitled to at least nominal damages from motorist.
The preceding case summaries have been adapted in part from Ohio State Bar Association Reports.
|
