Cleveland Law Library Weblog

Cleveland Homeless Legal Assistance Self Help Center Opens

Last week, the Cleveland Homeless Legal Assistance Program opened a Self Help Center inside the May Dugan Center at 4115 Bridge Road in Cleveland. This new Center is intended to help homeless people and others who cannot afford a lawyer with civil issues such as landlord/tenant problems and divorces. Although the Center will provide access to legal documents and allow users to copy materials and access court websites for information, Center staff will not offer legal advice. The Center is sponsored by the Northeast Coalition for the Homeless and the Cleveland Bar Association (which has since merged with the Cuyahoga County Bar Association to become the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association). Hours for the Center are 1-4:00 p.m. on Mondays and 10 a.m.-noon on Wednesdays.

Medina Court Posts Child Support Contempt Proceedings

Newsnet5.com reports that Medina Domestic Relations Court Judge Mary Kovack has begun posting video clips of her child support contempt sentencing hearings to the Internet. Judge Kovack and Common Pleas Court Judge James Kimbler are both using the website/blog called Insidethecourt.net to post these tapes to help lay people become more familiar with the courts and court processes.

NCSC Issues 2007 Report on Future Trends in State Courts

The National Center for State Courts has issued its 2007 report on Future Trends in State Courts. This report discusses public access to court records containing personally identifiable information, using technology to improve customer service, national information exchange, increasing access to justice for self-represented litigants, e-filing, electronic discovery, families and problem-solving courts, interpreters and immigration issues, library collaboration, guardianships, court administration, judicial outreach, and judicial elections.

Ohio Supreme Court Recommends Safety Upgrades for Cuyahoga Justice Center

The Plain Dealer has reported on Ohio Supreme Court recommendations for significant safety upgrades at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center. The Justice Center, which is next to the jail, houses most of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judges and their courtrooms, as well as Cleveland Municipal Court. The paper suggests the enhancements will cost millions of dollars for additional deputies, screening equipment, locks, security cameras, and other new procedures. Locally, Common Pleas Judge John Russo chairs an ad hoc court security committee that is reviewing the recommendations. The same Ohio Supreme Court representatives who visited the Justice Center over the summer also visited the County Courthouse (which houses Cuyahoga's domestic relations, probate and appellate court judges and courtrooms), but we have not yet seen the report to determine whether it makes any recommendations for the Courthouse. See our prior post on the site visit, where we also provided a link to the current Courthouse Security Policy and Procedures Plan.

Software Helps Calculate Spousal Support

In making an award of spousal support, Ohio courts are supposed to utilize the statutory factors set forth in ORC sec. 3105.18(B). However, a review of the decisions shows that spousal support awards are both inconsistent and becoming more of an exception rather than the rule. As contrasted with cases involving child support, where the courts employ a different set of statutory factors and rely on a computation worksheet to attempt to allocate child support between an obligor and an obligee, there are no court-sanctioned computation worksheets for spousal support.  Puritas Springs, a local company from Hinckley, Ohio, tries to offer some guidance with its "Ohio Spousal Support Calculator Pretrial & Trial Preparation Tool," also called MA (Marital Aid). According to Puritas Springs, MA not only calculates proposed spousal support, but it also calcuates child support, addresses tax issues, and analyzes family budgets. It is like getting Puritas Springs' revised child support guidelines product (WROCSG), plus a lot more. Although the Law Library currently purchases the WROCSG product, it is considering converting to the MA product to assist local courts and attorneys who need to determine a proper award for spousal support.

Cuyahoga County Courthouse Garage Floods Again

For the second time in a week, the garage at the Cuyahoga County Courthouse on Lakeside Avenue in Cleveland flooded. Both last week after the hail, and yesterday after the rain storms subsided, courthouse employees, attorneys and visitors had to slog through up to about 6 inches of water that submerged portions of car tires and made going slippery in the garage. Newsnet5.com picked up the story and published pictures of the running and standing water on the courthouse garage floor. What the pictures do not show are the leaks that sprung up in a courtroom and a stairway in the Courthouse itself. Building employees got things under control, but they are preparing for another potential deluge today.

Ohio Suprem Court Security Visits Cuyahoga County Courthouse

Recently, at the request of some local judges, a representative from the Ohio Supreme Court Office of Court Security visited the Cuyahoga County Courthouse to evaluate current security procedures, evacuation plans, and emergency preparedness plans. In addition to meeting with local judges and interviewing some court and law library administrative staff, the representative reviewed the new Courthouse security system and current emergency plans for employees and visitors to the building. The Courthouse currently operates under a Security Policy and Procedures Plan that was amended on November 8, 2005 (Download _0726123843_001.pdf) and issued by Appellate Judge Patricia Ann Blackmon. That plan covers the Eighth District Court of Appeals, various courtrooms and offices for the Court of Common Pleas General, Probate and Domestic Relations Divisions. Presumably, the Supreme Court will issue a report on its representative's visit to all of the offices in the building.

Appellate Judge Blackmon Hears Ohio Supreme Court Case

Yesterday, Judge Patricia Blackmon served as a visiting Judge at the Ohio Supreme Court, taking the place of Justice Robert R. Cupp, who recused himself in the case captioned Paul Fisher v. Emma Hasenjager, Case Nos. 2006-1815 and 2006-1853. The Fisher case asks whether a trial court has to first make a finding that there has been a material “change in circumstances” of a child and/or of an affected parent in a court-approved shared parenting plan prior to issuing an order that changes the status of parent as a co-residential parent and co-legal guardian. Click here to watch the live video of the oral argument in the case. You can also access the Supreme Court's docket, containing the full text of the merit and reply briefs in case no. 2006-1853.

Ohioans who adopt receive expanded tax credits

On May 31st, the Governor signed into law SB 20, increasing the income tax adoption credit for each minor child from $500 to $1,500. This new change will be effective in 90 days and authorizes taxpayers to claim the credit over 3 or fewer consecutive years. To qualify for the credit, the adoption must occur under ORC 3107 or laws to which Ohio gives full faith and credit. The credit only applies to adoptions that become final on or after 1/1/07.

Bills Aim to Reform Foster Parent System

Ohio legislators have responsed to the death of a three year old foster child who was bound and gagged in a closet for three days while the foster parents attended a family reunion.  Proposed legislation would require criminal background checks of foster parents and increased training for foster care applicants. A state fingerprint database of foster parents would be created, whereby agencies can be notified if a foster parent or applicant commits a crime. The bills aim to increase information sharing amoung law enforcement, public children services agencies and placement agencies.  The bills are: HB 213 ; HB 198; SB 163.  See Foster Parents Bill: Criminal Background Checks to be Required, Toledo Blade, May 11, 2007; Legislators Introduce Bills to Enhance Ohio's Foster Care System by Chris Spittal, Central Ohio Source, May 11, 2007.