Toledo Personal Injury Lawyer - dog bite

Ohio car accident lawyer discusses will execution | Ohio wrongful death attorneys

Chuck Boyk — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:24:00 GMT

Toledo, Ohio car accident lawyer Dale Emch discusses will execution in his most recent Legal Briefs column in the Toledo Blade. If you have a general legal question you would like to see considered for publication in Legal Briefs, including those involving Ohio car accidents, Ohio workers' compensation claims, Ohio dog bites, or Ohio ATV and motorcycle accidents, contact Attorney Emch at demch@charlesboyk-law.com or by contacting our office.

Dear Dale: I have some questions about being an executor of a will. When an attorney is appointed to be the executor of a family member’s will, how is the attorney paid for his services? How is the attorney held accountable for his honesty and integrity in handling the execution of the will? And, does the attorney have an obligation to make a financial accounting to the beneficiaries of his fees?

ANSWER: Ohio and local rules specify how executors and attorneys can be compensated. Executors and attorneys serve different functions in how estates are handled through the Probate Court.

Let’s start with the role of the executor. The executor administers the estate of a decendent who had a will.

This person can be a family member, a trusted third party, a lawyer, a bank, or a trust company. This can be a big job that includes responsibilities such as receiving payments owed to the estate, paying debts owed by the estate, determining the estate’s beneficiaries, and following the Probate Court’s orders concerning the estate.

An executor has a duty to act in the best interest of the estate and to carry out all state-law- mandated responsibilities. Acting in the capacity of an executor can be a time-consuming job for which state law allows compensation.

Under state law, an executor of an estate involving a will can receive a commission of 4 percent of the first $100,000 of the estate; 3 percent above $100,000 and below $400,000, and 2 percent above $400,000. So, for example, if you were the executor of an estate valued at $200,000, you could receive $4,000 for the first $100,000 and $3,000 for the next $100,000 for a total of $7,000. An executor also can receive commissions for other activities, but my space is too limited to include a laundry list here.

Whether or not the attorney acts as the executor doesn’t matter in terms of the legal obligations imposed.

The executor must carry out the obligations mandated by law, must act in good-faith, and must account to the Probate Court for expenditures made on behalf of the estate and for the fees received for those services.

If an executor does not meet the obligations imposed by law, the Probate Court can remove the executor.

You also asked about whether an executor has to make an accounting to the beneficiaries. At a time specified by state law, the executor has to make an accounting to the Probate Court and the beneficiaries.

But that doesn’t mean that a beneficiary has the right to demand an accounting of the executor whenever he or she wants that information.

Because you intertwined the roles of attorneys and executors in your question, I want to address compensation for attorneys. It’s not hard to imagine that the duties of an executor can become pretty overwhelming, especially if an estate contains a lot of assets or debts. Executors often hire an attorney to help sort out the estate and to handle the legal work with the Probate Court.

Attorneys can set their own hourly fees for estate work. They also can elect to be compensated in an amount set by the Probate Court. In Lucas County, the schedule for attorney fees on probate assets is 4.5 percent of the first $100,000; 3.5 percent of the next $300,000, and 2.5 percent of the remaining balance.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chuck Boyk

Ohio dog bite lawyers | Ohio dog bite injuries addressed by Ohio attorney Dale Emch

Chuck Boyk — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:24:00 GMT

Ohio dog bite lawyer Dale Emch discusses the flip side to dog bite injuries in his most recent Legal Briefs column. If you have a general legal question you would like to see addressed, including those on Ohio car accident settlements, Ohio work injury payments, or medical malpractice, contact Dale today at demch@charlesboyk-law.com.

I heard that a dog's owner isn't responsible for a dog bite if the person bitten was trespassing. So, if I was throwing the football around with my son in my backyard and the ball went into my neighbor's yard, would my neighbor be responsible if his dog bit me when I crossed into his yard to pick up the football?

Let me give you some of the basics about Ohio dog bite law before I zero in on your question. Under Ohio law, the owner, keeper, or harborer of a dog is liable for any injuries caused by the dog. It's a very strict rule that can have some harsh results. For instance, if my dog, Simon, ran out in front of a car, causing the driver to swerve off the road and hit a tree, I'd be responsible for the driver's injuries. And that would be true even if a friend was walking Simon for me and he got away when I wasn't in town. The law imposes strict duties on dog owners, including those who have dogs as headstrong as Simon.

