Employment Law Court Rulings

The trial court abused its discretion in issuing default judgment against a party as to whom the complaint stated no claim on which relief could be granted. Claims for negligent hiring and respondeat superior do not run against an individual who is not the alleged wrongdoer's employer, and the…

ten-year construction statute of repose in R.C. 2305.131 applies to contract and tort claims pursuant to Supreme Court's New Riegel case statute does not violate to right-to-remedy clause school district made new argument in supplemental brief that a claim accruing within the statute of repose's…

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEAL - R.C. 3319.16 lower court did not abuse its discretion termination of teaching contracts for violation of hazing policy during band camp "fairly serious matters" "good and just cause" for termination Daugherty factors preponderance of the evidence, not manifest weight, was…

CONTRACTS – EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE--TRADE SECRETS: The trial court did not err by dismissing pursuant to Civ.R. 12(C) a breach-of-contract claim by an employer against an employee where a later agreement executed by the parties constituted a complete release by the employer of the employee's obligations…

Herman worked as a legal recruiter for 23 LTD, d/b/a Bradsby Group (Bradsby). When she was hired, Herman signed an employment agreement with a nonsolicitation provision and a noncompete provision. Bradsby terminated Herman's employment and she thereafter founded a company that did some legal…

In a slip-and-fall negligence action, the trial court did not err in granting the defendant-grocery store's motion for summary judgment where undisputed evidence showed the grocery store employees' actions in cleaning the area of a spill and warning customers of the spill with a caution sign…

APPELLATE REVIEW/CIVIL – CIV.R. 12(B)(6) – APPELLATE JURISDICTION – FINAL ORDER – EMPLOYER/EMPLOYEE: Where plaintiff could not plead her claims any differently to state a claim for relief, the trial court's entry granting defendant's Civ.R. 12(B)(6) motion to dismiss plaintiff's claims without…

Given the determination that the parties entered into an express contract, the trial court erred by awarding Plaintiff damages based on unjust enrichment. The trial court, however, did not err by denying Defendant's breach of contract, slander of title, and other counterclaims. Judgment affirmed in…

Trial court did not err in providing jury instruction requested by appellees, nor did court err in ruling on appellant's request to pursue a claim for retaliation in age discrimination action.

In this wrongful dismissal case, Sonya Brooks ("Brooks") sued her former employer Roane County and county officials Ron Woody and Gloria Wright ("Defendants"). In a March 9, 2017 order, the Circuit Court for Roane County ("the Trial Court") dismissed Brooks' lawsuit against Defendants with…

The appellate court did not have jurisdiction to rule on the trial court's decision denying appellant's motion to dismiss under Civ.R. 12(B)(6) as an order denying a motion to dismiss is not a final appealable order. Furthermore, as appellants did not file a motion to stay proceedings pending…

discrimination, disability, employment, admission of evidence, manifest weight, failure to object, plain error, jury instructions

Appeal from decision confirming an arbitrator's award and denying a motion to vacate the award. Trial court did not err in finding the grievance was arbitrable and upholding arbitrator's decision to reduce discipline and reinstate the grievants.

Motion to compel arbitration Existence and scope of arbitration agreement Construction of contract language.

Trial court did not err in granting appellee's motion for summary judgment where the evidence in support of the motion established as a matter of law that appellant was an independent contractor of appellee, not an employee. Nor did the trial court err by granting summary judgment as to appellant's…

This case came before the Supreme Court on appeal by the defendant, the Rhode Island Troopers Association, from a judgment granting declaratory and equitable relief in favor of the plaintiff, the State of Rhode Island. The Superior Court declared that the Governmental Tort Liability Act, G.L. 1956…

tortious interference with a business relationship, at-will employees, privileged conduct, misappropriation of trade secrets, civil conspiracy, judgment notwithstanding the verdict, directed verdict, sufficiency of the evidence, exclusion of evidence, abuse of discretion, duplicative damages,…

TRADE SECRETS – MISAPPROPRIATION: A company's client list and financial data are trade secrets where the client list and financial data derive independent value from not being generally known, and where the company has made efforts to maintain their secrecy. The unauthorized sharing of a company's…

Breach of Contract,Mitigation,Settlement Offer,Accord and Satisfaction. U.S. Welding, Inc. (Welding) sought review of the Court of Appeals' judgment affirming the district court's order awarding it no damages whatsoever for breach of contract with Advanced Circuits, Inc. (Advanced). Notwithstanding…

The plaintiff, Prospect CharterCARE, LLC (PCC), appealed from an order of the Superior Court denying its motion to vacate an arbitration award and confirming the award in favor of the defendant, Michael E. Conklin, Jr. On appeal, PCC contended that the arbitrator exceeded his authority by: (1)…