Latest 2 Cases: State ex rel. McDougald v. Greene (Criminal Law), Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co. v. Pusser (Insurance Law)

Should Anyone Care that Sexual Assault is “Out of Character” for Biden?

SHERRY F. COLB

Cornell law professor Sherry F. Colb considers what people mean when they say that a sexual assault allegation seems “out of character” for a particular person and explains why that reasoning is logically flawed. Focusing on differences between how people behave publicly and privately, Colb argues that the lack of an observed pattern of sexual misconduct is not evidence that a person did not engage in sexual misconduct on a specific occasion.

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State ex rel. McDougald v. Greene

Citation: 2020-Ohio-2782

Opinion Date: May 6, 2020

Judge: Per Curiam

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Supreme Court denied a writ of mandamus sought by Relator to compel Respondent, the public-records custodian at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF), to provide Relator with three public records and to pay Relator statutory damages and court costs associated with this litigation, holding that Relator was not entitled to either a writ of mandamus nor statutory damages. When Relator was an inmate at SOCF he submitted a public-records request to Respondent seeking three documents. Respondent provided one of the three documents. Relator then filed a complaint for a writ of mandamus seeking an order compelling Respondent to provide the two documents and to pay statutory damages and court costs associated with this litigation. The Supreme Court denied the writ of mandamus on the merits, holding that Respondent's response to Relator fully satisfied Respondent's obligations under Ohio Rev. Code 149.43, and therefore, Relator was not entitled a writ of mandamus, and there was no basis to award statutory damages.

Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co. v. Pusser

Citation: 2020-Ohio-2778

Opinion Date: May 6, 2020

Judge: Donnelly

Areas of Law: Insurance Law

In this insurance dispute, the Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's grant of summary judgment to Insurer, holding that specific language in the insurance policy was sufficient to warn Insured that misstatements as to warranties in her application for the policy rendered the policy void ab initio. Insurer submitted an application to Insured indicating that she was the only member of her household, and the application was incorporated into the policy under the policy's terms. Insured's, sister, however, was living with Insured when the sister struck a pedestrian while driving the car covered under the policy. Insured filed a complaint for declaratory judgment claiming that because of Insured's misstatements, the policy was void ab initio. The trial court agreed and granted summary judgment to Insurer. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the misstatement regarding the warranty in the application for the insurance policy rendered the policy void ab initio.