closing argument civil

• Pinchak v. Prudhomme, (Ohio 2010)

Motion for leave to file answer; absence of party at civil trial; closing argument.

• Ohio Supreme Court

• Wilson v. Ahn, (Ohio 2003)

CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS / CLOSING ARGUMENT; Although afforded great latitude in closing argument to comment upon the evidence and the reasonable inferences to be drawn, counsel is not allowed to refer to facts not in evidence, and the trial court is under an obligation to intervene sua sponte and to instruct the jury to disregard such improper remarks. Where the trial court allowed defense counsel, over objection, to recount during closing argument her own medical experience, which was not of record, and then to invite the jury to draw comparisons between her own experience and that of the plaintiff, the jury’s deliberations were improperly directed away from the uncontradicted expert evidence favoring the plaintiff and toward a defense verdict based upon speculation and unsworn testimony.

• Ohio Supreme Court

• Accused Handyman Stollar Asks Jury for Mercy

A handyman accused of strangling and stabbing an elderly Upper St. Clair woman asked a jury for mercy today in a rambling, 85- minute closing argument that included references to the Ten Commandments, Helen of Troy, the Crusades and the Civil War. Patrick Stollar, 29, of Washington, Pa., who is representing himself, could face the death penalty if the jury finds him guilty of first-degree murder for stomping, strangling and stabbing Jean Heck, 78, on June 4, 2003, at her home.

• Tribune - Review / Pittsburgh Tribune - Review
• February 20, 2008

• Yost v. Bermudez, (Ohio 2003)

Evidence - character evidence; alcohol abuse. CIVIL PROCEDURE - expert testimony; duty to supplement discovery; Civ.R. 26(E)(1). Damages - closing argument; suggesting amount of damages.

• Ohio Supreme Court

• Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Case Summaries: February 24, 2012

Civil PracticeSanctions Bad Faith Evidence Where a trial court imposed sanctions of $25,000 against a law firm based partly on the firm's knowledge and possession of emails pertaining to possible criminal activity that a mother proposed to use against a father in a child custody case, the imposition of sanctions is reversed because when the court does not make a finding of bad faith, there must at least be evidence in the record to support such a finding, and a bad-faith finding was negated by evidence that the firm followed the advice of a legal ethics expert in dealing with the emails and did not use the emails in litigation against the father.Judgment is reversed. A.J.H. v. M.A.H.S. (MLW No. 63312/Case No. ED96873 - 5 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Romines, J.) ...

• Missouri Lawyers Media
• March 02, 2012

• State v. Kelly, (Ohio 2012)

CRIMINAL LAW - felony murder; felonious assault; assault; jury trial; jury instructions; civil foreseeability instruction; "some injury" in felony murder instruction; "knowingly caused serious bodily harm" in felonious assault instruction; prosecutorial misconduct; closing argument; purpose of closing argument; ineffective assistance of counsel; conflict of interest; trial counsel and appellate counsel from the same law firm; victim impact evidence; failure to object; plain error; jury selection; impartial jury reflecting a fair cross-section of the community; array challenge; Crim.R. 24(F); method of pooling jurors; R.C. 2313.08; R.C. 2313.06; manifest weight of evidence. EVIDENCE - Evid.R. 404(A); defendant's testimony; trait of peacefulness offered by accused; propensity; reverse-pr...

• Ohio Supreme Court

• Ron Bird, Individually and on Behalf of Glacier Construction, Inc.; Herb Gilham, Individually and on Behalf of Glacier Construction, Inc.; and Scott Sherburne, Individually and on Behalf of Glacier Construction, Inc., Plaintiffs-Counterdefendants-Appellees, v. Glacier Electric Cooperative, Inc., Defendant-Counterclaimant-Appellant., 255 F.3d 1136 (9th Cir. 2001)

... of recognition and enforcement, where the closing argument of the successful plaintiff in tribal cou... departures from our notions of 'civilized jurisprudence,' comity should not be refused. Brit...

• Federal Circuits

• Robert Murphy and Technology Innovations Inernational, Inc., Petitioners, vs. International Robotic Systems, Inc., and Howard Hornsby, Respondents, 766 So. 2d 1010 (2000)

... the issue of improper, but unobjected-to, closing argument in civil cases. Thus, conflict no longer...

• Florida Supreme Court

• Gindling v. Schiff, (Ohio 2012)

MALPRACTICE: Defense counsel’s often-heated references to the biases or pecuniary interest of plaintiff’s expert witnesses, made in the context of an 11-day trial of a medical-malpractice action, and recorded in over 2000 pages of trial transcript, were based upon the evidence admitted at trial and highlighted legitimate limitations in the experts’ testimony; since a sound reasoning process supported the trial court’s decision that the jury’s verdict was not the product of passion and prejudice, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in overruling plaintiff’s new-trial motion. The trial court did not err in denying the plaintiff’s motion for JNOV or for a new trial when no prejudicial misconduct by defense counsel occurred in the overall context of the trial. Since counsel's co...

...�  Defendants.  :        Civil Appeal From: Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas     ... on defense counsel’s comments in his closing argument, and on his “speaking”  objections...

• Ohio Supreme Court

• The Obama Doctrine, Revisited

Tb say this was hardly a foregone conclusion is an understatement. Since taking office in 2006, Robert Gates, the secretary of defense Obama chose to inherit from George W. Bush, has dutifully trudged to NATO defense ministerials and special summits to implore the Europeans to increase their troop commitments to Afghanistan.

... and charging top terrorism captives in civilian courts, it has lost battle after battle with Congr...And its plan for closing Guantánamo involves moving the detainees to an Il... a speech in February advancing every argument possible against closing Guantánamo, even the civ...

• American Prospect, The
• Vol. 21 Nbr. 4, May 2010