Given the number of dog-bite cases our law office handles, I understand why the law has developed in this way. I've represented children who have been scarred for life and adults whose dog-bite injuries have caused them to be hospitalized for days. It would be little solace to those people if the owners could escape liability by saying, "Gee, our dog has never bitten anyone before, so we had no idea this would happen." There's no such thing as a free bite in the civil arena under Ohio law.

That said, people owning or keeping dogs do have certain defenses. Under the law, it's a defense if the person who was injured was committing or attempting to commit a criminal trespass, committing or attempting to commit any criminal offense other than a minor misdemeanor, or was teasing, tormenting, or abusing the dog. So, the law includes some common-sense protections for dog owners or keepers in limited circumstances.

The key to your question is whether your neighbor would have a defense because you were considered a trespasser. The Ohio General Assembly amended the law this year to change the defense of trespass to criminal trespass. That could be significant, and I expect the change will be the source of some legal wrangling over the next few years. Prior to the change in the law, a number of courts ruled that the trespass defense was available to dog owners whether the trespass was civil or criminal.

It sounds like a small thing, but it could be crucial in a lot of cases. The distinction lies in the difference between a criminal and civil trespass. Boiled down, someone commits a criminal trespass when they knowingly enter the land or premises of another - without privilege to do so - or remain on the land or premises after receiving notice in some form that they're on someone else's property. While there's more to the criminal code section dealing with trespass, that's the general gist.

For the purposes of a civil trespass, on the other hand, it doesn't matter whether the trespasser knew or received notice he was trespassing.

So, let's look at the distinction using the framework of your question. Let's say you had to jump a fence to get into your neighbor's backyard to retrieve the football. It would be hard to say that you didn't commit a criminal trespass because you knowingly entered your neighbor's property.

Let's look at a different scenario. Let's say you were playing football on someone else's property and you had no idea where the property line was. If you inadvertently crossed the property line and the property owner's dog bit you, I would argue that you hadn't committed a criminal trespass and the dog owner would be liable. Under the old version of the law, it didn't matter whether you knew where the boundary line was for the purposes of a civil trespass. If you were bitten on someone else's property and you had no privilege to be there, you were out of luck, at least for purposes of pursuing your claim under the state statute.

As an aside, the concept of privilege is important here. For instance, a letter carrier has the right to enter your property to deliver mail. So the trespass defense wouldn't apply. Or, in your scenario, if your neighbor had seen the ball go over the fence and waved you over to come get it, you wouldn't be a trespasser.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chuck Boyk

Ohio dog bite lawyer Dale Emch on rental agreements

Chuck Boyk — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:15:00 GMT

Should you just give up if you don't get your security deposit back? Do you have any options?

Ohio car accident lawyer Dale Emch discusses rental agreements and deposits in his December 21, 2008 Legal Briefs column. If you have a general legal question on Ohio car accidents, Ohio dog bites, Ohio workers’ compensation, or a similar issue, contact Attorney Emch and demch@charlesboyk-law.com.

Dear Dale: I moved out of an apartment last year. Even though more than a year has passed, I have not been able to get my security deposit back. I've called the apartment complex's office more than 100 times, but they still won't return my deposit. Every time I call, they have good attitudes with a lot of excuses, but they never give me my security deposit. I'm really tired of calling them. Is there anything I can do?

Answer: I think most of us have rented an apartment or home at some point in our lives, and most of us have had a landlord hold back all or a portion of a security deposit, sometimes justifiably, sometimes not.

I shudder at the memory of my college roommates and I acting indignant when our landlord refused to give us our security deposit back many years ago. We were, to put it euphemistically, enthusiastic college boys. By the end of the year, the nice home we had moved into looked like something the city might consider condemning. An exaggeration, but you get the point. Though we really had no business getting our deposit back, my brother, Gregg, and a buddy of his - both newly minted lawyers at the time - pointed us to a law that put part of our deposit back in our undeserving hands.

State law dictates when landlords can retain security deposits, and our landlord didn't comply with the law. The Ohio Revised Code requires landlords to return security deposits within 30 days after termination of the rental agreement.

A landlord can withhold all or a portion of a security deposit for such things as unpaid rent, damage to the property, or violations of the lease. A landlord seeking to withhold any portion of a security deposit must provide written notice within 30 days of the end of the lease giving an itemized listing of reasons the deposit wasn't repaid, and a dollar figure associated with each item. Normal wear and tear on an apartment isn't sufficient reason to withhold a security deposit, and courts have ruled that landlords can't build in routine cleaning costs to the lease as justification for withholding security deposits.

