Supreme Court of Ohio

The plaintiff-appellant was an employee of Totes/Isotoner Corporation. For two weeks, she had taken breaks to lactate without her employer’s knowledge. After the defendant-employer fired her “for her failure to follow directions,” the plaintiff filed suit alleging wrongful termination on the basis of her pregnancy. The Butler County Court of Common Pleas granted summary judgment in favor of her employer, and the Court of Appeals of Ohio affirmed.

Capital Care is a medical facility that offers abortion services. It had been licensed for years to operate as an ambulatory surgical facility. An Ohio statute was passed that required all abortion providers to have a license from the Director of the Ohio Department of Health, and such licenses required providers to have a written transfer agreement with a local hospital. Capital Care could not obtain a transfer agreement with a local hospital, but had such an agreement with a nearby hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, yet was denied a license.

In Felton v. Felton, 79 Ohio St.3d 34 (1997), the Supreme Court of Ohio upheld the issuance of a civil protective order based on testimony describing violent behavior by the appellant’s husband, which led her to fear for her life. After she filed criminal domestic violence charges, the county court granted a temporary protection order. The Court held that testimony about the husband’s past violence supported the issuance of the order and that a prior dissolution decree prohibiting harassment did not prevent further protective relief.

In Kroh v. Continental General Tire, Inc., 92 Ohio St.3d 30 (2001), the plaintiff alleged that her employer discriminated against her on the basis of sex, in violation of R.C. 4112.02 and 4112.99.

A former employee filed a complaint alleging a hostile work environment and sex discrimination, suing the chief in both his individual and official capacities. The Ohio Government Risk Management Plan, which provided liability coverage to the chief, sought a declaratory judgment that it had no duty to defend or indemnify him. In Ohio Government Risk Management Plan v.

In Roe v. Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region, 122 Ohio St.3d 399 (2009), the parents of a minor who had obtained an abortion sued Planned Parenthood, alleging that the procedure was performed illegally without the required parental notification. During discovery, the plaintiffs sought medical records and abuse reports concerning other minors who had received abortions at the clinic over the previous ten years. Planned Parenthood refused to produce those records, citing physician–patient privilege.

In State v. Goff, 128 Ohio St.3d 169 (2010), the defendant shot and killed her estranged husband and intended to assert battered woman syndrome as part of her defense. The trial court ordered her to undergo a psychological examination by a state expert. The Supreme Court of Ohio held that such an order does not violate a defendant’s right against self-incrimination when the defendant raises battered woman syndrome, provided that the evaluation is strictly confined to that issue and to whether the syndrome affected the defendant’s actions.