Latest Case: Buddenberg v. Weisdack (Civil Rights)

Dear House Judiciary Committee: In Questioning William Barr, Employ the Ethics Complaint That 27 Distinguished DC Lawyers Filed Wednesday

FREDERICK BARON, DENNIS AFTERGUT, AUSTIN SARAT

Frederick Baron, former associate deputy attorney general and director of the Executive Office for National Security in the Department of Justice, Dennis Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor, and Austin Sarat, Associate Provost and Associate Dean of the Faculty and William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence & Political Science at Amherst College, call upon the House Judiciary Committee to carefully read the ethics complaint by 27 distinguished DC lawyers against William Barr before questioning him today, July 28, 2020.

Read More

Buddenberg v. Weisdack

Citation: 2020-Ohio-3832

Opinion Date: July 29, 2020

Judge: Maureen O'Connor

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Criminal Law

The Supreme Court answered questions certified by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division regarding whether a conviction is a condition precedent to civil liability pursuant to Ohio Rev. Code 2307.60. Plaintiff's complaint asserted claims for civil liability pursuant to section 2307.60 for alleged violations of three criminal statutes: Ohio Rev. Code 2921.05 (retaliation), Ohio Rev. Code 2921.03 (intimidation), and Ohio Rev. Code 2921.45 (interfering with civil rights). Defendants filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim because they had not been convicted of the underlying criminal offenses. The federal court denied the motions to dismiss and then certified questions to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court answered (1) section 2307.60's creation of a civil cause of action for injuries based on a "criminal act" does not require an underlying criminal conviction; and (2) a criminal conviction is not a condition precedent to a civil claim pursuant to section 2921.03.