State law provides a hammer tenants can use to whack landlords who don't comply with the security deposit code section. If a landlord fails to comply with the law, the former tenant can get double the amount owed to him, plus reasonable attorney fees.

Double damages and attorney fees are available but the law states that the tenant must provide the landlord with written notice of a new address where the security deposit or an itemized list of deductions can be sent. Though it appears that your landlord did not supply you with notice of why your deposit was being withheld, it's unclear to me whether you provided written notice of your new address.

If you did provide notice of your new address, you may want to consider suing the landlord in Toledo Municipal Court. It might take some time, but you've waited this long, right? It's clear that the landlord either feels justified in withholding your deposit or has no intention of ever coughing it up. Maybe having to pay double damages and attorney fees will cause the landlord to reconsider this behavior in the future. Trying to stop that kind of behavior is precisely why the law contemplates that financial hit. The legislature realized that without some sort of pain in the pocketbook, landlords could withhold security deposits for all sorts of shaky reasons.

If you haven't supplied your landlord with written notice of your new address, I'd do that immediately by certified mail, and then I'd contact an attorney if that fails to produce your security deposit.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chuck Boyk

Ohio dog bite attorneys congratulate Lucas County Dog Warden

Chuck Boyk — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:20:00 GMT

Toledo's dog warden has just received special recognition. Our Toledo, Ohio dog bite attorneys would like to extend our congratulations to Lucas County Dog Warden Tom Skeldon.

Mr. Skeldon was just named Dog Warden of the year by the nation's only dog bite advocacy group, DogsBite.org. DogsBite.org was founded by a person who was a victim of a pit-bull attack in Seattle. We work closely with Mr. Skeldon, and appreciate the work he has done to keep children and adults safe from vicious dogs and dog bites.

DogsBite.org agrees with Mr. Skeldon's hard work. They write, "Tom Skeldon has vigorously worked to prevent horrendous pit bull maulings resulting in serious injuries or death of human beings, their domesticated pets and livestock."

If you or someone you love has been injured by an Ohio dog bite, contact our office to order your FREE copy of The Ohio Dog Bite Book. Our attorneys are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chuck Boyk

Toledo, Ohio car accident attorney Dale Emch on the custody rights of grandparents

Chuck Boyk — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:28:00 GMT

What do you do if your grandchild is taken away from your son or daughter and put under the care of the State? Do you have the right to take care of that child? Toledo, Ohio car accident lawyer Dale Emch discusses the custody rights of grandparents in his most recent Legal Briefs column. If you have a general legal question on topics such as car accidents, dog bites, or wrongful death, contact Attorney Dale Emch.

Dear Dale: We have an 8-year-old grandchild who lives several hundred miles away. Our son and her mother were never married. Our son passed away when our granddaughter was 6 months old.
Her mother recently lost custody of our granddaughter to the state. The state gave temporary custody to her mother’s ex-husband, who also has custody of our granddaughter’s half-brother. We were told if we want to get custody, a home study and background check would have to be conducted, and even then there was no guarantee our granddaughter would be placed with us.

Should we start checking into getting an attorney to help us if we want legal custody or should we just see how things play out?

Answer: The U.S. Supreme Court has held that parents have a fundamental right to make decisions affecting the care, custody, and control of their children. In certain instances, such as when a child may be in danger or when abuse or neglect can be shown, the state can interfere with that fundamental right.

When that happens, the state can seek custody of a child and make decisions about where the child should live. In custody situations, the default position of judges faced with these difficult cases is to make a determination as to what would be in the best interests of the child.

No exact formula exists to determine what would be in the best interest of a child. Some of the factors judges consider are the relationship the child has with his parents, siblings, or foster caregivers, the wishes of the child, and the stability of the proposed home setting. Judges hear evidence on those issues and try to make a decision that would be best for the child. That’s not an easy job in many cases.

In your situation, it seems that the major factor will be whether the state seeks to permanently terminate the parental rights of your granddaughter’s mother. That’s a huge step that courts don’t take lightly. Parents have a constitutional right to make child-rearing decisions, so a high burden of proof must be met in order to terminate a parent’s right to custody.

It’s possible that the state agency in charge of this case may want to reunite your granddaughter with her mother. If her mother has a drug problem or a mental illness that she might be able to address, the agency may have a plan that will allow her to regain custody if she meets certain requirements. If that’s the case, it seems likely that they’re going to look for the most stable situation for your granddaughter until her mother is able to regain custody. In such a scenario, the agency’s plan may even call for some type of controlled visitation with her mother.

