Court Rulings

William Eugene Moon ("Defendant") was convicted of attempted second degree murder and unlawful employment of a firearm during the commission of or attempt to commit a dangerous felony. Defendant appealed his conviction and asserted, among other things, that he had been denied the right to a speedy trial and that the trial court erred by allowing improper impeachment of a defense witness. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the judgments of the trial court, holding that Defendant was not denied a speedy trial and, although the trial court erred in allowing the prosecution to improperly impeach a defense witness, the error was harmless. This Court granted Defendant's application for permission to appeal to consider whether the Court of Criminal Appeals applied the proper standard of review to Defendant's claim that he was denied a speedy trial, to address the merits of Defendant's speedy trial claim, and to determine whether the trial court committed reversible error in allowing improper impeachment of a defense witness. We hold that the standard of review for an alleged speedy trial violation is de novo with deference to the trial court's findings of fact unless the evidence preponderates otherwise. When reviewed under this standard, we determine that the Court of Criminal Appeals properly held that the Defendant was not denied a speedy trial. Further, we agree with the intermediate court that the trial court erred in allowing improper impeachment of a defense witness. However, we hold that this error was not harmless and is reversible error. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals and vacate the judgments of the trial court. The case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

The dispute before the Court in this case is which church entity became the legal or beneficial owner of certain real and personal property after The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina (Disassociated Diocese) and thirty-six individual Episcopal Parishes (Parishes) disassociated from The Episcopal Church in the United States of America (National Church). The dispute requires us to address two broad questions. First, who now owns the real estate long-owned and occupied by the individual Parishes. Second, who is now the beneficiary of a statutorily-created trust controlled by the Trustees of The Protestant Episcopal Church in South Carolina (Trustees). As to the first question, we hold the 2017 Court did not make a final decision as to the real property owned by twenty-nine Parishes, and thus, we review the circuit court's 2020 Parish by Parish determination. As to the second question, we hold the 2017 Court decided the real and personal property held in trust by the Trustees is now held for the benefit of the Associated Diocese.

public record R.C. 149.43 court of claims R.C. 2743.75 non-existent identical non-record metadata. Requester sought all communications from named council employees regarding an identified topic. Respondent advised that it searched for, located, and produced all requested records. Requester's complaint asserted that additional records existed. The special master found that requester failed to show by clear and convincing evidence that any additional, non-identical records existed.

The plaintiff sought to recover damages from the defendants, B and G Co., for, inter alia, breach of contract relating to his negotiations with B over a potential lease of certain commercial property by G Co., B's limited liability company. The negotiations began in October, 2012, and several proposed lease agreements were drafted by the plaintiff's attorney and exchanged by the parties. All of the proposed leases listed G Co. as the sole tenant and C Co., a limited liability company that was not formed by the plaintiff until August, 2013, as the sole landlord. During the course of lease negotiations, B expressed a need for certain improvements to be made to the space, specifically, the construction of additional walls. The plaintiff paid for the construction of those additional walls on an assurance by G Co. that he would be reimbursed, and the final version of the proposed lease contained a provision pursuant to which the tenant would have been required to reimburse the landlord for the wall construction by way of additional rent. The plaintiff also made several additional repairs and improvements to the property. In February, 2013, the plaintiff delivered a final version of the proposed lease to B. Although B made an oral representation to the plaintiff that he intended to sign it once his accountant returned from a trip, the lease was never executed. Despite the absence of a finalized lease, the plaintiff provided G Co. with access to the property later in February, 2013, to conduct a grand opening event. Soon thereafter, G Co. removed items it had brought into the space and began operating its business out of another property, and the defendants never made any payments to the plaintiff. Following a bench trial, the court rendered judgment for the plaintiff on the counts of the revised complaint sounding in breach of contract, breach of lease, detrimental reliance, and negligent misrepresentation, and for the defendants on the fraud counts. The trial court subse

CIVIL - Summary judgment age discrimination gender discrimination retaliation McDonnel Douglas test adverse employment action similarly situated individuals Civ.R. 56(C) R.C. 4101.11 R.C. 4101.12.