In The News

In September 2022, two assailants savagely beat 37-year-old Gregory Coleman to death in front of the bar Julep in the Short North area of Columbus, Ohio. As it turns out, the assailants worked security for Julep and a stable of related bars. On behalf of the Coleman family, we have filed a lawsuit against Julep to hold it accountable for its role in Greg’s tragic death.

We represent the family of Eric Cole, who was hit and killed by a Springfield Police Department cruiser last June 2021.

We represent the family of Donovan Lewis, who was killed by police officers in Columbus, Ohio in late August 2022. Donovan was an unarmed, 20-year-old Black man. Police entered his home in the middle of the night, opened his bedroom door, and shot him in his bed less than one second later.

We represent the Foltz family, who tragically lost their son Stone following a hazing ritual at Bowling Green State University in March 2021. The family has sued the fraternity and scores of individuals who were involved with the Big/Little hazing ritual that led to Stone’s death.

We represent five families that lost loved ones in the 2019 Oregon District mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio. The shooter was able to kill and injure so many people in about 30 seconds by using a 100-round magazine. The families have sued the company that made and distributed the magazine.

Our client James Stewart was severely injured at the Ross County Jail when an officer slammed him to the ground, breaking his neck. The case settled favorably for Mr. Stewart.

Ginny LeFever spent over two decades in prison for a crime she did not commit. She was freed after evidence of fabrication by the government’s key witness, a forensic toxicologist. We represent Ginny in her long fight for wrongful conviction compensation, won her case at the trial court, and are now protecting that victory against the state’s appeal.

We represent the Wiant family, who lost their son in a fraternity hazing ritual at Ohio University in November 2018. Collin was subjected to horrific hazing from day one that culminated in his death after the forced ingestion of nitrous oxide.

We represented the family of Bryan Galliher, a 21-year-old murdered in 2016. The family sued Cabela’s for illegally selling the black powder gun that killed Bryan. The lawsuit resulted in a seven-figure settlement and led Cabela’s (and its parent company Bass Pro) to institute new policies preventing sales of black powder guns to violent felons, and to stop selling black powder guns online and by phone.

In the 1980s, Jenny Reach and Bobby Aldridge were wrongfully convicted of alleged abuse crimes. Their convictions were overturned a decade later after it was discovered that the government concealed evidence that helped show their innocence. After Ohio reformed its wrongful conviction compensation law in 2019, we helped Jenny and Bobby in their lawsuit, and the state ultimately stipulated that the two were wrongfully imprisoned.

When a high-intensity ride failed at the Ohio State Fair in 2017, Keziah Lewis was among the folks severely injured. We represent Keziah in her ongoing effort to hold the people responsible accountable.

We represent Tyler Perino, who rushed Delta Tau Delta in the Spring of 2019 at Miami University. Shortly after beginning the rush process, Tyler and the other pledges were hazed, which culminated in a Big/Little hazing ritual that involved being beaten with a paddle and forced drug and alcohol ingestion.

When it comes to excessive force by police, even other law enforcement agents can be targets. Jim Burk, a federal agent, is pursuing civil rights claims against the Columbus Police Department.

Patrick Baker was wrongfully convicted of a robbery based on the actions of a disgraced former Sandusky County Sheriff’s Deputy. Patrick’s conviction was overturned. After that deputy went to prison for his own crimes, we sought compensation for Patrick, and the state ultimately agreed he was wrongfully imprisoned.

We represented a township medical director who spoke out against a plan that would have disrupted the township’s EMS services and threatened residents’ safety. When two township trustees behind the plan retaliated against the medical director, we filed a federal lawsuit against them and obtained an order finding that the trustees had violated the medical director’s First Amendment rights.

Jason Hick worked for a property management group. The company’s owner told Jason to rent their apartment units only to white people, and also to evict current tenants based on their race. After Jason refused and spoke out about this discriminatory conduct, he was fired.

We represented several trucking companies against Pilot Flying J, one of the 10 biggest private companies in the United States. Pilot Flying J had perpetrated a massive nationwide fraud, and many high-level executives pled guilty to fraud. During the lawsuit, we forced Pilot’s CEO, Jimmy Haslam, to give sworn testimony about his knowledge of the scheme. The case resolved favorably for all of our clients.

William Harris was taken to the Circleville jail after he was pulled over for a traffic violation. At the jail, while William’s hands were cuffed behind him, three white officers brutally took him to the ground without justification. They injured William’s spinal cord in the process and then dragged him by his feet to a cell where they left him on the floor. One of the officers returned to the cell a few hours later and kicked William in the ribs, saying “Looks like we got us a broke n*****.” We sued the City of Circleville and the officers, and obtained a settlement of nearly $3 million.

After the Faietas noticed linear marks on their 3-year-old son’s rear end when they picked him up from daycare, they were concerned that he may have been beaten or otherwise abused. They went to the school the following day to speak with teachers, but received no answers and later received a letter from the school (which was operated by a large church) informing them they’d be arrested for trespass if they returned. We filed a lawsuit on their behalf and proved that their son had in fact been beaten, by a parent volunteer who the church never should have allowed to oversee the children. We obtained a jury verdict against the abuser and the church of approximately $6 million.

When the owner of Mopaz Diamonds came to Columbus to attend an international jewelry and gemstone convention, he checked into a local hotel and placed nearly $1 million worth of diamonds and jewelry in three of the hotel’s safe deposit boxes. The next morning, he went to retrieve the items and discovered that jewel thieves had looted his three boxes and more than a dozen others used by other convention attendees. We sued the hotel, even though Ohio law generally limits a hotel’s liability to $500 under such circumstances and even though other victims that had suffered millions of dollars in losses had sued the hotel and had been limited to $500. After developing a creative legal theory to get past the Ohio statute, we recovered the full amount of our client’s losses.