If, however, the state seeks to terminate the mother’s parental rights, it’s going to try to find the best permanent home for your granddaughter. In that case, your granddaughter is old enough to express her wishes about where she wants to live and a person may be appointed by the court to weigh in on what would be in her best interests. The judge could determine that it’s best to stay with the mother’s ex-husband if he’s helped raise her, and because she has a half-brother.

On the other hand, the judge may give deference to your request for custody because of the blood connection between you and your granddaughter.

I think you’re probably getting the idea that there’s no way to determine where your granddaughter will be placed. For that reason, if you’re serious about seeking custody, you absolutely should retain a lawyer in the area where your granddaughter lives who has a lot of experience with child-custody issues. You need someone who understands the law and, preferably, someone who is well-known to the court handling the case. You might start by calling the bar association in the city where your granddaughter lives.

I’d recommend that you hire an attorney as soon as possible so you can explore whether it makes sense to intervene in the temporary custody situation if that’s possible. Showing an early interest can only help if the state seeks to terminate the mother’s parental rights. I would think it would be to your benefit if the judge and the agency know you’re in the picture and that you have a real desire to raise your granddaughter.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chuck Boyk

Ohio dog bite attorney gets high review on dog bite website

Chuck Boyk — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 07:56:00 GMT

Toledo, Ohio dog bite attorney Dale Emch and his Toledo op-ed piece on Lucas County Dog Warden Tom Skeldon were mentioned in a dog bite injury website based in Seattle, Washington, with high reviews.

DogsBite.org stated in their August 23, 2008 post:

"Dale Emch is a Toledo-based attorney. He also writes The Blade's Legal Briefs column and previously worked as a reported and editor at The Blade. Emch recently wrote a piece that supports Skeldon. It is exceptional. Emch nails the true gunners after Skeldon too: 'pit-bull fans who make money by fighting or breeding the dogs.'"

If you or someone you know has suffered personal injury from a dog bite, you need information. The Ohio Dog Bite Book, written by Toledo, Ohio dog bite attorneys Chuck Boyk, Dale Emch, and Mike Bruno, focuses on what do immediately after a dog bite, as well as how to handle the insurance companies.

Some of the tips provided in The Ohio Dog Bite Book include: take photos of the injury as soon as possible, notify the local authorities and dog warden, and do not give any information to the insurance company before consulting an attorney.

To order your FREE copy of The Ohio Dog Bite Book, contact our office.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chuck Boyk

Toledo, Ohio car accident attorney on tenant's rights

Chuck Boyk — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:52:00 GMT

Toledo, Ohio personal injury attorney Dale Emch discusses a tenant’s rights in his Toledo Blade “Legal Briefs” column. Attorney Emch answers general legal questions on all topics, including those on car accidents, dog bites, and wrongful death.

Dear Dale: My sister has been living with a guy for about three years. She has recently been trying to get him to leave because he has become verbally abusive and sometimes destructive, but he refuses. I would think that being abusive, which her neighbors
Answer: My initial take on this situation is that your sister probably can throw the guy out as long as some provision is made for him to retrieve his belongings.

But your question doesn’t address a few key details, so I’ll try to deal with the “what-ifs” in hopes they’ll be helpful to you or other readers. My main concern about booting the guy out and changing the locks would be if he can be construed to be a tenant who is renting from your sister. If he’s the type of guy who would push the matter on a legal front, it could be a hassle for her to get him out.

In Ohio, a tenant is someone entitled by a rental agreement to use and occupy a residence. A rental agreement can be written or oral. A tenant can be evicted in certain situations, but those evictions have to follow rules spelled out under the law.

For instance, a tenant can be evicted for such things as not paying rent or for holding over past the term of the lease agreement. In that event, the landlord must give the tenant proper notice that he’s being asked to leave and that his eviction could be sought. A complaint would then have to be filed in court and a hearing would be held.

Rental agreements also can be terminated without evictions. For instance, a landlord renting to a tenant on a month-to-month basis without a lease can end the agreement by giving the tenant a month’s notice that he has to move.

So, what does that mean for your sister? It really depends on what their agreement was when he moved in. If they formally agreed that he would pay a set amount of money each month to live there, he’d have an argument that he was a tenant. In that case, to be safe legally, she could give him a 30-day written notice that he must leave.

I’m guessing, though, that they didn’t have a formal agreement. If that’s the case, I don’t think he’d be a tenant under Ohio law, and therefore wouldn’t be entitled to the protections available under the law. He’d be no different than a guest, and his refusal to leave would be a trespass. If that’s the situation, my view is that she can kick the guy out today, change the locks, and make his belongings available to him somehow.

