Articles by Julie Carr Smyth

Study Links Fracking to Hundreds of Ohio Quakes

A new study suggests fracking triggered hundreds of small, unnoticeable earthquakes in eastern Ohio late last year, months before the state first linked seismic activity to the much-debated oil-and-gas extraction technique. The report, which appears in the November issue of …

Court Rules Against Ohio Workers’ Comp Agency in Overcharge Case

The director of Ohio’s insurance fund for injured workers said he’s disappointed with an unusually pointed appeals court decision that says the fund overcharged employers by hundreds of millions of dollars. Steve Buehrer, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation administrator and …

Court: Ohio Overcharged Employers Workers’ Comp For Years

The director of the state insurance fund for injured workers said Friday that he’s disappointed with an unusually pointed appeals court decision that says the fund overcharged employers by hundreds of millions of dollars. Steve Buehrer, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ …

Ohio Watchdog Report Shows Vast Improvements at Workers’ Comp Bureau

Ohio’s watchdog released his much-anticipated investigative report on the investment scandal that engulfed the state in 2005, concluding the worker’s compensation insurance organization where it started has become significantly more professional and accountable. Inspector General Randall Meyer made no new …

Ohio Treasurer Withdraws Insurance Claim, Sells Damaged Vehicle for $938

Records show Ohio treasurer Josh Mandel’s failed Senate campaign sold a vehicle totaled in a March wreck shortly after questions arose over the continued use of the vehicle, averting an insurance review that might have clarified unanswered questions surrounding its …

Local Gas Drilling Laws Get a Key Airing in Ohio

A closely watched lawsuit in Ohio is asking a question that’s burning in cities and towns throughout shale country: Can regulations in states eager for the jobs and tax revenues that come with gas and oil drilling trump local restrictions …

Ohio Justices: Doctor’s Apology not Evidence of Malpractice

Sympathetic statements by a doctor over a patient’s unexpected medical outcome can’t be admitted as evidence in medical malpractice cases filed after the date a law intended to outlaw their use went into effect in 2004, the Ohio Supreme Court …

Ohio Justices: Doctor’s Apology not Evidence of Malpractice

Sympathetic statements by a doctor over a patient’s unexpected medical outcome can’t be admitted as evidence in medical malpractice cases filed after the date a law intended to outlaw their use went into effect in 2004, the Ohio Supreme Court …

Judge Awards Ohio Employers $860M for Workers’ Comp Overcharges

Ohio employers are collectively owed $860 million after being overcharged for nearly a decade by the state insurance fund for injured workers, a Cleveland judge has ruled. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Richard McMonagle’s decision involving the Ohio Bureau of …

Ohio Senate Panel Advances Asbestos Lawsuit Bill

An Ohio Senate committee advanced a bill on Dec. 4 aimed at curbing duplicate lawsuits over on-the-job asbestos exposure in a state with one of the largest backlogs of such cases in the nation. The bill cleared the committee along …