The problem is that in these situations there’s always a rub between the legal and the practical. It’s simply bizarre that your sister has told the guy to get out, but he won’t. He may be the type of guy who is going to make things ugly or messy before she can finally get him out the door, regardless of whether the law is on her side. If he has no rental agreement with her, she should ask him to leave again in front of witnesses, and if he doesn’t, she should call the police.

If he is paying rent and he won’t leave after getting written notice, have your sister contact a lawyer who deals with property-law issues so the process can be done in a legally proper way.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chuck Boyk

MSN Money reports the high cost of dog bite injuries

Chuck Boyk — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:49:00 GMT

The Centers for Disease Control and prevention report that nearly 4.7 million people suffer dog bites annually, with over one million of those bites requiring medical treatment.

Our Toledo, Ohio dog bite attorneys co-counsel with nationally renowned dog bite attorney Attorney Kenneth Phillips on a dog bite case that our office is currently handling. Our attorneys understand the seriousness of dog bites and their resulting injuries, as well as the method that insurance companies use to settle a dog bite claim as cheaply as possible.

A recent article by MSN Money reported that according to the Insurance Information Institute, the average cost of a dog bite claim was $24,511 in 2007. Emergency room treatment, follow-up appointments with family physicians, and plastic surgery are almost always needed to treat dog bite injuries.

Attorney Phillips sees on a regular basis the devastation that dog bite injuries cause. The Los Angeles attorney pointed out to MSN Money that dogs killed 32 people last year, and many times there was something that the owner could have done to prevent it.

“I always see something in the dogs history that was a warning sign,” Attorney Phillips said, referring to the dog bite cases he handles. “Either the dog owner does something that created the circumstances that led to the attack, or plenty of evidence of viciousness was presented to the owner and they’ve chosen not to see it.”

Our Toledo, Ohio dog bite attorneys co-counsel with Attorney Phillips on a dog bite case that our office is currently handling. Our attorneys understand the seriousness of dog bites and their resulting injuries, as well as the method that insurance companies use to settle a dog bite claim as cheaply as possible.

If you or someone you know has been injured by a dog bite, you need information. Learn your rights, as well as the secrets that the insurance company does not want you to know, by ordering our free Ohio Dog Bite Book. Contact our office today to order your free copy.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chuck Boyk

Dog bite injury compensation has increased from last year

Chuck Boyk — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:09:00 GMT

The number of dog bite injuries in the United States decreased by 0.9 percent in the year 2007, according to a recent report by the Associated Press. However, the amount of money awarded to dog bite injury victims for their injuries rose by 11.5 percent, bringing the national average to $24,511 per dog bite injury claim. According to CNN Money, one in every three homeowner insurance claims involves a dog bite injury.

A flight attendant on a private jet is seeking $5 million in compensation after a dog belonging to Jennifer Lopez bit the attendant’s pant leg, causing her to fall and injure her back. J.Lo had the German shepherd on the plane as a guard dog.

Dog bites can cause serious physical and emotional damage, especially if the dog bite injury victim is a child. In the United States, more than 60 percent of those suffering dog bite injuries are kids, according to Consumer Affairs.

Our Toledo, Ohio dog bite attorneys have seen the devastating effects that dog bite injuries can have on a person, including open wounds, permanent scarring, the need for plastic surgery, and emotional distress. We have handled hundreds of dog bite injury cases, and know how to avoid insurance company traps. If you or someone you love has suffered a dog bite injury, we urge you to learn your rights by ordering our FREE Ohio Dog Bite Book by calling our office. You can also speak to an attorney free of charge, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chuck Boyk

Toledo, Ohio woman suffers personal injury after dog bites

Anneke Kurt — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:11:27 GMT

A West Toledo woman suffered personal injury from dog bites when she was attacked by two pit bulls in her own home yesterday. According to Lucas County Dog Warden Tom Skeldon, the woman suffered bites to her legs.

Toledo, Ohio dog bite attorney Dale Emch sees the danger that vicious dogs and dog bites can bring to families, which is why he testified at an Ohio General Assembly Committee regarding laws surrounding vicious dogs. Dog bites can cause serious personal injury, including permanent scarring or emotional problems, especially when it is a child that it attacked.

Our Toledo, Ohio dog bite attorneys urge people to be careful around all dogs, regardless of their breed. Avoid petting dogs you are not familiar with, and never tease or taunt an animal, especially one that is eating or sleeping, in order to prevent personal injury from a dog bite.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Anneke Kurt